Quicklinks:
National Park
- Great Basin National Park
- Topping out at over 13,000 feet, Wheeler Peak affords outstanding views of the surrounding Great Basin. This is the only national park in Nevada.
[Top]State Park
- Valley of Fire State Park
- Just a few hours outside the neon light atmosphere of Las Vegas and its casinos is a place that couldn't offer a starker contrast to the shrill and ultimatively depressing life of the gamblers in "Sin City". Valley of Fire is, as the name implies, very hot in summer and has rocks in one of the strongest Reds I've seen on my travels. The scenic drive has been used in several car advertisements, and is very fun to drive despite the posted speed limit of 25mph.
[Top]Recreation Area
- Lake Mead National Recreation Area
- Lake Mead National Recreation Area encompasses Lake Mead, a man-made water reservoir created by the construction of Hoover Dam, and the desert areas that surround it.
[Top]Other
- Goldwell Open Air Museum
- A small open air museum near Rhyolite Ghost Town; outside of Beatty, NV and just next to Death Valley National Park.
- Grimes Point Archaeological Area
- Supposedly "one of the most significant archaeological sites in the Great Basin", these "rock art boulders" provide a short diversion from lonely US-50.
- Highway 50, NV
- Also referred to as "the loneliest Road in America", Highway 50 cuts through northern Nevada from East to West, crossing some of the most deserted terrain and only occasionally going through small, almost-abandoned ghost towns.
- Hoover Dam
- To a visitor not interested in artificial structures, this is just an ugly block of cement, a body of water, and lots of power lines. This was my first impression of Hoover Dam, which is situated just outside of Las Vegas. I've since realized what a remarkable achievement it was to build something of this magnitude.
- Las Vegas
- There's probably only few cities that polarize as much as Las Vegas - you either love it, or hate it. Seeing how I'm not the gambling type, and am not easily impressed by shining lights, I guess I don't fall into the first category. After all the movies I've seen and books I've read that feature Las Vegas, I would love to like it - because of its quirks, or despite them - but at the end of the day, in real life, there just isn't much of an appeal to me.
- Rhyolite Ghost Town
- A ghost town near Beatty, NV; just outside of Death Valley National Park.