STATE & NATION TRAVEL · news
Ice Age Fossils visitors must check in for open routes after storm damage
By Staff Writer · Published October 14, 2026
Nevada State Parks has closed parts of the Las Vegas Wash and Big Dig trails until further notice. Staff will identify available routes at the visitor center.
Official announcement: Nevada State Parks · October 14, 2026
Travelers visiting Ice Age Fossils State Park in North Las Vegas should make the visitor center their first stop before choosing a walking route. An October 14, 2026, Nevada State Parks notice closes portions of the Las Vegas Wash and Big Dig trails after storm damage and directs visitors to staff for the routes currently available.
The agency attributes the damage to Tropical Storm Rachel and says staff are assessing conditions. Reopening depends on repairs and a determination that the trails are safe; the notice supplies no reopening date or map of the affected segments. It does not announce that the whole park is closed.
The two affected trails ordinarily take visitors into the wash and the landscape shaped by earlier fossil excavations. Their names and normal lengths on the park's visitor page should not be read as confirmation that complete loops are available now. The closure notice makes an on-arrival route check more useful than planning solely from a standard trail description.
What Travelers Need to Know
Ask staff which sections are available when checking in, and follow closures even if an older map shows a continuous trail. Do not assume that every route not named in the notice has been inspected and cleared for your visit. Recheck the official park and closure pages before departure.
The park currently lists Wednesday through Sunday hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a $3 day-use entry fee, with children 12 and younger admitted free. Those regular visitor details do not establish trail reopening or guarantee that a scheduled program will use its usual route.
For closure questions, the release gives iafsp@parks.nv.gov and 702-533-7819; the main park page separately lists 702-478-9300. Confirm an appropriate route before committing to a group outing or a visit with particular mobility needs. The notice does not specify which temporary routes meet those needs.
About the Location
The 315-acre state park protects part of the upper Las Vegas Wash at 8660 North Decatur Boulevard in North Las Vegas. Its fossils reflect an earlier, wetter environment that supported animals including Columbian mammoths, camels and ground sloths. That contrast with today's dry landscape is central to the visitor experience.
The Big Dig name refers to the Tule Springs scientific expedition of 1962-63. The park's normal trail follows excavation trenches, while its visitor center offers natural-history exhibits. Storm-related restrictions thus affect access to the landscape where that research took place, not just an interchangeable stretch of desert path.