Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada
September 28, 2025
After gorging on alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevadas of California, we ventured back into Nevada for a different sort of gorge--the kind made of rock.
It didn't take long to transition from tall trees and numerous lakes to short, scrubby trees and lakes few and far between. On our way to Cathedral Gorge State Park, we stopped for the night in the small, isolated town of Tonapah, Nevada.
Tonapah, Nevada
One could argue that the Banc Club casino was also a bit creepy
Numerous casinos in the US offer free overnight parking, presumably as a way to draw in business. Aside from a semi at the other end of the parking lot, we had the place to ourselves for the night. We had read reviews that the Chinese restaurant attached to this casino was quite good. We were looking forward to some good Chinese food, but when we went inside the casino (which actually did have a bit of a creepy vibe), we found that the restaurant had closed down a few months prior. Dejected, we instead ate leftovers that night.
The next morning, we continued our trek through southern Nevada and arrived at our campground in the early afternoon.
Apparently, we drove through/near Area 51 (not really sure exactly where it is)
You can't see them very well, but this is a forest of Joshua trees
Our campsite at Cathedral Gorge State Park
The following morning, we walked the 3-ish mile Juniper Loop Trail through a gorge of interesting rock formations that resembled giant mounds of wet sand art.
Look around
Look around
The rock is so brittle, you can *accidentally* break a piece off with your fingers 😬
We found a fun slot canyon just beyond the bench
Some spots in the slot canyon required a bit of effort to pass through
Julie's back leg was loosing its grip here, and she needed to be pulled out by Rick (after he took a picture first!)
An historic outhouse no longer in use
Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, we were treated to thunderstorms.
Storms on the horizon
It took a lot of shots of nothing to get a few with lightning
The next morning, we stuck to the same plan and did some more hiking in the park. This time, we focused on finding as many mini slot canyons as we could. It was fun not knowing how far a given slot would take you. Sometimes it dead-ended right away, but sometimes it would snake through the rock for quite a way, revealing different passages that also might lead somewhere else (or not).
That hole led to a drop off of about 30' or so!
The little oasis of trees in the background is the campground loop
That's about it for this location. Almost every afternoon and/or evening brought some kind of thunderstorm action, but nothing as dramatic as the first night. It did make for some nice sunsets, though.
Next stop--Zion National Park! At least we hope so--the specter of a possible government shutdown next week is throwing a little bit of a shadow on our plans. We'll see what happens!
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