Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 | 8:18 a.m.
Carson City may have the official parade, but this week Southern Nevada offers plenty of fun ways to celebrate Nevada's 140 years of statehood.
Nevada was admitted into the union as a state Oct. 31, 1864. State offices will be closed Friday, in honor of the holiday.
Those who have the day off are invited to grab their kids, and maybe a few children whose parents have to work, and head to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City for Nevada Trails Day.
Hikes up Bootleg Canyon, bike rides, horseback trail rides and rides aboard the Nevada Southern Railway will be featured in the event being co-sponsored by the Southern Nevada Regional Trails Partnership and River Mountain Loop Trail committee, among others.
National Trails Day officially falls on the first Saturday in June. But after a few years of sweating it out in the desert heat, the event's coordinators obtained permission to host a trails celebration when the temperatures are more agreeable.
Participants must provide their own bicycles and horses and should arrive by 8 a.m. at the museum, 600 Yucca Ave. in Boulder City. (Cross Veterans Memorial Drive, then turn left at the Taco Bell.) All hikes and rides begin at 8:30.
Mountain-bike riders looking for a short, easy trail ride will hop aboard the Southern Nevada Railway with their bikes and ride to Railroad Pass. From there, they will pedal the estimated 4 miles back (downhill) to the museum.
Despite the heat, last year's trails day event in June attracted 300 people. But most were adults, said Ed Dodrill, president of the regional trails partnership.
"We're trying to get more kids active in it. The kids need the exercise, and there's very few activities scheduled that day (Nevada Day) that kids can participate in," he said.
In addition to the hikes, rides and food, area trails groups and land-oriented agencies will have information booths.
For more information, check out www.rivermountainstrail.org.
If you're looking to travel a little farther than Boulder City, head out to Death Valley, which celebrates its 10th year as a national park this weekend.
A car tour of flood-damaged California Route 190 is at 9 a.m., a ranger tour of Historic Furnace Creek Inn at 11 a.m. and a slide program at 7 p.m.
Death Valley National Park sits just over the Calfornia-Nevada border. California 190 is still closed. But Las Vegans can access the park by taking State Route 374 west from Beatty or driving along state route 372 from Pahrump, which turns into California Route 178. Follow directions to Furnace Creek Visitors' Center.
For information call (760) 786-3246.
If Beatty is as far as you want to drive this weekend, then commemorate Nevada's statehood by visiting Beatty's centennial celebration.
The Beatty festival, which runs through Nov. 14, includes this weekend a model railroad exhibit, stagecoach rides, burro races, wheelbarrow races, a pig chase and a fiddlers contest, among other activities.
Log onto www.beattynevada.org for a complete schedule of events.
And get outta town.
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