Desert Lakes to Sin City to Man Made Marvels

From Death Valley we crossed into Nevada and drove the Extraterrestrial Highway to visit our friend Merry. Merry was my supervisor when I first got to Alaska. Since then she has moved to a small 5,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge, 95 miles north of Las Vegas. We had a short but fun visit with her.

Extraterrestrial Highway Sign near Area 51

Road Hazard

Pahrangat Lake on Pahrangat National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge staff consists of Merry and one maintenance worker. As a result, she is forced to do much of the work at the refuge, including taking care of one of the only National Wildlife Refuge campgrounds. To help alleviate her workload we took over the campground cleaning duties one day. It didn’t take long for us to rediscover how messy most people are, especially at a free campground. We collected numerous bags of litter and dave was rewarded with cleaning poop off the bathroom walls.

dave as a Janitor

Merry and Us

From Merry’s we intended to head directly towards the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately Las Vegas was blocking our path. I have been adamant this entire trip that we would not waste our time visiting a city built on greed and sin. But dave was able to talk me into driving the strip to see what all the hoopla was about. We were only in Vegas for a short time but I can now say with certainty that I will never go there again!

Legalized Prostitution

Casinos

Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam were the next obstacles blocking the way to the Grand Canyon. The Hoover Dam was built from 1931 to 1935 as part of Roosevelt’s works projects. It blocks the Colorado River and creates Lake Mead. Even though both areas are popular tourist attractions it’s hard for us to condone denying water to the people downstream in order to create Sin City and turn desert landscapes into profitable farmland. After living in Alaska for four years and seeing the beauty of a natural river system, we don’t see a confined river and a fake, manmade lake as any place we would like to spend our free time.

Lake Mead (Notice the white lines on the rocks surrounding the lake. This was the high point of water when the river was first blocked. Evaporation and diminishing river flow from extended drought have contributed to dropping water levels.)

Intake Towers (Water is taken into the intake towers from upriver and then passed through the dam to create electricity.)

Hoover Dam