Hoover Dam

From what appears on the websites of the dam itself and the DoE, you can't take a gun there, period, no matter how "safeguarded" it may be. The reason undoubtedly is fear of terrorism. They just don't want weapons anywhere near the dam, and you can certainly see why (channel your inner Sylvester Stallone).

While the risk of being stopped and your car searched is perhaps minimal (and might increase drastically at any given time, for a host of reasons), I can't see any upside in carrying a gun in your car for your Hoover Dam excursion. The likelihood of "needing" it to thwart some foul miscreant (and of successfully doing so should that occur) is about the same as that of hitting Megabucks (and, editorial comment: many gun lovers would rather gun down a foul miscreant than win Megabucks).

The legal issue of giving or not giving consent to a search does NOT apply when you are on federal property where giving automatic consent to be searched is one of the conditions of entry. You've seen the signs posted at airports, etc. I would assume you might be treated a bit more courteously if you told the searchers you had a gun and where to find it. But you would still be turned away.

And BTW, it's "steenkin'". We don't need no steenkin' badges!

Fellow LVA members, do you have a recommendation for the best hoover dam tour.  From my reading, the "dam" walking tour is gone due to security concerns.  I see a couple that pick you up on the strip and last about 3 hours. 

Thanks fellow LVA members.

Dave

To a large extent, all the Hoover Dam tours are the same, and I can't recommend one company over another, except to say that a few years ago, my brother and his wife took a Gray Line tour and really enjoyed it.

One strong caveat, though: unless it's absolutely necessary for you, don't take a 3-hour tour. It can easily take an hour just to get from the Strip to the dam. I'm certain that this would make the tour itself seem rather rushed. Most tour companies offer a 3-hour and a 5+-hour version. Take the longer one.

Let me mention another possibility, if you have a car, and if you're coming between now and the end of the year: drive to the dam yourself, walk around for as long as you wish, and then, on the way back, stop at the Ethel M factory in deepest darkest Henderson and tour the cactus garden with all the Christmas lights. It's free, though you probably won't escape without buying some chocolate.

Also, since even with the recent insane boost in rental car prices, you can still rent a compact car for a day for less than the price of a dam tour, I'd consider that as a superior alternative. That way, you can spend whatever amount of time at the dam that you want. (And if you're in possession of an LVA coupon book, you can use your ride to pick up a deal or two in Henderson that would otherwise be out of reach.)

Our 'dam tour' is one of the best things we ever did during a Vegas trip.  It was called a "Hard Hat Tour" and was just before 9/11 happened.  I understood that tours were suspended right after 9/11 but you should check for yourself to see what is available now.

This Hard Hat Tour involved transportation from our hotel to a big tour bus terminal, lining up to get on the appointed bus, the ride to the dam, the tour inside (which was fascinating), then a guided motorized raft ride down Black Canyon, pulling over to the shore for a boxed lunch, narration of all the flora and fauna along the way (we saw bighorn sheep), and at the end transporation back to our hotel via another bus.  We were given cute plastic hard hats to wear, I suppose to separate us from groups that paid a few dollars less for their tour.  The dam tour itself is also amazingly well narrated and way more informative than you would expect.  You get to look out that little door on the dam face just like Chevy Chase did in "Vegas Vacation." 

The whole thing took up into the mid afternoon, and when we got back we were ready for a nap.

If you do a tour that includes the float trip you want to do it when the weather is nice, as water laps up into your raft and can get your feet wet.  I think we went in late March or April and that water was pretty cold.  But it was wonderful, well worth whatever it cost.  Wear sunscreen.  Good luck.

Candy