Lake Mead is the 16th largest manmade lake in the world and the largest reservoir in the United States when full (something that hasn’t happened since 1983!). It was named after Elwood Mead, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation when the lake was created. The lake provides lots of recreational activities such as boating, fishing, and water skiing, as well as a visitor center, botanical garden, and cactus garden.
Lake Mead is divided into several different bodies and narrow channels and is surrounded by jagged mountain ranges, making it an interesting sight to see from the air.
Here are some more interesting facts about Lake Mead:
- The Lake Mead area contains 3 different dessert ecosystems, the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Sonoran.
- Lake Mead National Recreation Area is 1.5 million acres and contains 820 miles of shoreline.
- Lake Mead is home to 240 different kinds of birds, 19 species of bats, 41 species of reptiles, and 12 species of amphibians, an abundance of fish, mountain lions, and bighorn sheep.
- Lake Mead contains the wreckage of at least 3 airplanes, one being a Boeing B-29 Superfortress that crashed in 1948 while testing a prototype missile guidance system.
- Some of the lava hills surrounding Lake Mead are about 6 million years old.
- Lake Mead provides water for Arizona, southern California, southern Nevada and northern Mexico.
- Lake Mead is currently suffering from a 15 year draught and reached record lows in June of this year with an elevation of only 1,075, only 25 feet above Las Vegas’ drinking water intakes.
- When Lake Mead is full, it holds 26.12 million acre feet of water and is 532 feet deep at the greatest point.
- Lake Mead area temperatures during the summer can rise to more than 110 degrees with water temperatures reaching 85 degrees.
Lake Mead is just one of the great sites that you can see while in route to the Grand Canyon on one of Serenity Helicopter’s amazing tours. Here is what some of our guests have to say about seeing Lake Mead from the air:
“Entertaining, educational and just plain fun. This will be the best money you spend in the Las Vegas area. Our pilot gave us a fantastic tour over the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, and more. Great value, very professional and door to door courteous service.” – n00tka
“Awesome tour. Professional and First Class. Perfect way to see Grand Canyon and Lake Mead. Will do it again soon.” – Toolbox70
“We booked the Serenity Helicopter tour to Grand Canyon over Hoover dam and Lake Mead. It was wonderful – such absolutely breathtaking sights!” – taryn81
“The route is good, but for me, never being in a helicopter the whole experience was fantastic and seeing the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the flight on route to the Grand Canyon is all a bonus!” – jcwbrown1985
“It was definitely the highlight of our trip to Vegas. What a great ride and history of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. Our pilot Jim made sure we saw how beautiful the landscape was.” – Henderson880
“The helicopter tour given by Mike was amazing. He did a great job of explaining the history of Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, and Grand Canyon.” – Mark S
Take a second to visit
our tours page or call us directly at 888-589-7701 and let our staff help pick the perfect experience for you. We look forward to hearing from you!
