A piece of the past, present, and future.

Sunday we met up with a colleague of mine, her fiancée and his roommate's dog, Red. The guidebook says something like "if you've reached the Hacienda Hotel & Casino, you've gone too far." No kidding....the unmarked turn off is the last turn before the Hacienda's parking lot. Good thing we had that guide book - we'd have ended up in Arizona. But we made it to the parking lot just as Fiona drifted off to sleep in the back seat.

Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail in Lake Mead Recreational Area. 2 miles and change in each direction. 5 tunnels. Lake Mead. And a blue sky full of fluffy white clouds. The trail and tunnels were used to take equipment to the Hoover Dam construction site. Other than minor elevation from the parking lot, it's a level walk on compacted gravel. Four and a half miles is a lot to ask of a three year old so we didn't go beyond the tunnels. But you can walk or bike to the scenic Hoover Dam Visitor Parking Deck.

A view of the Lake Mead Marina.

Looking back at Tunnel 4. Notice how low the water level is on the lake.

Railroad tie from the old tracks.

Per Fiona, this is a volcano but it isn't exploding.

Thank you, climbing walls at every playground in the city. She was not pleased when we made her stop climbing so we could hike back to the car. But she got to have her first pee in nature shortly after this and was sufficiently distracted.

Four of the five tunnels have timber supports at either opening. Here and there you can see drill lines in the tunnel walls from where dynamite was placed.

Across the way on that ridge are old bootlegging trails. We've been told there's a peak from which you can see the Strip and Lake Mead.

A wee little rock cairn we found along the trail. I experimented with different camera settings. In the bright sun the night-time setting gave this lighting effect.

Interesting color and formations in the rock below the trail.

Again with the night-time setting on the camera. There were a few sailboats on Lake Mead that day. This one is for Anthony who is still mourning the sale of his Buc.

Should you find yourself in Nevada, this is a great walk, view, history lesson. Just make sure you don't leave the granola bars in the car.