This weekend, on Jan. 20, Nevada State Parks will officially open the gates to Ice Age Fossils State Park, a 315-acre protected area, including a section of the Upper Las Vegas. The site, the park’s website explains, has been in the works since 2017 as part of Governor Brian Sandoval’s “Explore Your Nevada Initiative.”
It’s an area rich in “paleontological and historical resources.”
“During the Pleistocene, also known as the Ice Age, the wash provided verdant habitat for several species of now extinct mammals, including Columbian mammoths, American lions, camels, dire wolves, and ground sloths,” the park’s website states. “The discovery of abundant fossils on site triggered a long history of scientific research, which includes the famous ‘Big Dig’ of 1962, the largest inter-disciplinary scientific expedition of its kind up to that point.”
The park will initially be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and only on Saturdays and Sundays. This, the park noted, is to allow the park staff to acclimate to daily operations. Tickets to the park are just $3, and children under 12 are free. Pups are allowed as long as they stay on a leash.
For now, visitors to the park can explore the visitor center, where they can speak to rangers, watch a video about the region’s history, and view the life-size sculpture of a mammoth, aptly named Monumental Mammoth.
The park consists of three initial trails travelers can roam: The .3-mile Megafauna Trail, aimed at all ability levels that will feature more metal sculptures depicting the prehistoric animals that once lived here; the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Wash Trail, which weaves through the dry wash area; and the 1.2-mile Big Dig Trail, which offers a view of a few fossils along the way.
Before visitors set foot in the park, it’s important to note that “removing, disturbing or damaging any historic structure, artifact, rock, plant life, fossil or other feature is prohibited” and that these resources are protected by state and federal law.
