Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Lake Mead National Recreation Area 

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area located in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Grand Canyon National Park to just north of the cities of Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona. It includes all of the eponymous Lake Mead as well as the smaller Lake Mohave – reservoirs on the river created by Hoover Dam and Davis Dam, respectively – and the surrounding desert terrain and wilderness.

Formation of Lake Mead began in 1935, less than a year before Hoover Dam was completed. The area surrounding Lake Mead was established as the Boulder Dam Recreation Area in 1936. In 1964, the area was expanded to include Lake Mohave and its surrounding area and became the first National Recreation Area to be designated as such by the U.S. Congress.

Lake Mead NRA features water recreation - boating, swimming, and fishing – on both lakes as well as the stretches of river between the lakes. It also features hiking trails and views of the surrounding desert landscape; three of the four desert ecosystems found in the U.S. — the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin Desert, and the Sonoran Desert — meet in Lake Mead NRA. Tours of Hoover Dam – administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation – are also a major attraction within the recreation area.

About 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of the recreation area are managed separately under the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, established in 2000. Water covers about 186,000 acres (75,000 ha) of the recreation area.