October 21, 2012

Considering we were in Vegas, Chandler is a dam engineer and Tayler had never been, we headed to the Hoover Dam.

When we got to the security check point, we were told our trailer could not go down to the dam and we had the leave it at a casino up the road. Luckily Taylor was paying attention because he noticed a historical railroad hike that goes to the dam in the parks ng lot of the casino.

The hike was flat and easy, but it was sunny, warm and Lucy was welcomed. There were five tunnels and lots of interpretive signs along the way. The tracks had been removed, but we followed the route that had been used during the construction of the dam.

Tunnel

Lake Mead

The Hoover dam is the second largest dam in the US and is a concrete gravity arch dam.

Hoover Dam

The bridge which bypasses the dam was also amazing and a little scary. Chan had already been on the bridge so he offered to stay with Lucy while Tayler and I had a look around. It was super windy and extremely high up with traffic rushing close by.

Bridge

We spent the night at a campground that used to be right next to Lake Meade when the reservoir water level was higher. Now it is a 10 minute walk or so to the water.