Loading ...Hooverdam Nevada USA Travel
Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Hoover Dam is located about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas on Highway 93. It straddles the Colorado River at Black Canyon, a deep narrow defile on the border between the states of Nevada and Arizona. It was originally called Boulder Dam, and the nearby city of Boulder, Nevada was created to house the workers building this amazing wonder of engineering. You can easily drive to Boulder City and Hoover Dam from Las Vegas in less than one hour.
Once you pass through Boulder City Nevada on your way to Hoover Dam, you will see the large steel electric transmission towers that transport the hydroelectric energy from the dam to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and many other southwestern cities. You will come to a scenic pullout that overlooks Lake Mead. Finally, you will descend part way into Black Canyon via a winding precipitous road that provides you with tantalizing glimpses of the massive dam. Unfortunately, you are not permitted to stop or to pull off the road to savor the view.
Hoover Dam is one of the largest dams in the world. It is 726 feet high (232 m) and 1244 feet long (379 m). It impounds the waters of the largest reservoir in the USA, Lake Mead. It is worth seeing.
You can access the shores of Lake Mead from several locations off of route 166, also known as Lakeshore Scenic Drive, or from route 167 east of Las Vegas. You can access Lake Mohave from route 95 south of Las Vegas on the Nevada side or from route 93 southwest of Hoover Dam on the Arizona side.
The city of Boulder is a small desert community that offers a quiet alternative to the glitz of Las Vegas. It has a modest selection of restaurants, shops, boutiques and stores that cater to the local residents as well as to the tourists coming to visit the nearby dam. This is a pleasant place to stop for lunch while on an afternoon excursion to Hoover Dam.
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