If you’ve lived in Nevada for a long time, you’re probably used to finding weird things in the desert. From clown-themed hotels to bizarre roadside monuments, Nevada definitely isn’t afraid of weird. Still, stumbling across these types of attractions is always a jarring experience, especially if you happen to drive by the International Car Forest near Goldfield. After all, nothing is stranger than the sight of dozens of cars standing straight up out of the ground! Don’t believe it? Go on and see it for yourself!
The next time you need a big dose of weird in your life, consider a visit to the International Car Forest of the Last Church located just outside of Goldfield. This place is perfectly strange in all the right ways, and we just can't help but love it.
A prosperous mining town turned complete ghost town, Rhyolite is a hot spot of weird in the Nevada desert. It's here you'll find bizarre attractions like the Goldwell Open Air Museum or a house made from glass bottles. It's also where you'll find the one and only International Car Forest.
The International Car Forest is the unique creation of artists Chad Sorg and Mark Rippie. As the story goes, Sorg spotted a car standing on its nose while driving through Goldfield. The car was an art piece by Rippie, and Sorg was so inspired that he helped Rippie to expand his one car into an entire "car forest."
These days, over 40 cars can be found in the car forest. Many of them have been carefully placed with their ends in the ground, whereas others are stacked on top of each other. It's certainly a sight that you'll remember!
Vans, trucks, limousines, school buses—the forest has it all. You could spend a good amount of time simply going from car to car, looking at how it's been placed and wondering how the heck they accomplished it.
Most if not all of the cars have been painted on in some way. It was apparently the artists' original intention for the forest to act as a blank canvas of sorts for other artists, so you'll recognize a wide variety of types of graffiti adorning the different cars.
There are no signs that explain the work or the artists who created it. The forest just simply is. Rumor has it that the two artists experienced a falling out and refuse to work together again, but at least the car forest still stands!
