For other places with the same name, see Nevada (disambiguation).

Nevada is an arid state of the USA, lying between California and Utah. Most of the state is within the Great Basin, while the southern portion is within the Mohave desert and the Colorado river drainage.

Regions

Cities

• Battle Mountain
• Boulder City
• Beatty
• Black Rock City
• Carson City
• Elko
• Ely
• Fallon
• Fernley
• Gardnerville
• Hawthorne
• Henderson
• Las Vegas
• Mesquite
• Minden
• North Las Vegas
• Overton
• Pahrump
• Reno
• Sparks
• Tonopah
• Winnemucca

Other destinations

• Great Basin National Park
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Understand

Nevada achieved statehood in 1864, becoming the 36th state, despite its tiny population. The primary purpose of this early grant of statehood was to pack congress with two more Senators and thus help preserve Northern/Republican dominance in the post-civil war era. At the time, Nevada's economy was dominated by the mining industry, thus tying the state to the industrialized North. Nevada was also seen as a counter-balance to the more agrarian and confederate-sympathizing California.

Over the years, Nevada's economy has diversified somewhat into agriculture, light industry, distribution, and gaming. However, over 87% of the land in Nevada is still owned by the Federal Government.

There are fairly large cultural differences between Urban and Rural areas, and therefore they are treated separately here.

Urban

The urban areas, consisting of the Reno and Las Vegas areas, are heavily dependent on tourism and thus very welcoming to outsiders. In addition, these areas have seen a huge influx of immigration in recent years from both inside and outside the USA and thus have a cosmopolitan feel. In a gambling town, everyone's your friend as long as you have money. Recent immigrants from California are widely complained about (especially by the less recent immigrants from California), but that's about the extent of it.

Rural

Rural folk in Nevada are about like rural folk in the rest of the US, except more so. Although they are mostly conservative and highly individualistic, you'll be surprised by their helpful, easy going nature and tolerance of people that they don't feel threatened by. As the entire rural economy of Nevada is dependent on access to Federal lands for mining and grazing, environmental activists, and BLM and US Forest Service employees may be viewed as a threat. Young and hip people, especially from the north-eastern US, may be assumed to belong to one of those groups.

Talk

Get in

Check, if it is possible to take part at a guided tour through the NTS, the former test site of Nuclear bombs. Until 2001 it was possible to do such tours.

Get around

Desert travel

There's an awful lot of desert to explore in Nevada, and it's very easy to leave civilization behind. While that is a worthy goal, common sense is necessary to avoid life-threatening situations. Here's some tips for traveling to the more remote desert areas of Nevada:

• What to Drive: Vehicle breakdown is the easiest way to get into a survival situation in the desert. Don't travel far from the pavement in a low-clearance vehicle. Four wheel drive is strongly recommended for the winter months, and is necessary for traveling unpaved mountain roads in the winter. It is best to travel in a convoy of multiple vehicles, so that one breakdown will not strand you. Gas stations are few, far between, and often not open around the clock, so it is a good idea to carry extra fuel. If you do break down or run out of fuel, your best bet is to stay with the vehicle unless you're within 10 miles or so of civilization - Odds are that someone will come by in a day or two.

• Roads: Nevada is criss-crossed with unpaved roads, some of which are maintained, most of which are not. Due to the slow growth rate of vegetation, once a road is established it can remain passable for decades with no maintenance and little traffic. Few roads have culverts, so be on the look-out for washed out areas. These generally aren't a problem if traversed slowly, but can cause serious damage if you don't slow down in time.

• Fences: The boundaries between grazing allotments are fenced as are the boundaries between public and private land. On higher volume roads there will be a "cattle-guard" on the road which is passable by vehicles but not by cattle. Lower volume roads will have a gate across the road. Always leave the gate in the same condition as you found it - if open leave it open, if closed make sure you close it behind you. Gates leading into private land will sometimes be locked or marked with a "No Trespassing" sign, in which case you should respect the property owner's wishes and find another way to get where you want to go.

• Livestock: In open rangeland (just about everywhere in Nevada), cattle have the right-of-way. It is not uncommon for ranchers to leave hay and water for their stock close to a road, and thus it is not uncommon to encounter herds of cattle on or near the road. You should always slow way down for these herds, as the calves especially have a nasty habit of running out in front of cars. You break it, you buy it.

• Navigation: Navigation in Nevada is fairly easy if you keep your wits about you. The poverty of vegetation gives astonishingly long sight distance, and mountain ranges are ubiquitous for reference. Large-scale topographic maps of the entire state are available in bound form at most bookstores and many gas stations. These should be sufficient for most purposes. Smaller scale topographic maps are published by the US Geologic Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and can be purchased at outdoors-oriented stores (such as the REI in Reno) or photocopied at the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR) library. The BLM maps tend to be more up-to-date with regards to roads, but are more difficult to find. Due to the small scale of these maps, they are not practical for long-range vehicle travel, but can be very useful on hiking trips.

• Weather: Most of Nevada is cold desert, except the Las Vegas area. Daily temperature swings can be drastic, and sub-freezing nighttime temperatures are the norm throughout the winter. Be prepared for winter conditions between October and April. Autumn and spring are especially dangerous, as winter storms can intrude on summer-like conditions with astonishing speed. Summer precipitation is rarer, but often more intense and can cause flash-floods. A hat, long shirt, long pants, sunblock and plenty of water is your best bet for avoiding heat stroke and sunburn in the summer.

• Water: Water supplies are few, far between, and generally contaminated by livestock except in the higher elevations. Bring enough for your entire trip, plus a few days reserve, plus enough for your vehicle's cooling system in case it starts leaking. When hiking, seek local knowledge about water supplies when planning multi-day trips - don't rely on maps.

See

• Great Basin National Park. [1]. One of the lesser known National Parks and one of the newest national parks in the system, and therefore not so crowded or over-developed. It also is somewhat small, but has some lovely campgrounds and some nice hiking trails. Beware the altitude as the upper campground is around ten thousand feet. The aspens in autumn make this park SPECTACULAR!! Truly breathtaking!

Do

Gambling

Gambling is the major industry in Nevada, directly responsible for about 20% of total employment. Gambling establishments range from huge casinos boasting slot machines, table games and sports books to small bars and convenience stores with a few video poker games apiece.

Local towns depending on visitors from neighboring states have seen a significant decrease in traffic in recent years, much of which is blamed on the rise of Indian Casinos. Las Vegas, despite a downturn following September 11 2001, continues to thrive due to its destination status.

Camping

Death Valley National Park is partly in Nevada and offers great camping and hiking year round. visit: http://www.nps.gov/deva/pphtml/camping.html for more information, this is the national parks service official website.

General Reacreation

A.J. Hackett Bungy - Bungy Jumping... need we say more? - 810 Circus Circus Dr, (702) 385-4321

Desert Fox Hummer Tours - (702) 798-4866

Desert Odyssey Tours - (702) 837-7552

Eagleriders-Las Vegas - (702) 876-8687

Escape Adventures Bike Shop & Tour Center - (702) 596-2953

Exotic Transportation - (702) 837-2666

Get It Wet - (702) 558-7547

Gun Store, The - Looking to shoot a real machine gun? - 2900 E Tropicana, (702) 454-1110

Hummer Tours - (702) 798-4866

Las Vegas Gravity Zone Skydiving Center - (702) 456-3802

Las Vegas Soaring Center - Glider plane flying adventures - (702) 874-1010

Rebel Adventure Tours - (702) 380-6969

Single Track Tours - Offers Mountain Bike and Hiking Tours in the Las Vegas and Southern Utah Areas. - (702) 813-5750

Skydive Las Vegas - 1-800-U-SKYDIV or 702-759-3483

Vegas Extreme Skydiving - 1-866-EXT-JUMP or 702-303-3914

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Respect

Brothels

Brothels warrant mention here as Nevada is the only state in the US where prostitution is legal. Prostitution is legal on a county-by-county basis in licensed brothels only. Prostitution is illegal in the counties containing Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City.

Get out