Boulder City, NV

Just 8 miles from Boulder Dam and 25 miles from Las Vegas lies the city designed to house those who would build the monstrosity on the Colorado River. It was during the Great Depression and many unemployed came to find work on the dam construction in the 1930s. Boulder City was designed to accommodate the workers and their families in 1931. So as to not distract the workers there was no drinking, gambling or prostitution within the city limits. It would also sustain a workforce that would be needed to operate the dam afterwards. It just happened that we had breakfast in the oldest business in town built in 1931.

The historic downtown is charming and all about town are statues. There are also bighorn sheep in the area but these are the only ones we saw.

The Boulder Hotel was built in 1933 to accommodate visiting dignitaries overseeing the construction of the dam. We enjoyed wandering through a small art gallery, one of the shops that is housed on the second floor.

And if the town isn’t charming enough, just four miles north is Lake Mead, our home for a few days. Lake Mead was formed when Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s. Lake Mead National Recreation Area covers 1.5 million acres and we settled into the Boulder Campground on the shores of Lake Mead for a few days.

There were plenty of sites available at Boulder Campground and we were delighted to be parked under the giant eucalyptus trees.

Before leaving on the 4th day we rode the railroad trail from the campground to the dam. Actually, we drove the bikes up to the trailhead so we would not have to pedal so far uphill! And away we went.

Much of the work done on the dam began in the area that is now under the lake. They built concrete factories; as well as others, and a major railway system to haul materials to the dam. This is where they dumped the concrete that came out of the holes for the turbines. Much remains 500 feet under the lake still.

A few stops were made for small wildflowers blooming along the edge as we passed through the five tunnels on the trail.

At the end I spotted the first cactus I have seen blooming this year. They are full of buds which will burst open quite soon.