Nevada's Secret State Park Stuns With Serene Alpine Lakes And Year-Round High Desert Adventure

Far from the tantalizing lights of Las Vegas and the outdoor fun of Reno, the world's biggest little city, is a secret state park that has remained under the radar for far too long: Cave Lake State Park (try saying that five times fast). Located just 20 minutes from the charming town of Ely, this small state park packs a lot in, and it's open year-round, so you can enjoy its different offerings depending on the season. It's a high-desert oasis that provides shady trails and campgrounds around its serene alpine lake where you can cool off in the summer, while in later months, it transforms into a winter wonderland as the lake freezes over and becomes a playground for ice skaters, fishermen, and even sculptors, as it hosts an annual Fire and Ice Festival.

The reservoir was built in 1939 for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), an organization formed during the Great Depression under Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. The CCC enlisted the help of unemployed young men to maintain and upgrade parks all around Nevada by building cabins, planting trees, and more, and the Cave Lake reservoir stored water for the CCC members working in Steptoe Valley. The reservoir was drained for several years to reinforce the dam's weakened structure, and it reopened in June 2025, so visitors can again enjoy this lovely, secluded swimming spot that's surrounded by the Schell Creek Range and forests filled with pinyon and juniper trees. 

It's not all about the water at Cave Lake, though. This 4,500-acre park also has four hiking trails, where you can enjoy sweeping views of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and get your outdoor adventure on with 20 miles of mountain biking trails in the area, plus places to snowmobile and snowshoe in the winter.

Cave Lake State Park has something for adventurers of all stripes, whether you're down to get your feet wet or not. The 32-acre reservoir is filled with rainbow and German trout, and it's open all year for fishing. Just be prepared to cut through possibly two feet of ice in the winter but the effort will pay off since there's a high catch rate in the lake. Depending on the snowfall, Cave Lake also is the site of an annual Fire and Ice Festival (sorry, GOT fans, there's no relation to George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series). Typically, the lake freezes over, which allows for skating, sledding, and...sculpting! The Fire and Ice Festival includes an ice-sculpting competition to create figures out of snow on top of the frozen lake. In the summertime, the lake is a great place to swim and paddleboard, since this high desert location stays cooler than other places. 

The four hiking trails range from easy to strenuous, and offer loops that take you high above the reservoir, where you can enjoy sweeping views of the mountains and the lake below. The Cave Overlook Loop Trail is the most difficult due to its steep ascents and descents, and it takes a few hours to hike this 4.5-mile loop above the lake that heads into the forest. If camping is more your thing, head to one of the two campgrounds in the park. One is seasonally open from May to mid-October, while the other is year-round but may be subject to weather conditions. The facilities are new and modern, so whether you're interested in primitive or RV camping, you'll find a spacious campground with a serene and quiet atmosphere. You can make reservations on the Cave Lake website, which also has updates on closures and other important information.

Part of the attraction of Cave Lake is that it's open seven days a week, 365 days a year, so you can visit it at any time during a Nevada road trip, whether you're tackling the scenic route of Death Drive's otherworldly terrain or heading on a wild west adventure along the Cowboy Corridor. Alternatively, you could cruise a scenic drive that's just next to the park: the Success Loop Scenic Drive, which is just off the Loneliest Road in America. This little-known 38-mile stretch of a backcountry byway offers awe-inspiring mountain and valley views in one of Nevada's more remote areas, which is considered to be one of the darkest and quietest places in the lower 48 states (meaning, this and Cave Lake are prime places for star-gazing). Keep an eye peeled for arborglyphs too, tree carvings made by Basque shepherds in the early 20th century when they spent months alone up in the mountains.

Just under 30 minutes away is one of Nevada's more unique sites, Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park. The name says it all: a line of beehive-shaped charcoal ovens over a century old stand in the middle of the desert. These were used in the 19th century to process silver and later were transformed into shelters and hideouts for stagecoach bandits, among others. There's no shortage of nature or history (or both) in this hidden corner of eastern Nevada, which makes Cave Lake a great jumping off point to explore all that this area has to offer.