Nevada Parks and Natural Landscapes
Not just Las Vegas!
Welcome to Nevada, the Silver State. Featured Nevada locations are listed below (including
national parks and
state parks), and shown on the
Nevada map. These are the most scenic locations in this relatively little-visted state, and include canyons, deserts, lakes, mountains, histric sites, eroded rock formations and scenic drives.
Table of Contents for Nevada
★★★★★
BEAVER DAM State Park - remote area near the Utah border, centered on a deep, forested, steep-sided canyon |
★★★★★
BERLIN-ICHTHYOSAUR State Historic Park - fossil exposures and a mining ghost town, in a remote location |
★★★★★
BIG BEND OF THE COLORADO State Recreation Area - beaches, wetlands, rocky hills and sandy desert, beside the Colorado River |
★★★★★
CATHEDRAL GORGE State Park - fantastic eroded rock formations with narrow ravines and caves |
★★★★★
CAVE LAKE State Park - reservoir in a remote valley, enclosed by limestone hills |
★★★★★
DAYTON State Park - short, wooded section of the Carson River, and relics from an 1860s silver mill |
★★★★★
ECHO CANYON State Park - remote reservoir, in a scenic canyon lined by volcanic rocks |
★★★★★
FORT CHURCHILL State Historic Park - historic mail station and the remains of a US army fort, plus a section of the Carson River |
★★★★★
KERSHAW-RYAN State Park - short, spring-fed canyon near Caliente, cultivated in the 1870s |
★★★★★
LAHONTAN State Recreation Area - reservoir along the Carson River, surrounded by sandy, high desert land |
★★★★★
LAKE TAHOE NEVADA State Park - sandy beaches on the east shore of Lake Tahoe, plus hiking trails and backcountry lakes |
★★★★★
MORMON STATION State Historic Park - replica of an 1850s trading post, at the foot of the Carson Range in the far west of the state |
★★★★★
OLD LAS VEGAS MORMON FORT State Historic Park - mostly reconstructed remains of the earliest non-native settlement in Las Vegas |
★★★★★
SPRING MOUNTAIN RANCH State Park - collection of ranch buildings adjoining the Spring Mountains just west of Las Vegas |
★★★★★
SPRING VALLEY State Park - flat-floored valley, low hills, historic buildings and a reservoir, in a remote location east of Pioche |
★★★★★
VALLEY OF FIRE State Park - weathered landscape of red, yellow and pink sandstone, close to Lake Mead. The park also has petrified dunes, narrow canyons, sheer cliffs and petroglyphs |
★★★★★
WARD CHARCOAL OVENS State Historic Park - six well-preserved charcoal kilns dating from 1876, in the foothills of the Egan Range south of Ely |
★★★★★
WASHOE LAKE State Park - dunes and wetlands beside a large lake near Carson City |
Other Scenic Places in Nevada
★★★★★
ARC DOME WILDERNESS - the southern portion of the Toiyabe Range |
★★★★★
ARROW CANYON - deep ravine through limestone strata in the northern Mojave Desert |
★★★★★
ASH MEADOWS National Wildlife Refuge - large springs at the edge of the Mojave Desert, including Devils Hole |
★★★★★
BLACK ROCK DESERT - epitome of Nevada's basin and range landscapes; a vast dry lake bed in the remote northwest, home to the Burning Man festival |
★★★★★
BUFFINGTON POCKETS - photogenic expanse of Aztec sandstone, eroded into an endless variety of forms |
★★★★★
LAKE TAHOE - major center for recreation, surrounded by high granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains (described in the California section) |
★★★★★
LAS VEGAS - the reason why most people visit Nevada |
★★★★★
LITTLE FINLAND - amazing, intricate formations of deep red Aztec sandstone |
★★★★★
LUNAR CRATER National Natural Landmark - volcanic formations in a very remote part of central Nevada |
★★★★★
MOUNT CHARLESTON - 11,918 foot peak in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas, popular for hiking, camping and skiing |
★★★★★
PANACA KILNS - well-preserved charcoal kilns from the 1870s |
★★★★★
PYRAMID LAKE - saline lake in the remote deserts of the northwest, surrounded by sagebrush flats, scattered tufa formations and desolate mountains |
★★★★★
SCENIC DRIVES - long, scenic highways across Nevada: I-80, US 50, US 93, NV 305, NV 375 (the 'Extraterrestrial Highway') and NV 376 |
★★★★★
WHITNEY POCKETS - colorful desert area north of Lake Mead, featuring unusual eroded formations of deep red sandstone |
Choose from over 190 Nevada hotels in 30 towns and cities, including
park hotels and
interstate hotels
Top locations include:
Carson City,
Elko,
Fallon,
Fernley,
Henderson,
Las Vegas,
Reno,
Sparks,
Winnemucca
Nevada Travel Itineraries
Great Basin Desert - loop around the edge of America's largest desert, visiting such places as Antelope Island, Black Rock Desert, Bodie, Cathedral Gorge, Mono Lake, Pyramid Lake, Warner Valley and Great Basin National Park
Cacti - photos and descriptions of 18 Nevada cactus species; genera are cylindropuntia, echinocactus, echinocereus, ferocactus, mammillaria, opuntia and pediocactus
Flowers - Nevada wildflowers and flowering shrubs; photographs and identifying characteristics, arranged by the most common color groups (blue, orange, pink, purple, red, white and yellow)
Driving Distances - mileages between selected places in Nevada
Introduction - summary of Nevada's scenic areas
Maps of Nevada - state map and national park maps
Weather - forecasts for Nevada cities and parks
Nevada Photographs - indexed by location
Panoramic Photographs - wide landscape photos of Nevada