Much of Nevada is desert, and deserts are known for their mirages. But many of the strange visions seen in Nevada's deserts are actually real: A huge blue lake appears in the midst of a parched landscape; a brothel materializes at a remote crossroads; a marginally talented performer named Wayne Newton becomes a millionaire.

It's tempting to attribute these strange curiosities to alien life-forms or the UFOs that seem to frequent Nevada's mysterious Area 51 just north of Las Vegas, but most bear the hand of human origins. The Hoover Dam turned a great river into the electricity that powers Las Vegas and Southern California and provides much of the water to quench the burgeoning southwest region's thirst. Add the mortal temptations of statewide gambling, big-name entertainment and all-you-can-eat buffets, and you've got yourself a ready-made tourist attraction.

Of course, people did not create Nevada's beautiful desert landscapes, which can be even more wondrous than a city of flashing neon. Nor did they manufacture the pyramid at Pyramid Lake or the hundreds of remote mountains that pepper the state. With both isolated wilderness and bustling casino towns, Nevada is a place where you can get back to basics and also relish some of the guiltiest pleasures mankind can dream up. And you can do them both on the same vacation.

Geography

History

Although Nevada is often a harsh landscape in which to live, it has a rich Native American legacy and played an important role in settling the West. The most notable tribes included the Stillwater Piutes, Toidikadi, Toi Ticutta of northern Nevada and the Yuman-speaking tribes that trace their origins from the Colorado River Valley. The hills around Las Vegas and other parts of the state are filled with priceless petroglyphs and other evidence of the area's early inhabitants. Spirit Cave Man, one of the oldest human remains found in North America, was found buried in a cave a few miles/kilometers outside Fallon, Nevada (about 60 mi/96 km east of Reno). Archaeologists estimate that he lived and thrived in the mountainous area about 9,400 years ago. His diet consisted of plants and animals that grew by the marsh, and his burial costume includes remarkably well-preserved matting made with marsh plants, a rabbit-skin robe and fur moccasins.

Early inhabitants of the Great Basin (which includes much of modern-day Nevada) were in some respects the least complex of all Native American cultures. They survived by migrating through the area, gathering wild plants and seeds and hunting rabbits and antelope. Their nomadic traditions changed little in 5,000 years. But when they gained the use of horses in the late 1600s, the native people of Nevada underwent a dramatic change in lifestyle, becoming more predatory and dependent on bison hunting.

Although Father Francisco Garces, the Spanish Catholic missionary and explorer, may have visited parts of Nevada as early as 1776, it wasn't until the 1840s that Capt. John C. Fremont made the first real explorations of what was then called the Utah Territory on behalf of the U.S. (which had acquired the territory after the Mexican-American War). In the spring of 1851, the Mormons, in their long quest for a home free from religious intolerance, were the first to settle a town in what would eventually become the state of Nevada. Located south of Reno, Genoa is a time capsule worth visiting.

But the "booms" made the state. In 1859, the discovery of gold at the Comstock Lode near Virginia City set off one of the many mining free-for-alls. Thousands of new settlers went west by stagecoach along the Pony Express route. In 1861, the boundaries of the new Nevada Territory were carved out of the larger Utah Territory. Statehood followed in 1864, after Nevada ratified the 13th Amendment that outlawed slavery. Its mineral wealth aided the Union victory in the Civil War and generated Nevada's nickname, "The Silver State."

Though many of the rich mineral strikes of the 1800s quickly played out, new discoveries created new booms in the early 1900s. Gambling was legalized in the 1930s, and that, along with the jobs and electricity created by building the Hoover Dam, led to the rise of Las Vegas and the casino-hotels, beginning in the 1940s. From 1951-62, there was another kind of boom: The U.S. military chose Nevada's desert just north of Las Vegas for atmospheric testing of thermonuclear weapons. Oddly enough, this just added to the tourist boom. The armed forces continue to maintain a strong presence in Nevada. Huge portions of the state are devoted to military use and are therefore off-limits to civilians. Nevada's mammoth tourism industry drives the state's economy both in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area in the north and the neon oasis known as Las Vegas in the south. Mining and construction round out the state's economy.

Snapshot

Nevada's main attractions include Las Vegas, casinos, fishing, skiing, big-name entertainment, deserts, snowboarding, ghost towns, big-game hunting, rock climbing, spring wildflowers, Hoover Dam, Reno, the Burning Man Arts Festival, watersports on Lake Mead and Lake Tahoe, Reno, rockhounding and Western Americana.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Great Basin National Park, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Valley of Fire State Park and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge are just a few of the places that offer outdoor recreation opportunities from bird-watching to camping to rock climbing to boating. The whole state offers a spectacular range of outdoor photography.

Anyone who's interested in gambling, outdoor recreation or Western history will have a good time in Nevada. Those who would be put off by the glitzy atmosphere of Las Vegas or who don't like very high summer temperatures should think twice about going there or should take advantage of northern Nevada's more temperate environment.

Potpourri

The rivers flowing into the Great Basin never reach the sea. Instead, they form lakes, go underground or simply end—evaporating in the desert.

Las Vegas, a city known for its gambling and vice, was actually first settled by the Mormons.

Area 51, known by UFO conspiracy theorists around the globe, is located within the Nevada Atomic Testing Grounds and is where the wreckage from the famous 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, incident was supposedly taken for study. It wasn't until 14 July 2003 that the federal government even admitted to the facility's existence.

Nevada is home to the real Top Gun, a naval air station in Fallon and the topic of the 1986 film Top Gun. Because of all the military aviation training that takes place in Nevada, you may cross paths with a practicing jet fighter, especially if you travel off the main roads. While hiking on a mountain near Fallon, we had a jet scream by us so close that we could make out the silhouette of the pilot.

The elaborate baskets woven by the Shoshone tribes were used for collecting and processing wild seeds and grasses. Though the tribes' culture was quite simple in many respects, they made some sophisticated items from native fibers, including fishing weirs, rabbit nets, clothing and mats.

Since The Amazing Colossal Man in 1957, more than 500 movies and several TV programs have been filmed in Nevada. Popular filming spots include Elko, Carson City, Las Vegas, Laughlin, Goldfield, Ely, Austin, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire State Park, Reno, Lake Tahoe, Virginia City and parts of the desert.

You can gamble almost from the moment you step off the plane—there are slot machines throughout the airports.

It was in Virginia City that Samuel Clemens, while writing for the Territorial Enterprise newspaper, first used the pen name Mark Twain.

The name Nevada is from the Spanish and means "snow-capped."