Nevada

Nevada still retains some of the last vast, rugged and remote wild country in the continguous United States. You can travel on gravel or hike clear across a mountain range and not see another soul for days. You can search for wildlife, from pelicans to pronghorns, from falcons to mountain lions. And you can get as wild indoors as out, winning or losing on the turn of a card.

The true origin of the Basque people is a mystery, but they are one of the oldest ethnic groups in Europe, their homeland occupying the Pyrenees Mountain provinces of France and Spain. Basques migrated to Argentina and from there made their way north, especially to California during the gold rush. Following the silver exodus east, many mined in Nevada until that work dried up. They then returned to a skill familiar from the old country: sheepherding. Basque sheepherders readily took to life in the American West, particularly in northern Nevada.

Basque festivals are an enduring cultural tradition in most of northern Nevada’s larger towns. Festivities include Mass, folk dancing, a sheep rodeo, and strength and endurance competitions. The Basques are known for their world-class wood chopping; Soka and tira are the popular tugs-of-war; and pelota is a handball game of which jai alai is an offspring.

If you’re in Nevada, you’re in one of two deserts—it’s a given. And there are remarkable differences in elevation and vegetation between the Great Basin Desert, which covers the northern three-quarters of Nevada (down to about Tonopah), and the Mojave Desert to the south.

Most of the Great Basin Desert lies between 4,500 feet and 6,200 feet of elevation, and the state flower, the silvery sagebrush, flourishes here. As you pass through the higher elevations of the aromatic sagebrush country, you may also notice piñon and other pines, juniper, mountain mahogany, aspen, several firs, and even spruce. Although these don’t add up to a very thick blanket of vegetation, they do provide adequate cover for field mice, jackrabbits, pronghorn, and bobcats.

The Mojave Desert is lower, dropping from about 4,000 feet at its northern end to 490 feet at the southern tip of Nevada. Here creosote reigns; the shrubby evergreen can live as long as 100 years in the hottest of desert environments. The line of demarcation between the two deserts is so sharp in places that the Works Progress Administration report on Nevada noted, "not a single piece of sagebrush is found within a few hundred feet south of it and not a creosote bush a hundred feet north." Once in creosote country, keep an eye out for the distinctive Joshua tree, its many, thick arms holding what look like shaggy pom-poms. Here the desert bighorn sheep stakes a claim, along with various snakes and lizards.

In nearly any rural setting in Nevada, herds of free-roaming wild horses, or mustangs, gallop across the land. Descendants of domestic horses, these powerful animals are more common here than in any other state, and they’re at the heart of one of Nevada’s great wildlife controversies. Mustangs are not a part of the natural ecology of the region, and they have a reputation among ranchers for destroying the range and polluting water.

In 1971, federal legislation made the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) responsible for rounding up horses and reducing their numbers on the open range. Although most people agree the population needs to be limited, the question is how that should be done. The BLM has been developing adoption and population control programs under its charter to protect the mustangs "as a symbol of the history and pioneer spirit of the West."

With its varied topography, Nevada has wide variations in weather. The outstanding climatic features are clear, bright sunshine, little precipitation in the valleys and deserts, heavy snowfall in the mountains, and wide daily ranges of temperature. In the south, summers are long and hot, and winters are short and mild; in the north, summers are short and hot, and winters are long and cool or cold. The average annual temperature is 45°F (7°C) at Reno and 66°F (19°C) at Las Vegas. The recorded temperature in the state has ranged from -50°F (-46°C), near the Idaho border, in 1937, to 122°F (50°C), at Overton, in 1954. Nevada is the driest state in the United States; average annual precipitation ranges from 4 inches in the southeast and Carson Sink to 24 inches in parts of the Sierra Nevada and the mountains of the northeast. Winter snowfall is heaviest in the Sierra Nevada.

Shortened from Sierra Nevada, the mountain range in western Nevada, the name Nevada comes from the Spanish word meaning "snow-covered."

Size: 110,567 square miles

Rank in size: 7

Highest point: Boundary Peak; 13,140 feet

Lowest point: Colorado River; 479 feet

Motto: All for Our Country

Nickname: Sagebrush State/Silver State

Sagebrush, the state flower, thrives along the dry Nevada landscape, giving the state one of its nicknames. Nevada has been the Silver State ever since the ore was discovered at the Comstock Lode in 1859. Nevada remains a leading silver producer.Go to: 

www.50states.com/nevada.htm

Seat belt requirements: Required for driver and all passengers.

Child restraints: Required for children up to age 5, or 40 pounds and less.

Motorcycle helmets: Required

Studded tires permitted: October 30 through April 1

Road conditions: Department of Transportation 702-687-3451; Department of Motor Vehicles 702-687-4368