On this episode of Outdoor Nevada, we are exploring a few of Nevada's amazing state parks.

First, I check out the Ice Age Fossils State Park in Southern Nevada.

Here, it's all about the megafauna.

These creatures once roamed the land now called Las Vegas.

Then it's up to Lincoln County and the Pioche area.

Here, I explore the Spring Valley State Park and learn about some of Nevada's early settlers.

Finally, it's off to Echo Canyon State Park for an amazing canyon hike.

This is an adventure for everyone.

I hope you're ready for some fun.

♪♪♪ I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪ Ice Age Fossils State Park is a captivating site that offers a window into the prehistoric past of the region.

The site is dedicated to preserving and showcasing the rich array of fossils that were discovered in the area.

Visitors to the park can explore an area that was once roamed by a diverse array of megafauna, including mammoths, brown sloths, and camels.

The Visitor Center features engaging exhibits that offer insights into the lives of these ancient creatures and the environmental conditions they faced.

Let's go check it out.

This park has a little something for everyone.

First, you're welcomed by a massive and ornate metal woolly mammoth.

The Visitor Center sits not far off and features a collection of unearthed fossils and detailed information about the park.

This is where I'm meeting up with Dawn for a quick tour of the Visitor Center.

This is awesome!

-Well, thank you.

-Tell me about the Visitor Center.

(Dawn Reynoso) Well, when people come in, there's a variety of different sorts of displays and fossils and interactive exhibits that people can come in and see.

-What can people expect to learn when they're here?

-Well, I mean, you're gonna learn about some of the animals that once called this place home.

You're gonna learn about the history of scientific exploration, and hopefully get a good overview of the park and get you ready to get out and on the trail.

-What do people get most excited about when they're looking around?

-I mean, it really depends on what most people are just jazzed about.

And so it really just depends.

Some people are history people, so they find the history of scientific exploration or the radiocarbon dating history really interesting.

Other people, like myself, really enjoy the geology and the fossils, and that's what really gets them excited about stuff.

We have a little bit of something for everybody.

-And how old are the fossils that are in here?

-It depends on the fossils.

So we have a range of ages here, all within the last Ice Age.

The oldest fossils we have within the park itself only go back to about 90,000 years ago.

-And all the fossils that are in the Visitor Center were found right here in the park?

-So some of them were found within the park boundaries.

Some were found within a couple miles of the park in the greater Tule Springs Fossil Beds area.

But for the most part, it's all within 4 miles of where we're standing.

-That is incredible.

I'm gonna head out and meet up with JT, and he's gonna show me around the park.

-Sounds wonderful.

Thanks.

-What's really cool about the Visitor Center is this wall.

It depicts what this area looked like 21,000 years ago.

It is captivating with these detailed projections showing the megafauna roaming the landscape.

It felt like traveling back in time.

It was wild to see.

From here, I caught up with JT and headed out to the Megafauna Trailhead.

JT, thanks for meeting me today.

-Absolutely.

-Where are you from?

(JT Terwilliger) Vegas, born and raised.

-That makes two of us that are from the hometown.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-How long have you been here?

-Since opening day, January.

-So you're a true day-number-one here at Ice Age Fossils.

-Absolutely.

-When you walk out from the Visitor Center and look out onto the 315 acres of the park, there's an amazing collection of artistic representations of the megafauna.

These exhibits are really cool.

Are there are a bunch all the way down?

-We have several of the megafauna here on the Megafauna Trail.

These were some of the largest mammals during the Ice Age, and we like to highlight some of the really cool facts about each one along the way so that the public has a really good idea about some of the amazing fossils that have been found out here from some of these megafauna.

-It's funny.

When you say "fossils" and "Ice Age," I've lived in Vegas, this is Vegas.

It's hot here, right?

I don't think of Ice Age.

-Yeah, me too.

I'm born and raised here.

Same thing.

I didn't know much about the Ice Age.

The climate was a lot different 20,000 years ago, and a lot cooler.

And these, all these mammals that you see behind us, they would just roam wild and free out here-- a lot, yeah, a lot different climate than what we have here today.

-When people come to the Ice Age Fossils Park, what can they expect to see, and what can they do?

-So much to see and do here at Ice Age.

My personal favorite is hiking.

You know, over 3 1/2 miles of trail out here to go hike.

We have an amazing museum experience indoors.

You learn about the history of the park, the geology, the paleontology.

-When you say hiking trails, are they difficult hiking trails, or are they more easy and like the one we have here.

-So we have several different difficulty levels here.

This Megafauna Trail we have here is accessible to anybody.

I mean, we wanted people to be able to walk no matter what speed you walk.

The other trails can get a little bit more moderate.

There are areas where you go down stairs, loose rock underneath you, but 3 1/2 miles of trail, including this Megafauna Trail, something for everyone here at Ice Age.

-I would love to hike.

I've got a little time today.

What should we do?

-Well, let's go to the Wash Trail.

There's a whole bunch of cool stuff to see out there.

-Let's do it.

-All right.

-As you walk the trails here, you can't help but think about what was once here and how different it is to the landscape now.

It's mind blowing to think about it.

As we walked, JT pointed out some of the different dig sites and the types of fossils that were unearthed.

-After a recent rain, we just had a mammoth molar discovered, and it was in perfect condition.

It still had the tooth enamel on it.

-What?

-Yeah, absolutely.

-The trails here offer scenic paths through the Mojave Desert landscape, showcasing ancient fossil beds in unique geological formations.

Visitors can enjoy a mix of paved and unpaved trails with informational signs highlighting the park's rich prehistoric history, including fossils of mammoths, camels, American lions, giant sloths, bison, and more.

What's this?

-So this is an area where they discovered hundreds of fossils back during the excavation 1962-1963.

You can see here that some of the trenches that they dug by hand are still intact.

-And they found fossils right here?

-Right underneath our feet, right here.

-How many?

-Hundreds.

-Hundreds of fossils?

-Right here.

-That's incredible.

-Yeah.

-And just down the road from Vegas.

-It is just right outside the city limits.

-It's crazy.

-Well, if you want, we can talk a little bit more about it under that shade structure right over there.

-Shade sounds nice right about now.

-Okay, sounds good.

-After you.

-All right.

♪♪♪ -After seeing that last spot, I understand why they call it the Big Dig Trail.

-Amazing discoveries.

We're making them every single day out here.

That was a special site, and you can see why we're so excited for the public to come out here.

-I also really enjoy that there are some shade structures so you can take a break from the sun and sit down and take a breather along the trail.

-These are a lifesaver.

-Absolutely.

-You need the shade out here.

I mean, this is the desert.

The American Southwest, it gets extremely warm.

But for those who want to come out during the summertime, this allows them to do it more safely than without them.

-Now, you said that there's still fossils out here.

Are they still making discoveries?

-We make discoveries out here daily.

Last time we had a big rain, there was just a massive tooth that was found and extracted.

I myself found one from one of our herbivores sticking out of the side of a rock, which was cool for me.

Typically, I would find little shards of bone, but to see that out here was a proud moment here at the park.

-I bet it's so cool to see a fossil in real life, and you are the person that discovered it, knowing it's thousands of thousands of years old.

But what do you do?

Just put it in your pocket?

-Oh, no.

Yeah, no.

We ask the public if they do see something out there that they do think is a fossil, we have trained staff.

We have a paleontologist here who specializes in that.

Tell park staff.

They can come out, do it.

Picking up fossils out here is not allowed.

It's strictly prohibited.

We ask you take as many pictures as you like.

We want people to be able to enjoy the park, but there is no taking of resources, digging, et cetera out here.

-Being that this is so close to Las Vegas, if the local community wants to come and get involved, how would they do that?

-So we have a volunteer program here at the park.

We have the Protectors of Tule Springs has been a great organization that has really helped us out here, volunteering, helping keep the park up in any way that we need it.

And we ask that you either reach out to them or you can reach out through our social media pages.

But yeah, volunteers have been a huge help here at the park.

-JT, I cannot thank you enough for showing me around this area.

The Big Dig site was so cool, and to know this is so close to home is amazing.

Thank you so much for showing me around today.

-Absolutely.

It's my pleasure, and I can't wait to see more people out here at the park.

-I think I'll head over to the Visitors Center and learn more about my new favorite word that I just learned about today, the megafauna.

-Megafauna, a crowd pleaser always here at Ice Age.

-Plus there's air conditioning.

What do you say?

-Let's go.

♪♪♪ Nevada State Parks offer something for all visitors.

And this park, this park has something for everyone.

I encourage all people to get out and visit Nevada State Parks, especially this one.

You will not be disappointed.

♪♪♪ From here, I'm heading a few hours north to the eastern part of Nevada.

There are a couple of state parks I've been wanting to check out.

First on my list, Spring Valley State Park and the Stone Cabin.

Meeting me at the cabin is Jordan Adams with Nevada State Parks.

Jordan, tell me about this beautiful area that we're standing in.

(Jordan Adams) We're in Spring Valley State Park, which is located roughly 19 miles east of Pioche, Nevada.

-Why do they call it Spring Valley State Park?

-They call it Spring Valley State Park because there's over 150 established springs located right here within this valley.

-150?

-150 springs.

-And how many of them are still producing water?

-Probably roughly around 100 I would guess.

It changes year to year.

But right now, everything's flowing very good.

-Tell me about this cabin we're standing in front of.

-So this cabin here was built in the 1870s by the George Moody family.

However, we figured that people have been living here since roughly 5050 BC.

And then the early Mormon pioneers showed up here in roughly 1864.

And at that time, this area was known to be in Utah, not Nevada.

Then in 1866 they changed the border of Nevada and pushed it just a little bit farther east, and it was discovered to be Nevada.

-So the surprise that these folks had is they thought they lived in Utah and then, surprise, you're in Nevada.

-Yep.

And then also surprised was here comes the Nevada tax collector saying, You owe us taxes.

-They got double taxed?

-They got double taxed, which did not settle well with the settlers, so the Mormon church told the pioneers that if they would like to, they could come back over into Utah, or they're welcome to stay in Nevada.

That led to some changes, where some families moved back and other families stayed.

-If someone was to tour the cabin, what would they see?

-It's a way to step back in time, see what it would be like to live in the 1870s, 1880s.

It's a lot different life than we live.

The rooms are small.

There's no air conditioning.

There's a wood stove that was your heat, it cooked your dinner, did everything for you.

Just a different way of life.

-And do you make sure that you preserve that history?

-Our goal is to preserve history the best we can and to replicate everything the way it was done in those days by the work we do to the cabin, what we put in the cabin, and make it so it's the same way it would have been back in those days.

-Who was the last owner of the cabin?

-So the last owner of the cabin was the Donart family, and they sold it to the State Parks in 1991.

However, there was many different families that lived here, and one of the most notables was the Hollinger family who settled this valley, lived in this house, raised their family here, and also their sons went on to own several ranches and become prominent ranchers in this valley.

So they have a lot of deep rooted history here.

-There's a lot of deep rooted family members, and there still are family members living here today.

-Interesting.

This cabin here, does anything make this cabin super unique?

-This cabin is very unique.

It was built out of volcanic tuff right here from the rocks you see behind us, and then there's a root cellar out back that was used to store food in.

-Is the root cellar still preserved today?

-The root cellar is still preserved.

If you'd like, we can go check it out.

-I'd love to see it.

I just love stuff like this.

Being able to see and walk freely around such rich historical sites is incredible, and I'm doing it just by getting out and exploring Nevada State Parks.

It's tangible history.

Is that the root cellar there?

-That is the root cellar.

-It's pretty interesting looking.

-It's very interesting, very cold.

-What kind of stuff would they keep in the root cellar?

-So this was similar to your refrigerator.

You gotta remember, in the 1800s there was no electricity or propane or anything, so any food that was temperature sensitive was kept in here.

-It almost looks more like storage, but you're saying it's a refrigerator.

-It was.

It's where you stored food.

-And how would they keep it cool?

-So they would harvest ice out of the meadows, put a layer of ice on the floor, and then you put sawdust over the top.

And as you see here, the construction, there's wood on the top with dirt, the cool air blows through, and we keep it nice and cool.

-"Harvest ice," what does that mean?

-So ice was one of the biggest crops they had out here.

These meadows in the winter, when it gets below zero, just freezes up.

And they would go out and carve blocks of ice and store them in their root cellars.

And they actually even had ice houses that they would keep them in and would send the ice into town, like Pioche or over to State Line, different mining towns, to keep anything they needed cool.

-And the ice from the winter, would that last all summer long?

-That ice would last all summer until the next fall when they could start making more.

-Learn something new every day.

-It's pretty neat technology.

-I see a trail here.

Where does this lead?

-This is our Stone Cabin Loop Trail.

It takes us up to a spring around back.

You want to go?

-Absolutely.

I'm up for a hike.

-This is a relatively easy trail and accessible for most visitors.

It's 1.3 miles, and you can make a 2.2 mile loop by walking back to the stone cabin along the road.

It is a great way to explore the natural and historical beauty of the park.

The trail climbs about 300 feet up open slopes along the white and pinkish volcanic rocks.

It's a nice, relaxing hike.

Oh, wow!

It's almost otherworldly.

This is incredible.

What kind of rock and stone is this?

-So this is volcanic tuff.

It was formed over a million years ago.

-A million years?

-One million years ago.

-But has it changed over time?

It looks like there's so much erosion on it.

-It does.

Between the wind, the rain, the natural water, freezing, hot temperatures, it just changes it every day.

-I guess a lot happens over a million years.

-Yep.

-And speaking of water, this is a spring.

And there's 150 springs, you said, in Spring Valley.

How does that change the landscape and the ecological system?

-So that's what creates this area.

It creates all the features you see between the meadows below you, the grass, the trees, and the wildlife.

It's all because of that water.

-It helps things live, helps things grow.

-Water is life.

-Seeing the cabin and the root cellar, then hiking up the Stone Cabin Trail, you really feel like you've been transported back in time.

It's easy to imagine the early settlers making their way up the steps carved out of the stone through the desert vegetation, and all while being surrounded by the beautiful views of the surrounding hills.

This trail provides a peaceful and scenic experience.

I've been told that it is absolutely amazing in the early morning or the late afternoon when the desert landscape flows under the sun.

I will definitely be back to check it out.

Here it is, the spring.

-Here's the spring, and actually the spring comes out of the ground behind you in that fenced off area.

-It starts there?

-Yep, starts right there.

-Does it run all the time?

-So this spring runs continuously all year round.

The water, it'll go down a little bit as it heats up, but there's always water coming out of the ground.

-I imagine that's why they picked this area, because they had a water source right here.

-That is exactly why they chose to put that cabin.

They used this water for all their, anything they needed water for.

-So can you drink it?

-Well, we would suggest using a filter system or boiling it before you drink it.

But if it was a life or death situation, I would drink it.

-I imagine they didn't have filtration systems in the 1870s.

-No, not so much filtrations back in those days.

I got something I'd like to show you.

You got time?

-Let's check it out.

From here, Jordan took me up the trail to share an incredible view of the Spring Valley.

Look at that!

That view is incredible.

-It's pretty spectacular, isn't it?

-It's amazing.

I have everything.

I could see the volcanic rock.

I could see the cabin, the marsh.

And is that a lake or a reservoir in the distance?

-That is Eagle Valley Reservoir.

It's a 65-acre reservoir.

Department of Wildlife stocks it with tiger trout and rainbow trout.

There's also a healthy population of brown trout, bass, and crappie in there.

-You're getting me excited.

I'm gonna have to break out my fishing pole.

-Get a license and get out there.

-Can you take a boat on the lake?

We have a boat ramp along with a boat dock with slips that you can leave your boat in overnight.

It's also becoming very popular with kayakers and paddleboarders.

-I'm gonna have to check it out.

I think this afternoon, I was gonna go over to Echo Canyon State Park.

Is there anything you'd suggest that I look at when I get over there?

-So yeah, Echo Canyon is our sister park.

If you're up for a hike, I would try the Ash Canyon Trail.

-How long is that one?

-It's roughly 3 miles.

-I think I got 3 miles in me.

-All right.

-Thank you for taking some time with me.

This has been amazing.

This is a beautiful location.

I'll definitely be back.

-Thanks for coming.

-And so that's exactly what I did.

I headed over to the Echo Canyon State Park and the Ash Canyon Trail.

One of the many great things about Echo Canyon State Park is the campground.

It's a peaceful campground with 33 sites.

Many have scenic views of the reservoir and the surrounding mountains.

The campsites are equipped with picnic tables, fire rings, and access to the restrooms, making it a comfortable spot for camping.

RV hookups are available, too.

The park also provides convenient access to hiking trails, fishing, and other outdoor activities, all in a quiet, natural setting.

The campground is spacious and well-maintained.

At the entrance to the campground is a pay station.

First find an available space and its corresponding number, then pay at the kiosk.

Quick tip: This campground is super popular, and it often fills up quickly.

Make sure you get there early to claim a spot.

The Echo Canyon Campground is a great place to spend time with friends and family.

There was another thing I noticed while I was here, the birds.

Echo Canyon and Spring Valley State Parks are home to a variety of different bird species, including ducks, herons, and songbirds, especially around the reservoir area.

It feels like a bird watcher's paradise.

I even spotted a raptor soaring above the park's cliffs.

It's always fun to see different types of wildlife, and the variety of birds here is amazing.

Okay, now it's off to the Ash Canyon Trail.

Echo Canyon State Park is a great way to immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the Great Basin, whether it's camping under the stars, casting a line out into some crystal clear waters, or checking out a hiking trail, which is what I'm going to go do right now.

♪♪♪ This 3-mile trail is a moderate hike with some challenging elements.

As you make your way on this trail, you will gain approximately 1,100 feet in altitude.

You will also weave your way through multiple canyons along the valley floor and find yourself scrambling up several rocky portions.

Something else to keep in mind is the weather.

Please do yourself a favor and check the forecast before you head out.

Know what to expect.

It's better to be informed and prepared than caught off guard.

The weather out here can change pretty quickly.

While we were here, it was bright and beautiful for a couple of hours, then the clouds rolled in and it was cool and overcast.

You always want to be as prepared as possible.

A good tip: Dress in layers.

This way you can adjust to a change in the temperature.

You get warm, take off the top layer.

You get cold, put it back on.

Plus hiking down in these canyons, it can get a lot cooler than you would think.

My motto: Know before you go.

♪♪♪ Know this: It is a steady incline, and it definitely has its challenging moments.

For as much as I was feeling this one, I knew it was worth it.

I've said it more times than I can count.

Nevada does not disappoint.

I need a second to catch my breath.

This hike is no joke, and we're nearly 6,000 feet above sea level right here.

But I will say this is one of the coolest hikes that I have done in Nevada.

It's so unique.

You leave the reservoir, walk across a bridge, walk along a creek, and then come into this, this beautiful canyon.

This hike just keeps you guessing.

I'm gonna go see what comes next.

♪♪♪ I just love the way that this hike winds through the canyon, traversing down, then working my way back up.

When I exited the canyon, I could see that the day was quickly coming to an end.

My timing was perfect.

The sun was setting, and I was going to have a front row seat.

I can't stress it enough, this is an amazing place.

Both of these parks, they're very similar; but they're different, and they are right next to each other.

History and a hike in the morning and then a canyon hike in the afternoon.

Now, that is a great day in my book.

I wish that you could see this the way that I see this.

It is spectacular.

The rolling hills, the fields, the reservoir.

I can see weather patterns and clouds in the sky.

It is incredible.

And all of this is here in Pioche.

When I talk about outdoor Nevada, this is what I'm talking about.

This has been another amazing adventure, and it's all been in our state parks.

I encourage you to visit the Nevada State Parks.

They really have so much to offer.

Between the history, the activities, and the wildlife, there is something for everyone.

Till next time, I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪