Lincoln County’s Kershaw-Ryan State Park was recently selected as Nevada’s hidden treasure of the year for 2014 by the Nevada Travel Network. (Rachel Williford photo)
Each year the Nevada Travel Network announces its annual Must-See Must-Do list for Nevada. The statewide list includes the City, Hidden Treasure, Attraction, Hotel, Event and three Restaurants of the Year considered worthy of the honor.
“Kershaw-Ryan State Park is an enchanted garden,” says the Nevada Travel Network’s spokesman David Toll. “It’s a small, meticulously maintained miracle of green with a dry campground attached, in the demi-wilderness two miles south of Caliente. Roses and wild grapevines, streamlets and a small waterfall, even a lawn, plus a number of easy trails to stretch your legs with.”
Dawn Andone at Cathedral Gorge State Park Regional Visitor Center and park interpreter with the parks in Lincoln County, said, “We are a hidden gem, a hidden treasure in this area. We’re the best kept secret in Nevada, people don’t know we exist. It’s awesome to have this news out on the (Nevada Travel Network) website, because people are going to see it and actually come here and find us. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us. It’s very exciting that we would be selected for this.”
The Samuel Kershaw family homesteaded the (Rainbow) canyon in the 1870s and sold to James Ryan in the early 1900s. Ryan donated the “Kershaw Garden” as a public park in 1934, and the Civilian Conservation Corps developed a picnic site and a small wading pool that same year.
Floods in 1984 destroyed much of their work, and the park was closed for more than a decade. Facilities were rebuilt in the mid-1990s, and the park was reopened with two picnic areas, a restroom and trails.
This year’s list announced by Toll is heavily weighted toward the south, with awards also going to Boulder City as City of the Year, the Boulder Dam Hotel as Hotel of the Year, the Techatticup Mine, El Dorado Canyon as Attraction of the Year; and the Mardi Gratta River Regatta, Laughlin as Event of the Year.
“We compiled this list because of the overwhelming sense that so many of the great people who are doing exceptional things in our state are just not getting the attention they deserve,” Toll said. “They don’t have a name, and they’re not really awards so much as shout-outs, meaning ‘Hey everyone, whatever else you do in Nevada this year, don’t miss this!’”
This year’s list:
• City of the Year: Boulder City
• Attraction of the Year: Techatticup Mine, El Dorado Canyon
• Hidden Treasure of the Year: Kershaw-Ryan State Park, Caliente
• Event of the Year: Mardi Gratta River Regatta, Laughlin
• Hotel of the Year: Boulder Dam Hotel, Boulder City
• Restaurants of the Year:
-Cafe Del Rio, Virginia City
-Khristopher’s Cafe, Carson City
-Supermercado Chapala, Yerington
See the list online: www.nevadatravel.net/mustsee-mustdo/2014/2014.html and add your nominations in the comments.
