6 National & State Parks In Nevada You Have To Visit

Nevada is perhaps the most empty state in the United States... if we're strictly talking about human development. With over 80% of its land being federally owned, it instead features one of the most abundant collections of state and national parklands across the nation, making it a favorite for park enthusiasts, especially those who want to truly get off the grid.

From the seemingly endless mountains and valleys of the Great Basin to the vast deserts around Las Vegas, here are six destinations that you simply have to visit yourself to get a real grasp of Nevada's rugged beauty.

Great Basin National Park

Great Basin National Park gives you a clear view of Nevada’s lesser-known alpine and subterranean landscapes, all in one relatively small location. With that, the park’s sheer range of elevations also supports a handful of distinct habitats, making it possible to move from desert foothills to glacial cirques within a short drive!

Wheeler Peak, the park’s 13,063-foot central summit, can be seen from countless miles away and provides access to several established trails, including routes through ancient bristlecone pine groves. The mountain is also capped with Nevada's only surviving glacier. These aged trees, however, are among the oldest living organisms on the continent, and a web of marked paths weaving between them makes it easy to examine the groves up close.

Beneath the surface sits Lehman Caves, a limestone cavern system that hosts ranger-guided tours that focus on its unique rock formations, claustrophobic passageways, and the geology that shaped its lengthy chambers. Access to the cave can be found near its own adjacent visitor center, but be aware that it is closed off for the winter months.

Nighttime conditions here are another draw, as Great Basin's ultra-isolated setting results in consistently dark skies, low in light pollution, and suitable for incredibly clear stargazing. Together, these features outline an underrated national park with a surprising bounty of sights and activities that can often be enjoyed with no other humans in sight.

Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire State Park is best known for its brilliantly red sandstone formations that form an almost dreamlike landscape shaped by erosion over millions of years. Here, you are free to follow short, clearly marked trails to popular natural features such as Fire Wave, the White Domes, and Elephant Rock. Each route will also take you past exposed rock layers that highlight the region’s incredible geologic history. Moreover, Petroglyphs carved by Indigenous communities are visible along the Atlatl Rock area, where a staircase leads directly to them.

The park’s roadways create convenient entry points for exploring a plethora of other locales, like slot canyons, arches, and layered cliffs, without having to embark on drawn-out approaches. Whether in your car or on foot, keep your eyes peeled for the area's wildlife too, with sightings typically including bighorn sheep, snakes, and other desert reptiles adapted to the park’s harsh environment.

Because of its varied terrain and proximity to Las Vegas, Valley of Fire is also a renowned spot for landscape photography, with photo opportunities at differing levels of light available all throughout the day, especially when the colorful sandstone gets hit by equally vibrant sunrises or sunsets.

Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park

The Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park is the largest state park on this famously clear lake's shoreline. Sand Harbor is the primary access point on the Nevada side of this body of water (with California, to the west, bordering the other half), known for its sandy beaches, smooth granite boulder patches, and water clean enough to swim, kayak, or simply appreciate from a shoreline walk. The adjacent Sand Point Nature Trail gives an elevated view of the coastline and boasts a number of local wildflower communities shaped by the lake’s climate.

Further north, the Thunderbird Lodge Historic Site hosts regularly scheduled guided tours that explain the longstanding estate’s architecture, tunnels, and role in Tahoe’s early 20th-century development. Better yet, you can book a lake cruise on the estate's very own vintage yacht as well!

This park also includes Spooner Lake, a high-elevation basin with a loop trail suited for year-round walking and wildlife observation. From Spooner, you can then enter the Marlette Lake Trail system, which leads through mixed conifer forests toward one of the region’s most scenic reservoirs.

This layout ultimately creates a set of natural and historic points within one protected area, enjoyable in both winter and summer, and provides a perfect escape to nature for residents of nearby Reno and Carson City.

Cathedral Gorge State Park

Cathedral Gorge State Park houses a landscape of narrow slot canyons and clay formations created by the slow erosion of an ancient lakebed. What many consider the best way to explore the area is the Miller Point Trail, providing a straightforward route to an overlook that shows how the region's soft bentonite clay has weathered over time into spires, ridges, pinnacles, and other oddities.

Inside the park’s “caves,” which are actually steep, shaded slots, you'll have the chance to walk through tight corridors that reveal the interesting vertical structures of various sediment layers. The Moon Caves and Cathedral Caves areas also demonstrate the sharp contrast between the bright basin floor and the enclosed passageways.

Because the terrain here changes significantly with light and shadow, spots like these make way for highly varied viewing conditions from early-morning and late-afternoon. In other words, the area provides lots of revisit value for photographers looking to take truly unique images of the park at different times of day.

Cathedral Gorge also opens a window into the early days of Nevada's state park system with its historic 1930s-era picnic shelters and campgrounds, where educational panels further outline early Civilian Conservation Corps work in the region.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area presents a very accessible cross-section of Mojave Desert geography just west of Las Vegas. Its main draw, a scenic drive that forms a 13-mile loop, contains a number of direct entry points to most of the area's major trailheads, making it easy and convenient to examine the Calico Hills, the Keystone Thrust fault, and the canyon’s layered sandstone from a variety of angles.

Short paths such as Calico Tanks give intimate views of the area's iconic iron-stained rock surfaces and natural water pockets, while longer routes like Turtlehead Peak supply a clear vantage over the entire escarpment. On the other hand, the Willow Springs area contains petroglyphs and other remnants of early habitation, adding a bit of cultural/historic flair to this arid yet picturesque landscape.

Moreover, rock climbers use the sheer walls throughout the canyon for their own purposes, while a few designated overlooks help non-climbers obtain the same kinds of lofty views of the cliff faces without such difficult and dangerous approaches. Altogether, Red Rock Canyon serves as a compact but detailed slice of Nevada’s desert terrain right outside of the state's biggest city.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Encompassing both natural and man-made wonders, Lake Mead National Recreation Area spans a large section of the Colorado River and centers on two major reservoirs: Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. Here, you'll be able to access marinas such as Hemenway Harbor and Cottonwood Cove, each providing entry for boaters looking to explore on the water. Furthermore, the southern section of the park contains Katherine Landing, which mainly functions as a hub for fishing and other water-based recreation on Lake Mohave.

If you prefer to venture around on foot, be sure to stop by the Historic Railroad Trail near Boulder City, a trail that follows a former rail line through five different tunnels. At certain points, the Railroad Trail even rewards with elevated views of Lake Mead and the famed Hoover Dam.

On the nature side of things, along the western reaches of the park is the Bowl of Fire, a locale that openly displays bright volcanic rock formations reachable by short cross-country routes. Desert bighorn sheep, migratory birds, and lizards are commonly seen across the basin’s open terrain, so definitely be on the lookout for them too!

Nevada clearly has a very cool collection of national and state parks, each of which outlines a wide geographic range, from alpine peaks to volcanic basins, sandstone corridors, and human-made engineering marvels. Each of the above-mentioned sites has been chosen due to them highlighting a different chapter of the state’s natural and/or cultural histories through awe-inspiring viewpoints, trail systems, distinct landforms, and other fun amenities that can only be had with a well-managed parks system.

Whether your personal focus is geology, archaeology, wildlife, hydroelectric generation, or wide-open desert scenery, these highly recommended attractions all provide reliable and fun ways to better understand this underrated state outside the bright lights of the Vegas Strip.