Hoover Dam & Lake Mead

The Hoover Dam tour was interesting, but extremely limited for security reasons. The only place you can go inside the Dam is one of the generator buildings at the base. There is an observation area a few stories above the top of the dam, and you can wander "freely" along the top. I say "freely" because there are sidewalks, there is also a heavily traveled highway.


 Inside one of the generator buildings. The row of generators in this picture are capable of generating about 1,000KW (1MW) of electricity.

 Looking down at the Colorado River from the top of the dam. The two long buildings on either side of the river house the generators.

Cantilevered high-tension towers on the west side of the Colorado river.

 A shot taken from the top of the dam, looking back at Lake Mead.

Most of the following shots were taken aboard the "Desert Princess" stern-wheeler. The boat runs ~2hr tours of the lake.

Note the white "high-water line" along the edge of Lake Mead. It is approx 6ft high. The NPS tours guides at the Hoover Dam repeatedly said that Lake Mead was not low. They claimed that the white mark was the result of flooding in the 1980's. But several sources (The Las Vegas Sun, Arizona Public Radio, among others) say that the lake had hit a 30yr low level in 2002. One other indication is that the dock for the Desert Princess was not a permanent structure. It was a floating dock, with the old permanent dock high and dry on the shore.

 The mountain is the remnants of a volcano which was active ~6million years ago. This shot was taken from a "stern wheeler" boat that runs tours on the lake.

 Another shot of the volcano, this one from the west shore of Lake Mead.

 A "close-up" of the high water line. I also liked the colors in this cliff. 

 Big Horn Sheep populate the cliffs along the shore of Lake Mead.

 A baby Big Horn Sheep.

 Another Big Horn Sheep.