Category Archive

Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail leads to the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead Recreation Area, Nevada.

This is Janine riding the old railroad bed that now makes up the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail.  This is a cool trail, great for biking or walking.  It travels through 5 tunnels as is traverses its way above Lake Mead from the Visitor Center Parking lot to the Hoover Dam parking lot – about 7 miles in length if you do the round trip.  This railroad was built to assist with the construction of Hoover Dam.

For this photo, I switched to manual mode and exposed for the sunny areas outside the tunnel.  Otherwise the camera metering system would have a tough time accounting for the large dark areas.

Wildflowers, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I was surprised to find a few wildflower in Valley of Fire at the end of such a hot dry summer season.  I was thrilled to find a group of wildflowers next to one of the most colorful patches of rock I had seen!

Wave like hill in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

We spent more time yesterday hiking in the back-country of Valley of Fire.  As most of you already know, this is my favorite area in Nevada.  This cool hill kind of reminds me of The Wave in Northern Arizona – without the people and permit hassles.

Las Vegas may have fancy shows and great restaurants, and can be a lot of fun, but it still can’t compete with sweet light in a beautiful landscape like Valley of Fire.  Throw in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a cool shooting star at the end of the day and you have something that Las Vegas could never top!

Visitors enjoying Shark Reef, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada.

A cool candid moment of some visitors at the Shark Reef exhibit at the Mandaley Bay.

I hadn’t planned on following up my post on Lake Mead hitting an all time low with a couple of Las Vegas water exhibits, just the way it worked out.

Aggregate rock hill, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I found this interesting solid rock aggregate in the sea of red sandstone in the Valley of Fire.  It was like the rocks were cemented together – lots of interesting shapes and colors.  Too bad the brittlebush wasn’t blooming.

Valley of Fire State Park has been high on my list for exploring after finding this fascinating place a couple of years ago:  colorful hills – Valley of Fire.  I hope to spend more time out there in the upcoming week.

The fountain show at the Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada.

I have photos of the Belligo fountains, and I have views from high above like this, but until last night, I didn’t have the two together!

View of the Hoover Dam from the new bypass Bridge between Nevada and Arizona.

The Hoover Dam bypass bridge, officially named the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tilman Memorial Bridge (after the late Nevada governor and the late Arizona soldier and football player) finally opened to vehicle traffic last week, and to people traffic a on an attached walkway a couple of days later.  The walkway does provide a great view of the dam, but isn’t for those with a fear of heights – you are almost 900 feet above the Colorado River!  I can’t help but think this structure will be a big attraction for BASE jumpers, bungee cord jumpers and people committing suicide – at this point there really aren’t any obstructions to such pursuits.

We have been watching the construction of this massive bridge for years – it wasn’t uncommon to see workers hanging high above the river on cables doing what appeared to be very dangerous work.  The need for this bridge became more acute after 9/11 when truck traffic between Arizona and Nevada was no longer allowed to use the narrow two lane road across the top of the bridge, thus forcing them to take a longer route between the two states.  Even without truck traffic, getting across the dam could often take hours because of the flood of tourist who came to see the dam – this bridge was to bypass all that mess.

You might notice the large bath tub ring around the lake behind the dam – Lake Mead.  This is a whole different story.  About a week ago, Lake Mead hit an all-time low thanks to an ongoing drought.  The last time the water level was this low was in 1937 as the lake was actually being created.  Since 1999, the lake level has dropped 130 feet!  If it drops another 8 feet, emergency measures kick in reducing Nevada’s water supply by 6%.   This is significant, as Southern Nevada draws 90% of its water supply from this lake according to a recent article in the Las Vegas Review.  If the lake drops another 33 feet, it will begin to drop below some of the intake tubes.

Ironically, after hitting this all time low a week ago, the Las Vegas area has received about an inch and a half of rain.  But if things don’t change, it is anticipated that new record lows will be set again by next May with the arrival of hot, dry weather.

Hoover Dam bypass bridge as viewed from the top of Hoover Dam.