As a kid, did you imagine yourself trading bullets in the middle of an Old West town at high noon? That gunslinger daydream can become closer to reality with a visit to one of America's ghost towns. These straight-out-of-a-Western-movie survivors come complete with vacant mines, brothels and saloons, not to mention some fantastic dessert and mountain backdrops. If you're lucky, maybe some tumbleweed will even roll by!

Whether you want to explore ruins of a former boon town or have the Old West cowboy experience (mock shootouts and all!), these easy-to-visit ghost towns are shadows of past glory that have been preserved for present and future generations to visit.

Gallery: Wild West Ghost Towns

[Photo by Larry Myhre, Flickr ]

Filed under: Photos, North America, United States