Lake Mead National Recreation Area
The view upstream from Hoover Dam
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is comprised of two reservoirs (Lake Mead and Lake Mohave) and 1,495,666 acres of land and water in Utah, Arizona and Nevada. The water surface of the national recreation area usually covers about 186,000 acres but that varies over the years with water flows from far upstream. About 20,000 acres of Lake Mead National Recreation Area are managed as part of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.
South Cove on Lake Mead
The location of this huge property is along the Colorado River at the junction of three major desert ecosystems: the Mohave, the Sonoran and the Great Basin. That makes for a large variety of plants and animals living in this seemingly barren countryside.
Lake Mead was created as a result of the construction of Hoover Dam, Lake Mohave as a result of the construction of Davis Dam. Together, these two dams have tamed hundreds of miles of the Colorado River and provided water, recreation and electricity to millions of people in the southwestern United States.
Sunset Point
National Wilderness Areas at Lake Mead
View at the Lake Mead View Overlook
Lake Mead from space
Lake Mead in the Boulder Basin area
Most photos are courtesy of the National Park Service
Satellite photo courtesy of NASA
Satellite photo courtesy of NASA
Related Pages
Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area
Bitter Springs Backcountry Byway
Black Canyon Wilderness
Bridge Canyon Wilderness
Desert National Wildlife Refuge
Eldorado Wilderness
Gold Butte Backcountry Byway
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument
Ireteba Peaks Wilderness
Bitter Springs Backcountry Byway
Black Canyon Wilderness
Bridge Canyon Wilderness
Desert National Wildlife Refuge
Eldorado Wilderness
Gold Butte Backcountry Byway
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument
Ireteba Peaks Wilderness
Map courtesy of National Geographic Topo!