Kershaw-Ryan State Park

Nevada State Park In Rainbow Canyon Near Caliente, A Spring Fed Oasis Of Grape Vines And Cottonwoods Beneath Volcanic Cliffs · Caliente, Nevada

Kershaw-Ryan State Park is a small, spring-fed oasis at the mouth of a side canyon off Rainbow Canyon, just south of the railroad town of Caliente in Lincoln County, eastern Nevada. Springs seeping from the base of steep, colourful volcanic cliffs water a green pocket of cottonwoods, willows, lawns and tangles of wild grapevines, said to descend from vines planted by the Kershaw family, who homesteaded here in the 1870s. The land later passed to the Ryan family and then to the state, making it one of Nevada's early state parks. A shaded picnic ground, a spring-fed wading pond, a small campground and a few trails onto the canyon rim make up the park. Floods have shaped its history: it is reported to have been badly damaged by a flood in the mid-1980s and closed for years before reopening. It is a lightly visited local park, lovely for a picnic or a night, not a destination on its own. Combine it with Rainbow Canyon's cliffs, rock art and railroad bridges, Caliente's 1923 depot, Cathedral Gorge and the other state parks around Pioche.

State Route 317, Caliente, Nevada, 89008, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the park is open all year, with day use commonly from around sunrise to sunset or set daytime hours, and the campground open to registered campers; the wading pond, showers and some water taps may be seasonal or closed at times. The traps that ruin a day are driving from Las Vegas for the wading pond when it is drained, hiking the exposed overlook trails at midday in summer, staying in the wash when a monsoon storm builds upstream, trying to drive far down Rainbow Canyon when NV 317 is flood damaged, and arriving in Caliente late on a Sunday to find little open. Confirm current hours and conditions before relying on them.

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