Gallery :: Hoover Dam

On 26 June, 2003 I departed California, where I was born and had lived my entire life, for Texas. On 27 June, I crossed from Nevada into Arizona over the Hoover Dam. These pictures were taken just after crossing over the dam, from the resevior side. The dam itself was much less impressive than it seems in all the history books and videos. What impressed me is that this is out in the middle of nowhere pretty much. There are all these power lines taking off from the dam in all directions, going up over the mountain and disappearing into the desert for hundreds of miles.

Taken from the first vista on the Arizona side. I didn't realize I'd already gone over the dam until I got to here where the road doubles back. Those are the Arizona intake towers in the foreground. You can just see the inner Nevada intake tower in the background.

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From the same vantage point of the previous photo. You can see more of the Nevada towers here.

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A little more detail of the Arizona towers. Do you think they have enough power lines coming out of here?

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This is a little finger of water at the very south-east corner of Lake Meade, formed by the Hoover Dam. I was struck by just how green the water of Lake Meade is.

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The outer Arizona tower in the foreground, Nevada towers behind, with some of the other infrastructure around the dam.

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You can see the dam itself here, with the inner Arizona tower. Everything in this part of the country seems to be that light khaki brown.

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More detail of the Arizona tower, further to the left.

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After taking the previous photos, I got in my car to hit the road again, only the road doubles back on itself again and there was another vista. I got out and snapped some more. You can see the spot from which the previous photos were taken in the lower right corner.

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There's some sort of concrete tunnel or tube on this side of the dam. I guess it has something to do with electrical generation, though I don't think it's part of the spillway since it's next to, rather than below, the intake towers. There's a matching one on the Nevada side.

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While standing at the second vista. I turned around and there were people at yet a third vista higher up. I didn't stop there though. It was over 100F out here and my cats were waiting in the car. I couldn't leave the car idleing for very long or it would over heat. It was no problem on the road, but with those kind of temperatures, the radiator needs airflow to disippate enough heat.

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