Explore Amargosa Valley

When looking for a hotel in Amargosa Valley, your interests in nature and recreation can help shape your travel plans. Highlights include the Crystal Springs Boardwalk, Devils Hole, wildlife viewing at Point of Rocks, and ATV recreation at Big Dune. The options differ both in the type of visit and the timing: alongside direct access to the boardwalk, there is viewing from a distance, year-round birdwatching, and seasonal, occasional bighorn sheep sightings. You can start by deciding which activities matter most to you during your stay.

Crystal Springs Boardwalk: Direct Access

The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center provides direct access to the Crystal Springs Boardwalk. This gives you a specific access point for your visit. That makes the boardwalk a distinct element in your planning compared with wildlife viewing at Point of Rocks, where the focus is on the season and type of sighting, and ATV recreation at Big Dune. If the boardwalk is one of your priorities, include access through the visitor center in your plans. Direct access is a different practical feature from the viewing from a distance required at Devils Hole.

Devils Hole: Cave System and Habitat

Devils Hole is a water-filled, geothermally heated cave system and the only natural habitat of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis). The geothermally heated system and the endangered fish species bring geological and biological themes together here. The pool is fenced and must be viewed from a distance. This is part of the conditions for visiting: unlike the direct access to the Crystal Springs Boardwalk, viewing at Devils Hole is from a distance. This allows you to take both the species’ conservation significance and the actual viewing conditions into account when planning your trip.

Wildlife Viewing at Point of Rocks

Point of Rocks is considered the best place year-round to see greater roadrunners, Gambel’s quail, phainopepla, and other desert residents. At the Point of Rocks Trail, a viewpoint occasionally offers a chance to see bighorn sheep in late summer and early fall. For your travel planning, this comparison makes the seasonal difference clear: birdwatching is a year-round highlight, while bighorn sheep viewing is limited to late summer and early fall and is also only occasional. You can therefore prioritize your wildlife interests by season rather than treating both viewing opportunities as the same.

Big Dune: Size and ATV Recreation

Big Dune offers recreational opportunities with ATVs. The dune covers five square miles and reaches a height of about 500 feet. The two measurements answer different questions: the area describes its extent, while the height indicates its vertical size. Together, they give you a more concrete sense of the dimensions of this named dune; the ATV reference adds a clear recreational angle. This sets Big Dune apart from the wildlife viewing highlights at Point of Rocks and Devils Hole, where viewing from a distance is part of the experience. If you would like to include an ATV activity in your trip, you can consider Big Dune as a distinct part of your plans, combining the landscape’s size with its activity options.

Discover more destinations: Beatty, Tonopah, Pahrump

Return to the overview of the larger travel region: Nye.