Southern Nevada Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

37°4′12″N 116°45′36″W

Map of Southern Nevada

• 36.9094-116.75441 Beatty
• 36.0464-115.40392 Blue Diamond
• 35.9786-114.83253 Boulder City – famous for its involvement with Hoover Dam
• 37.615278-114.5141674 Caliente
• 37.708694-117.2366325 Goldfield
• 38.5253-118.62316 Hawthorne
• 36.0397-114.98197 Henderson
• 36.1721-115.148 Las Vegas – the gambling capital of North America
• 35.1417-114.61869 Laughlin – third most visited city in the state and the southernmost
• 36.8025-114.082210 Mesquite – on the border with Arizona
• 36.5757-114.491511 Moapa Valley
• 36.2086-116.011912 Pahrump
• 37.7906-114.389413 Panaca – Mormon settlement, oldest town in Southern Nevada
• 37.9414-114.448914 Pioche – former mining town
• 35.6128-115.390315 Primm – on the border with California
• 37.6467-115.745316 Rachel – famous for being the closest habitation to the Nellis Air Force Range and Area 51
• 35.4633-114.928317 Searchlight – former mining town
• 38.0692-117.230618 Tonopah – once home to the richest silver mine in Nevada, now a semi-ghost town whose economy is propped up by a nearby military test range

• 37.928056-115.3972221 Basin and Range National Monument — 704,000 acres (2,800 km²) of rugged wilderness
• 38.596389-116.8761112 Belmont Courthouse State Historic Site - 45 mi (72 km) northeast of Tonopah, Belmont was the former seat of Nye County, but now a ghost town. The Belmont Courthouse was built in 1876 and was in use for 30 years. Tours are given during the summer. Contact the Nevada State Parks Southern Region for dates and times.
• 38.882222-117.6072223 Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park
• 39.03023-116.666584 Diana's Punch Bowl - A geothermal spring at the bottom of a hole.
• 36.463-114.1765 Gold Butte National Monument - named after the gold-mining ghost town of the same name, this area preserves desert landscapes of twisted canyons, sandstone shelves, mules and bighorn sheep, and prehistoric art. It's rather inaccessible, requiring an off-road vehicle and adequate trip preparation.
• 36.0097-114.79676 Lake Mead National Recreation Area
• 38.384-116.0697 Lunar Crater National Natural Landmark - 110 km (68 mi) away from anything, it's the place where NASA trained moon-maneuvers for the Apollo missions. It's a remnant of a volcanic activity - "maar", 183 m (600 ft) deep and 1.6 km² in size.
• 36.2724-115.66158 Spring Mountains National Recreation Area
• 36.433-114.50999 Valley of Fire State Park

Southern Nevada geographically speaking is where the high desert of the Great Basin meets the low terrain of the Mojave Desert, as evidenced by a transition from sagebrush/rabbitbrush covered topography in the north to a sparser ecozone of Joshua trees and creosote south of Hwy 6.

With the other regions of Nevada, it shares a sense of remoteness, until you reach Clark County anyway, which holds the biggest population center of the state, i.e. Las Vegas. Las Vegas rises out of the desert like an oasis, thanks to the Colorado River watershed and Lake Mead next door.

Southern Nevada has a little bit of everything, from ubiquitous desert country to urban city to mining history and extraterrestrial lore, even skiing not far removed from the glitz and glamour of the Las Vegas Strip.

Nevada's main airports are Harry Reid International Airport (LAS ^IATA) in Las Vegas for commercial flights and Henderson Executive Airport (HSH ^IATA) in Henderson for VIP flights and general aviation use.

It's definitely good to have a car! Long barren distances in this large section of Nevada will make you appreciate that unless you are the hardiest of cyclists or walkers. Actually, people whose cars have become disabled or who have otherwise been stranded in the vicinity of Lake Mead have died from heat stroke and sun exposure, so one should not underestimate the extreme natural rigors of the region. Always make thorough preparations if traveling in isolated areas on unimproved roads.

• Inyo County - Lying across the border in California, Inyo County is a land of extremes, covering a massive 10,000 square mile expanse of the Eastern Sierra and California Desert. Inyo County is home to Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower-48 states, as well as Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the lower-48 states and host to earth's hottest temperatures and the continent's lowest elevation. In addition, ancient bristlecone pine trees can be found within the White Mountains, the oldest of which is estimated to be around 5,000 years old.