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Guru Road, also called Dooby Lane, is a mile-long roadside art installation of carved rocks beside Route 34, a couple of miles north of Gerlach, Nevada. Travel Nevada says DeWayne 'Dooby' Williams built it between 1978 and 1992 with help from Dan Deveny.
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Guru Road (Dooby Lane) sculptures
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Approximate location · 40.652° N, 119.356° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
Long before Burning Man arrived on the Black Rock Desert, a Gerlach local was carving rocks beside Route 34 with jokes, tributes and reflections on existence. Stewards of the Black Rock Desert calls Guru Road, also known as Dooby Lane, a mile-long artwork more than 50 years old whose main medium is "modern petroglyphs", built by DeWayne "Dooby" Williams, self-styled Guru of Gerlach, with help from his friend Dan Deveny. Travel Nevada dates his work to between 1978 and 1992.
Travel Nevada lists a weather station, a tribute to Elvis and the Desert Broadcast System among the pieces, and describes larger works such as TV Station and Big Medicine as ones visitors can step inside. The Stewards' 2023 proposal described Big Medicine as collapsed and TV Station as leaning, and volunteers have since worked on both, so treat the structures with care. The Stewards' 2023 management proposal also names Ground Zero and a Women's Memorial, and says many smaller stones recognise members of the Gerlach community. UNR professor Peter Goin published a book on the road, with an inscription by poet Gary Snyder.
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PRACTICAL
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WHAT TO EXPECT
Park near the Guru Road sign and walk the mile of carved stones and small structures. Travel Nevada says larger pieces invite visitors inside, but some structures were reported leaning or collapsed in 2023, so keep out of any that look unstable. Travel Nevada says it is free and asks visitors to avoid driving it when wet, because the road ruts and damages easily. Some pieces are damaged and volunteer restoration is ongoing.
ACCESS
Public land beside State Route 34, about two miles north of Gerlach; the entrance is marked by a 'Guru Road' sign. Travel Nevada says it is accessible 24 hours a day, year-round, and asks visitors not to add to or take away from the artwork. It is in remote Black Rock Desert country: Stewards of the Black Rock Desert call Gerlach a 'remote Black Rock Desert town', and the road is graded dirt that the Stewards described in 2023 as passable by a normal vehicle in dry conditions. Check the weather first, do not drive the road when it is wet, and carry water and fuel.
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