Skip to main content

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 7; Former Nevada State Route 40 on Valley of Fire Highway and Valley of Fire State Park

Following spending a night at The Stratosphere I headed north on I-15 the following morning to Valley of Fire Highway which was once part of Nevada State Route 40.






This blog entry is the 7th in the 2016 Fall Mountain Trip Series, Part 6 can be found here:

2016 Mountain Trip Part 6; Las Vegas from the Stratosphere

Valley of Fire Highway is an approximately 18.6 mile route connecting I-15 east through Valley of Fire State Park to NV 169.  Valley of Fire Highway was originally designated NV 40 and first appears on the 1935 Nevada State Highway Map.

1935 State Highway Map

During the 1976 Nevada State Highway renumbering NV 40 and NV 12 were combined into the new NV 169.  Ultimately it seems NV 169 was never applied in the field to Valley of Fire Highway and the route appears without a designation first on the 1982 State Highway Map.

1982 State Highway Map

From I-15 Valley of Fire Highway begins at exit 75.


Valley of Fire Road heads directly east towards the Muddy Mountains.





The Muddy Mountains largely consist of sand stone ridges.  As Valley of Fire Highway approaches the Muddy Mountains it descends a sweeping grade east through a canyon.






At the boundary of Valley of Fire State Park the routing of Valley of Fire Highway is signed as a Nevada Scenic Byway.






Valley of Fire State Park is Nevada's oldest State Park having been created in 1935 along with the NV 40 designation.  Valley of Fire State Park largely consists of Aztec Sandstone formations endemic to the Muddy Mountains.  The sandstone formations were formed from shifting sand dunes 150 million years ago.  Valley of Fire State Park is a popular hiking destination for Las Vegas Valley and was most notably featured as a set piece in the original Total Recall.





Probably the best road side views of Valley of Fire State Park are located just off of Valley of Fire Highway on Mouse Tank Road.







Emerging through the Muddy Mountains on Valley of Fire Highway the Lake Mead Recreation Area can be seen to the eastbound the sandstone bluffs.





Leaving the Scenic Byway portion of Valley of Fire Highway I encountered a Bighorn Sheep.  I would shortly find myself at the Lake Mead Recreation Area near Old St. Thomas Road which was part of NV 12.


Part 8 of this blog series can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 8; Former Nevada State Route 12 on Old St. Thomas Road

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...

The William Flinn (not Flynn) Highway - Pittsburgh's Misspelled Street

For decades if you traveled along PA Route 8 in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs, you would have noticed signs that read "William Flynn Highway" at every intersection.  Even today, many businesses and residences have their addresses listed as XXXX William Flynn Highway.  However, it's not William Flynn Highway, it is William FLINN Highway - and the gentleman who it is named for has a long and storied past in Pittsburgh's infrastructure history. William Flinn was born in England in 1851; however later that year, his family emigrated to the United States and would settle in Pittsburgh.  A 10-year-old school dropout, Flinn grew interested in politics and would join the Allegheny County Republican Party in 1877 as a ward commissioner and a seat on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  Flinn would serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and Senate from 1877 to 1902. (1) Flinn along with James J. Booth would found the Booth and Flinn construction firm ...