Nevada

Between the high-stakes gambling in Las Vegas and Reno and the outdoor adventures available everywhere else, Nevada is truly a state for adrenaline junkies. Casinos, nightlife, and 24-hour entertainment may be the highlights of Vegas and Reno, but Nevada is a big state with a lot more to offer.

Outside its two major cities, Nevada is a haven for adventure sports enthusiasts. The northern portion of the state, known as Cowboy Country, is home to the Bonneville Salt Flats, where a number of world land speed records have been set. Elko is the commercial center of Cowboy Country, and continues to celebrate its Old West heritage by hosting an annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the oldest cowboy poetry festival in the country.

In Pony Express Country, travelers will find numerous reminders of the Gold Rush and Nevada’s mining history in towns such as Ely and Eureka. Ride the “ghost train” of old Ely, or head to Sand Mountain for a unique biking or dune buggy-riding experience.

The Reno/Tahoe territory encompasses, as you might expect, the city of Reno and the Lake Tahoe area. There’s gambling aplenty in Reno, as there is in Vegas. Lake Tahoe is one of the premiere boating and water sports hot spots in the entire country; in the winter, snows from the Sierra Nevada range allow for skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling. Nevada’s capital, Carson City, offers the Nevada State Museum and the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Pioneer Territory is the place to go for strange and varied forms of life. Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park contains the fossilized remains of three dozen of the giant marine dinosaurs that inhabited Nevada millions of years ago; Pioneer territory is also home to State Route 375, known as the “Extraterrestrial Highway,” where numerous UFO sightings have been reported.

Extreme sports can be found all over the state—there’s never far to go in Nevada before you find another place to hike or go mountain biking. More sedentary athletes can play eighteen holes at one of more than 100 golf courses in Nevada. There are a dozen championship courses in Lake Tahoe alone, including the Edgewood Tahoe golf course, rated as one of the top 25 public golf courses in the country by Golf Digest.