Boulder City Nevada Part 1

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It’s only about an 80 miles drive from Kingman Arizona Elks Lodge to the Boulder City Nevada Elks Lodge. For those keeping track, we are nearing our record for consecutive nights spent at Elks. Our prior record was 31 days at six different lodges in western Washington state back in 2017. Presently, we are at 28 days but the plan is to stay in Boulder City for a full two weeks so the new record will only require 4 lodges. This lodge has fifteen full hookup sites with 50 amp electric. It’s a bit unique in that, while they don’t take reservations per se, they allow traveling Elk to call a couple days ahead to check on availability and hold a spot if there is one. We had called to see if we could stay for 14 nights and told us that would work out fine.

What starts out as a rather desolate drive ends up being quite scenic towards the end as the road drops down through all the hills and mountains as it approaches the Colorado River. Boulder City sprang into existence back in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s when this location was selected as the spot to build what was originally called the Boulder Dam. Known today as the Hoover Dam, it is definitely on our list of things to explore while in town. Boulder City is just over 20 miles from Las Vegas. I suspect that a lot of visitors to the area come into Vegas and make a day trip down to the dam. Back in the mid 1990’s, I came out to Vegas several times for a big trade show that happens each year. I remember a group of us made the trip out for a quick glimpse of the dam when we had some down time. We hope to get in more than a glimpse of the dam and maybe fit in a tour.

Hoover Dam

What we didn’t realize before arriving in Boulder City is that it is one of only two cities in the state of Nevada where gambling is illegal. This is fine by us. Gambling isn’t one of our things. Being engineers, we know the odds and also never understood the appeal of it, especially the smoke filled casinos. It will be nice to not have the ever present slot machines at every establishment in town. I suppose if the gambling urge hits us, we can make the short drive to the neighboring town.

After a day with less than ideal weather, we headed over to the dam the following day. US 93 used to travel across the top of the dam in both directions which made this a very busy and congested spot. Back in 2010, a bridge was built just downstream of the dam, so the only traffic in the area are tourists. They have closed the old road to thru traffic so the only access to the dam is from the Nevada side. There is a parking garage and a couple lots near the dam that charge $10 to park. We had read someone’s blog about the parking lots just up the hill in the Arizona side where you can park for free. We figure since we would likely walk up there to see the view and get some pictures anyways, we might as well just park there. There are multiple lots as you head up out of the canyon. You’ll eventually hit the place where the road is now closed but there is a large loop to turn back and head out thru Nevada. I suppose it would be possible to at least drive over the dam with a larger vehicle and maybe even find a spot to park if it’s not too crowded.

View from Up High on Arizona Side

Four Inlet Towers for Hydroelectric Plant

We headed straight to the visitor center to see about getting tour tickets. There are a couple options available. Tickets for the power plant tour can actually be made online in advance but to include a tour of the dam itself, you can only purchase them in person.  It must not have been too busy because after getting thru the security screening, Chris got us the $30 per person tickets for the dam and power plant tour and only had a 10 or 15 minute wait for the tour to start. It starts with a good introductory video about why and how the dam was built before we head down the elevator into the dam. It’s an impressive facility and the engineer in me wanted to understand all about the place. The pipes directing water into the turbines are massive. One of the stops gave a great view of how the original river diversion tunnels used during dam construction are now used to house the 30 foot diameter pipes.

Schematic of Hoover Dam Water Flow

Huge Pipe Feeding Water to Power Plant

The surprising aspect of the facility is the fact that it has a Art Deco style incorporated in much of the public spaces. I would have expected it to be a plain, utilitarian design, but a lot of effort and money was spent on making the place pretty. The designers realized that there would be public tours of the facility and they wanted it to be nice. We did find that the present day tours take us to areas that weren’t expected to be open to the public so the hallway is simply a carved out tunnel in the rock with utility pips running overhead instead of granite floors and subway tile lined ceiling and walls.

Subway Tile Lined Tunnel

Large Pattern in Floor

More Rustic Tunnel

The tour comes to an overlooking balcony of the Nevada side of the power plant. This side has 8 turbines while the Arizona side has 9. After this stop, we head to the interior of the dam itself. There are large ventilation shafts that head out to louvered openings in the face of the dam. Our tour guide did a good job of arranging the group to take their turn to walk down a seven foot diameter shaft and peak out the opening for a view and pictures. We were all warned to be very careful about dropping your camera or phone since they will not survive the several hundred foot fall down the rest of the dam. Once it was our turn, it was neat to see the river and power plant below and the bridge for US 93 just downstream. While waiting for the group to get their turn, we see the very steep staircase that would be used in case of elevator outage. The picture may look like a horizontal tunnel but is probably closer to a 45 degree downward slope. This was the end of the tour except for the elevator ride back to the top.

Eight Turbines on Nevada Side 

Waiting My Turn in Air Shaft

Getting Closer

View from Air Shaft

Steep Staircase Down

Our tour ticket also allows us to check out the museum. Normally the wait to go on the tour would give the opportunity to see the museum first, but we didn’t have a chance so we head back in to see the museum as well as the views from the deck up above the power plant. It did mean we needed to go thru the security checkpoint again but it was worth the effort. There is also an exhibit building just down the road from the museum that is included with the ticket and is worth the time. They have a very large diorama of the river system in the area with all the various dams. It includes a short program where the complete system is described.
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Hoover Dam Museum

Back Side of Hoover Dam from Museum

Exhibit Building

It took awhile but we finally had explored all the various things there are to do at the dam and head back to the car. It wasn’t clear if the water level is exceptionally low or not. The striking white band that goes around the perimeter of the lake is mainly from the high water during the summer of 1983 when the water did go over the spillways on both sides of the dam.

Nevada Inlet Towers

Lake Mead with White Band at High Water Mark

Nice Place for an Event at Spillway House

We knew there was a parking area for the stairs up to the walkway that goes along the side of the bypass bridge. It’s a good climb up but the views from there are quite nice. Even Chris with her fear of heights survived and enjoyed the sights. Less than a mile further up the road from the dam is a turn for Lake Mead Overlook. The lot is small with room for about a dozen cars. There is a nice view over the lake with a marina. It wasn’t clear how well the marina would do if the water levels were to rise to the highest as seen by the rings around the island. From this vantage point, we could see there is a trail a hundred feet below the overlook. We will need to check that out at some future day. We enjoyed our day at the dam.

Pedestrian Section of Bypass Bridge

Another View of Dam, Power Plant and Lake Mead

View at Lake Mead Overlook

During our next two days we search out this trail we had seen from the overlook. It turns out that it is the Historic Railroad Hiking Trail. A railroad line had been built to deliver supplies from town into the dam site. West of town, the tracks are still in place and there is a business that offers rail bike rides. It looked like a lot of fun but alas we didn’t fit this activity in. East of town, the tracks are removed and it is now a walking trail. We did a portion of the trail walking a two mile loop using the trail for half of it and walking thru a fancy neighborhood for the return trip. There are some nice views of Lake Mead along the trail.

Distant View of Lake Mead

Bighorn Sheep Sculpture

We also spent a few hours the following day doing a bike ride from the Lake Mead Visitor Center. Being a former rail line, there isn’t too extreme of a slope. The neat thing about this portion of the trail is there are 5 tunnels blasted thru the rugged terrain to get to the dam. They are quite wide and tall, I suppose to allow for large equipment and supplies to be transported thru them. The end of one of the tunnels has some damage and is occasionally having pieces of rock fall from above. They used a unique solution to keep the many visitors safe - they placed a large shipping container beneath the dangerous area and have a ramp in and out of it. It’s like a tunnel within the tunnel.

No Tunnel Required

Tunnel with a Second One Just Behind It

Innovative Safety System

Curved Tunnel

Another Overlook of Lake Mead

We had heard that Valley of Fire State Park needed to be on our “must do” list for this area. It’s about a 90 minute drive to the northeast from Boulder City. The longer route goes thru Vegas and up I-15 but we pick the more scenic drive up thru the Lake Mead Recreational Area. There is a fee to go this route but our annual national park pass gets us in. There are pretty views along the drive but since we are on a mission, we opt to not stop along the way to check Lake Mead out.

By coming the route we picked, we enter the park at the east entrance. Almost immediately after the entrance booth, is a parking ares for something called Elephant Rock. It sounded interesting so we pulled in and parked. The main rock of interest is only about 800 feet from the parking lot so if that’s your only goal, it would be a very easy walk. A large tour bus pulled in behind us and a mass of visitors exited and made a beeline to see Elephant Rock. Since we had planned on hiking the 1.3 mile loop trail that starts here, we decided it made more sense to avoid the crowds and take the loop in the counterclockwise direction.

East Entrance to Park

It’s easy to see how the park got its name. The rocks are predominantly a reddish orange and make for a very scenic walk. Our plan worked well. The tour bus people were only there for Elephant Rock so we avoided the crowds and only ran into a few others along the trail.  By the time we worked our way back around to the road, there were only a handful of people checking out the elephant - and it does sort of look like one. I’m not sure how quickly this rock erodes so the elephant may not last for more than a few more decades.

Along Elephant Rock Loop Trail

Elephant Rock

Lots of Cavities in Rocks

We make a quick stop at the very crowded visitor center. We watched the movie about the park but decided to get out and enjoy it rather than stay indoors and check out all the displays. We continue up the park road to the north and stop at Mouse’s Tank. It too was a rather busy parking lot. I guess that even though it was a Monday, it was the Monday of Thanksgiving week so there were lots of other tourists out and about. It was a nice walk of under a mile round trip. There was a section of petroglyphs and some fun rock scrambling at the end of the trail for the more adventuresome.

Two People Walking Hand in Hand with Who Knows What?

A bit further up the road is a side road called Fire Canyon. There are some remarkable rock formations back in this area. Not so much from a shape standpoint but from the stark color variations with a very delineated line between the red and white rocks. Some scenes from the movie Star Trek Generations were filmed in the general area. We didn’t go as far as to watch the movie and then try to find the exact spots but it was still a nice stop.

Fire Canyon

A bit further up the road is the stop for the Fire Wave. We knew this was another “must do” hike but we decided to leave it for later in the day with the hopes of getting better colors from the late afternoon sun. At the far end of the road is the White Domes hike. It’s a 1.25 mile loop that offers some more incredible scenery. The colors and textures of the sandstone don’t seem natural. Part way along the hike are some remnants from a movie that was shot back in the mid 1960’s - The Professionals.

Along White Domes Hike

There is a section of the trail that goes in a narrow canyon and is kind of interesting to walk thru. As we start to head back towards the road, we see a few bighorn sheep watching us from atop one of the large rocks. They didn’t seem to mind the large number of people walking the trail below them. I suspect some of the less observant visitors don’t even notice them. I scrambled up a small rock mound on the opposite side of the trail to get a better view of the half dozen sheep.

Entering Narrow Canyon

We're Being Watched

Afternoon Rest Spot

After this hike, we head back to the Fire Wave trailhead. It too was a busy parking lot. Off in the distance, we could see dark clouds heading our way. Maybe our plan to have perfect light to see the “wave” would be thwarted by rain? It seemed like the majority of the people visiting this spot were headed in the other direction. Since the trail is mainly across the top of the sandstone, the only real markers were large piles of stones to denote the trail. There weren’t really signs when we reach the “Fire Wave” but it is clear we had arrived. The swirling red and white bands is sandstone were quite impressive.

Starting Fire Wave Trail with Ominous Clouds

Approaching Fire Wave with Clouds Overhead

Shortly after arriving, the wind really picked up and started to blow the small grains of sand every which way. That was quickly followed by wind driven rain. The kicker was when the small hail or sleet pellets started to bombard us. I had managed to get a few pictures before the weather turned bad, but I had really hoped to spend some time out there and look for the best angles for shots. It wasn’t clear that this was just a passing shower or a multi hour event so we headed back. Even though the trail was now wet, it didn’t seem too slick but it was a challenging walk back. Just before we made it to the car, the clouds passed and brought the glorious sun out. I was tempted to head back out but by this point we were rather tired and we knew sunset wasn’t too far off.

Fire Wave Seems Appropriately Named

We did stop at the visitor center on the way out, not to see it but to take advantage of the now wonderful sunlight as it hit the rocky hills nearby. On the way out of the park, we stopped at Seven Sisters picnic area. The setting sun, clouds and distant hills made for an eerie spot. In all this was a wonderful stop. There were many more stops in the western side of the park but it was too late in the day to go see them. Something for a future visit.

Stunning Rocks in Late Day Sun

Eerie View

After the long day at Valley of Fire, we took it easier the next day and did a short hike from the River Mountain Trail parking area. A series of geocaches became our guide. The number of trails in this area just north of Boulder City is nearly overwhelming. Some are identified as okay for mountain biking but the ones we hiked seemed to be way more challenging than I would ever imagine attempting. One goes thru a narrow slot canyon with an extremely rocky bottom and sharp, jagged side walls that leads to a 5 foot drop off. We managed to hike it but a bike ride would end in a hospital visit.

River Mountain Trail Views

Too Rugged for a Bike Ride?

After the hike, we drove into town to check out the home of the Fisher Space Pen. These pens are the ones that have a pressurized cartridge so they can write in any orientation or even in wet conditions. The place is rather small and they don’t offer any tour but do have a small room up front with a wide assortment of specialized pens. I always carry one of these pens when geocaching. There were plenty of very fancy pens but the old one that has survived being run over by a car still seems to be working just fine so we leave without spending anything other than our time. The next post will conclude our stay in Boulder City.