Watch wild mustangs

As many as 19,000 wild mustangs and burros (donkeys) live in Nevada, making this the most populous state for the elusive equine emblem of the American west. Descended from tame stock brought west by miners and settlers in the late 1800s, these small, hardy horses and donkeys have been running wild for generations. You might get lucky and spot a herd from the Extraterrestrial Highway (State Route 375) or Highway 50 – the Loneliest Road in America – or take binoculars for a hike in one of 87 herd management areas around the state. You can also book a wild mustang tour through Sonny Boys Tours out of Reno (a two-hour tour runs $26 per person) or plan to visit the Palomino Valley National Adoption Center just north of Reno.
• Sonny Boys Tours, + 1 775 200 5205, renowildhorsetours.com

Play in the Singing Sandbox at Sand Mountain

During the last ice age, Lake Lahontan covered much of what is now central Nevada. After the lake dried up, it left behind massive sand dunes at what is now Sand Mountain Recreation Area, 19 miles east of Fallon along Highway 50. Sand Mountain is a popular off-highway vehicle area, open to motorbikes, all-terrain vehicles and dune buggies, but it also offers hiking and biking opportunities. In quieter moments, listen carefully: the sand at Sand Mountain is the right size and silica composition to sing, moan and hum as it bounces over the dunes, a phenomenon that only occurs in a handful of deserts around the world.
• +1 775 885 6000, blm.gov

Go caving beneath the Great Basin

Great Basin national park boasts classic wide open basin-and-range scenery and some of the darkest, starriest night skies in the country, but the park's most popular attraction is underground. Discovered in 1885 at the base of 3,982m Wheeler Peak, the Lehman Caves were hollowed out of limestone and marble around 550 million years ago, creating ancient and spectacular stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, flowstone, popcorn and rare shield formations. To enter the caves, you must go with a park ranger. Three different guided tours are available, ranging from the introductory hour-long Lodge Room tour for $8 to the 90-minute Grand Palace Tour for $10. Tickets are available in person or up to a month in advance over the phone.
• Lehman Caves reservations: +1 775 234 7517, nps.gov

Walk on the moon at Lunar Crater

The American west is known for out-of-this-world landscapes. At Lunar Crater Volcanic Field national natural landmark you may as well be on the moon. Created more than two million years ago in a series of volcanic eruptions, Lunar Crater is home to cinder cones, lava fields, huge fissures, ash piles, and more than 20 extinct volcanoes. The crown jewel is Lunar Crater, a 130m-deep hole resembling a meteor impact, which was used in the late 1960s as a training ground for the Apollo mission astronauts.
• americansouthwest.net

Splash in Lake Mead

Behind the massive monument to concrete, Hoover Dam, is the largest reservoir in the US: Lake Mead. With all that water capacity, it's no wonder that the Lake Mead Recreation Area offers all kinds of water sports ranging from wading to waterskiing to scuba diving, despite being in the middle of the desert. The fishing is good too; the lake is stocked with record-size striped bass. Just a few miles outside of Las Vegas, Lake Mead makes a good side trip from the Strip. The park service rents canoes and kayaks at the Willow Beach Marina.
• +1 702 293 8990, nps.gov. Willow Beach Marina +1 928 767 4747, willowbeachharbor.com

Paddleboard at Lake Tahoe

Trapped in a basin between California and Nevada, Lake Tahoe is one of the true blue gems of the silver state. There are lots of options for getting out on to that blue water, including kayak, canoe, and sailboat rentals, but the latest craze is stand-up paddleboarding (Sup). The learning curve for Sup-ing is fairly friendly, especially on Tahoe's smooth waters. You can take a lesson at Adrift Tahoe or SUP Tahoe or just rent a board and a paddle and go!
• Adrift Tahoe: +1 888 676 7702, standupandpaddletahoe.com

Mountain bike and hike Lake Tahoe

Not every activity at Tahoe involves getting wet. The lake also boasts some killer mountain bike trails along its eastern shore and a loop trail that circumnavigates the entire lake. With names such as the Flume Trail and Mr Toad's Wild Ride, the mountain bike trails tend towards the intense. The Tahoe Rim Trail rings the lake basin, traversing 165 miles of rugged mountain scenery. Popular day hikes along the TRT include the easy four miles out and back to Tahoe Meadows and the quad-busting 12 miles round trip from Spooner Pass to Snow Valley Peak.
• +1 775 586 9566, tahoebike.org; +1 775 298 0012, tahoerimtrail.org

Run the Truckee river

Much of Nevada is high sage desert, but there are a few rivers in the state big enough to sport white water. Running between Carson Pass and Lake Tahoe, the Truckee river is a Class 3+ river, popular with both rafters and kayakers. The Carson, American, and Yuba rivers also offer Class 2 and 3 rapids. Downtown Reno boasts a Whitewater Park with 11 pools over half a mile, a kayak racing course and numerous features and obstacles over which to practice your white-water cartwheeling, spoofing and splatting.
• Tahoe Whitewater Tours, +1 530 587 5777, gowhitewater.com; raftingreno.com

Visit ancient rock art at Hickison Petroglyphs

Long before there was a Nevada, long before there was a United States, Native Americans lived in the Great Basin. Evidence of their 10,000-year-old history can be seen at the Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area, 25 miles east of Austin on Highway 50. The abstract line drawings are classified under the Central Great Basin curvilinear style of rock art, one of the earliest forms documented in the west. The recreation area offers loop trails leading past petroglyphs up to an overlook of the Toiyabe Range, the longest mountain range in Nevada as well as a primitive campground. No water is available, so bring plenty.
• +1 775 635 4062, recreation.gov

Catch a mighty Lahontan

Everything is big in Nevada, including the fish. The state fish, the Lahontan cutthroat trout, is a monster: meter-long record breakers have been caught weighing as much as 18kg. Lahontans can be found in the Truckee, Humboldt, Carson, Walker and Quinn rivers, all of which used to drain out of ancient Lake Lahontan during the last ice age. As with most native trout the Lahontan is threatened by predation and competition with non-native species, but a vigorous conservation program has increased the populations in the rivers around the state as well as Lake Tahoe. A one-day non-resident fishing license is $18 and a year-long pass is $69.
• Tahoe Fly Fishing, +1 530 541 8208, tahoeflyfishing.com

Mary Caperton Morton (theblondecoyote.com) is a freelance writer and photographer who makes her home on the back roads of rural North America, living and working out of a tiny solar powered Teardrop camper

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