Overview

U.S. Highway 93 isn't really a "backroad," but it provides access to many of the places and backroads we love. The highway is long and mostly straight, with a speed limit of 70 mph. Gas, food, and supplies are scattered along at intervals of about 80-100 miles as the highway runs north through eastern Nevada.

Highway 93 provides access to hikes in the Arrow Canyon Range, Desert National Wildlife Range, Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, various Wilderness areas, plus access to some amazing rock art sites in Lincoln County and even a nice trilobite quarry.

Excellent birding opportunities can be found in the Pahranagat National Wildlife Range and Key-Pittman Wildlife Management Area.

Link to Road Map.

U.S. Highway 93 from Interstate 15 to Alamo

Great Basin Highway separates from Interstate-15 at the exit for the regional landfill. At the bottom of the exit ramp (Table 1, Site 0674), the road to the right runs towards the county landfill; if you are hungry, consider stopping at the food truck parked on the right. They make a mean breakfast burrito.

Turning left and driving under the interstate, there is a wide parking area on the right. Beyond the asphalt, several yards out in the desert, there is an information sign and historical marker for the Old Spanish Trail. Stop of a few minutes and read about the history of this lands.

Love's Truck Stop comes into view ahead on the left at an introduction to the Apex Industrial area. The next gas and food are about 75 miles up the road, and the next toilets are 65 miles up the road, so stop and use them if you need them.

Highway 93 heads north, climbing gently up an alluvial fan and passing power plants on both sides of the road. Some are natural-gas fired plants, but others are solar. Leaving the Apex area, the highway passes through a gap in the low mountains, bends a bit to the right, and heads out across Hidden Valley and into the wilds of central Nevada.

The Great Basin Highway runs north-northeast across the long flat valley. The mountains to the east are the Arrow Canyon Range; those to the west are the Las Vegas Range and are inside the Desert National Wildlife Range. Old fire scars on the landscape, mostly on the west side of the highway in the wildlife refuge, but also on the east side, date from 2005 and 2006, two very bad years for wildfire in the desert.

The highway runs straight, then touches crags on the left. The rocky crags are part of the Las Vegas Range. The highway bends a bit to the left, and by this time, the Arrow Canyon Range is protected from development inside the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area. High-tension powerlines, seen across the valley, run near the edge of the wilderness area.

Just after the bend, a cell tower and a white mine scar can be seen ahead on the right at the base of the mountains. The turnoff (Site 1026; 16.4 miles out) and short road into this area provides access to southern parts of the Arrow Canyon Range and a nice hike in the hills to Arrow Guzzler.

In this area, the boundary of the wildlife refuge, on the left, comes down from the hills and parallels the highway. White signs, some distance off, can be seen to mark the boundary.

As the highway runs down into Coyote Springs Valley, trailhead parking for two hikes in the Arrow Canyon Range are passed. The first is the trailhead for Big Arrow Peak (Site 0876), the highpoint of the range; the second is for Peak 5146 and Hidden Peak (Site 0880).

Highway 93 continues north, northwest for several miles. With good afternoon lighting, the banded west face of the Arrow Canyon Range is one of the most impressive geological sights in southern Nevada. Perhaps equally impressive but in a different way, Arrow Canyon, proper, is on the other side of the mountains.

Eventually, for the first time since leaving the Apex area, powerlines cross the highway. At this point (Site 0649), a dirt road turns left. Without signs or other warning, this is the north end of Mormon Well Road, which crosses the wildlife refuge to emerge from the wild lands some 40 miles away at Corn Creek, an oasis and birdwatching hot spot.

The highway passes a power substation on the right, and in about 2 miles, the high-tension powerlines that were on the east side of the valley cross to the west side of the road.

Shortly thereafter, Highway 93 passes a T-intersection with Highway 168 (30.7 miles out). Highway 168 provides access to the now defunct Coyote Springs City development, a golf course, the town of Warm Springs, the east side of the Arrow Canyon Range, Moapa National Wildlife Refuge, and the towns of Moapa and Glendale down on Interstate 15.

Continuing north and up Coyote Springs Valley, the mountains to the west are the Sheep Range, still inside Desert National Wildlife Range, and the mountains to the east are the Meadow Valley Range, the higher elevations of which are in the Meadow Valley Range Wilderness Area. In the near ground on both sides of the highway, habitat damage and dead palm trees are all that remain of the defunct Coyote Springs City development.

Just beyond the last of Coyote Springs (nearly 4 miles long), Highway 93 crosses the Clark-Lincoln County line (34.5 miles out).

Continuing north, the highway passes a T-intersection with Kane Springs Road (Site 1549), a long dirt road that runs east and can be used as a backroad (certainly not a shortcut) to the city of Caliente. Shortly thereafter, the highway passes, on the left, an old ranch that has been converted to a poorly regulated landfill. I hate to think of how the dump will affect groundwater in the years to come. Rumors abound about buried radioactive waste and toxic chemicals where only construction debris should be dumped.

The highway continues north. The mountains on the right are now the Delamar Range, and as before, the higher elevations of the southwest portion of the Delamars are protected as the Delamar Mountains Wilderness Area.

The highway continues northward into the end of Coyote Springs Valley, and when the rock walls begin to pinch the road, the highway abruptly bends left into a fairly narrow canyon. Here, about 58 miles out, the highway enters Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge and passes a dry lake (Maynard Lake) on the right and a spring with a cottonwood tree on the left.

Shortly, the road emerges from the narrows into the expansive Pahranagat Valley. Here, the wildlife refuge manages the lowlands for the next 10 miles. The highway passes Lower Lake (during winter, a long, narrow lake; during summer, a long, narrow mudflat), which has a nice unpaved overlook where winter birders can stop and look over the lake.

About 1/2 miles past the overlook, a shady roadside rest on the right invites tired travelers to stop and stretch for a few minutes. There are no toilets, but those in need can continue north another 3 miles to a turnoff (Site 0486; 66 miles out) to Pahranagat NWR Visitor Center (Site 0491). For birders, be sure to stop before getting to the visitor center and look over Middle Marsh for raptors.

Shortly beyond the turn to the visitor center, Old Corn Creek Road (Site 0871) turns left and runs out many miles to Tikaboo Peak. For sturdy hikers, Tikaboo offers the only legal view down into Area 51, the super-top-secret military airbase where the U.S. government is said to keep the captured bodies of aliens, experiment with recovered alien technology, and who knows what else.

Highway 93 continues north, passing on the hillside above the east edge of Upper Lake. The campground between the road and the lake is surprisingly quiet at night given the proximity to the highway. Access to the campground (Site 0701) is a bit beyond the north end of the lake, which also is just past the end of the wildlife refuge.

Outside the refuge, the highway passes farms and pasture lands operated by some of the original Nevada settler families (of course, the lands were already occupied, but that is a different story).

Houses become more frequent and small businesses start to appear, and passing a large water tank on the left (Go Pahranagat Panthers!), the road drops into the heart of the business district in the town of Alamo (Site 0675; 73 miles out).

Although small, Alamo is a full-service town where travelers can find everything they need, except perhaps open wifi. The gas station includes the typical mini-mart with clean restrooms, but also a full grocery store with some hot food. A bit farther up the highway, the Alamo Inn (sign only says "motel") is located on the left.

For the next highway section northbound, see U.S. Highway 93 Northbound -- Alamo to Highway 318.