Skip to content

Hula Hoops, M&Ms and Train Tunnels

November 15-21, 2018 — What a great week! All seven days were spent soaking up the peace and quiet (mostly quiet!) at Government Wash in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This is a public boat landing, so there was a bit of local traffic and a fairly steady buzz of jets and helicopters overhead.

It’s still hard to imagine that you can find such calm while being so close to the 24 hour hustle and bustle of a city like Las Vegas. We always enjoy exploring the big city life, but really prefer the serenity of country life. 

Most of our time was spent catching up on reading and watching Netflix as well as taking many leisurely strolls around Lake Mead.  We also managed to do a bit of exploring in the greater Las Vegas area, along with driving the RV into town for a much needed propane fill-up. 

All nights this week were free stays at Government Wash but be aware that the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a fee area. Cost is $25 for up to seven days or free with a National Park pass. 



Mile Driven – RV


Miles Driven – Car

Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered where everyone was going? The amount of air traffic going in and out of McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is astounding. 

The Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a fun, easy hike that follows a former railroad grade with five tunnels between the Lake Mead Visitor Center and the Hoover Dam. The entire route is 7.5 miles round trip. 

The railroad and tunnels were constructed in 1931 to enable large equipment to hauled to the Hoover Dam site. The tunnels have deteriorated over time and now require wooden shoring to maintain their integrity. 

Tunnel number three was closed during our hike due to recent rock falls. Per the National Park Service wooded shoring will be placed the entire length of tunnel to prevent injury to visitors. 

Check out our breathtaking view of Lake Mead from the Historic Railroad Trail. The light colored rock at the water level is called the “bathtub ring” and is visible due to low water levels of the lake. 

Hershey’s Chocolate World on the Las Vegas strip is a fun retail stop featuring assorted items with the Hershey’s brand logo and all types of chocolate. The stored smelled fabulous!

Decisions, decisions. So many different M & M’s to choose from at M & M World on the Las Vegas strip. We stopped there specifically to try their coconut flavored ones but unfortunately they are no longer in production. 

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is located just west of Las Vegas. It’s a beautiful park and has a number of hiking and sightseeing areas along the 13 mile scenic loop. 

This is just one of many incredible views of Red Rock Canyon from the Fire Ecology hiking trail. 

We missed seeing the wild horses and burros in Red Rock Canyon but did find lots of evidence of their existence. 

Loved these three wheel scooters that were doing a tour of Red Rock Canyon. Looks like a fun time!

A Hula hooping pedestrian? This sign in Red Rock Canyon is a regular pedestrian crossing sign and someone added a hula hoop sticker to it. Stickers have been added to similar signs across the United States and are attributed to a Colorado band known as the String Cheese Incident which uses the hula hoop pedestrian sign as its logo. 

While in Las Vegas we took time out for Jeep shopping. We couldn’t decide on a color so no Jeep for us. We did score a $50 gift card for test driving one though, so a definite win. Woohoo!

This was our front yard view at Government Wash BLM in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It’s a great free boondocking site to use as a base for exploring the Las Vegas area. Access is easy for any size rig and there is ample room for all. The stay limit is 15 days and is enforced via daily ranger patrol. Garbage dumpsters are present onsite and a free dump station with clean water is available at the nearby Lake Vegas Bay Campground.

We still have a bit more exploring planned in the Lake Mead area so we will stay at Government Wash for a few more days before heading to Arizona. Stay tuned to see what we discover next week. See you then!