The Ice Age land north of Lone Mountain is usually called "Tule Springs." It is really three properties with three owners. The City of Las Vegas runs Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs. The State of Nevada runs Ice Age Fossils State Park. The National Park Service manages Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Each one sets its own hours, fees and event calendar.
For most of the year those calendars don't have much to do with each other. In October 2026 they overlap. National Fossil Day, Nevada Day and the city park's seasonal hours change all fall inside the same few weeks, and on one Friday three free or low-cost outings land on the same date. Planning the month means keeping three different sets of rules straight.
Three Owners, Three Sets of Rules
Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs covers 680 acres at 9200 Tule Springs Road. It has lakes, the historic Tule Springs Ranch, and views of the Sheep and Spring Mountain ranges. Entry is $6 per vehicle, and the gatehouse no longer takes cash. Visitors without a card can pay cash at a city community center and bring the receipt to the gate. A Household Yearly Pass costs $50, and a Senior Household Yearly Pass for ages 50 and up costs $25.
Ice Age Fossils State Park is at 8660 N. Decatur Blvd. in North Las Vegas. It has a visitor center with exhibits, restrooms, drinking water, covered seating and a gift shop. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Entry is $3 per person, and children 12 and under get in free.
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument has no visitor building of its own. The National Park Service says it offers few on-site ranger programs because the monument has no visitor facilities. Its programming runs in spring and fall.
These differences shape any October plan. The state park is closed Monday and Tuesday. The monument has no building to shelter in. The city park's closing time moved this month.
Floyd Lamb Now Closes Three Hours Earlier
From April through September, Floyd Lamb Park is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. From October through March it is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. An after-dinner walk around the ponds was possible a few weeks ago. Since October 1 the gate closes in the afternoon.
The state park already closes at 4:30, so for the rest of the year all of the Ice Age outings around Lone Mountain fit into daylight hours, and most of the scheduled programs this month start before noon. October's weather makes it a good month to be outside, but the visits have to start earlier in the day.
Floyd Lamb's remaining 2026 free-entry days are October 30, November 26 and December 25. All three fall within winter hours, so the free days also end at 5 p.m.
The October Calendar, Laid Side by Side
All of these dates come from the three agencies' own event listings and from the farm that runs the area's main fall festival.
| Date | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 10, 9–10 a.m. | Megafauna Walk & Talk, ranger-led | Ice Age Fossils State Park | $3 entry; 12 and under free |
| Sat., Oct. 17, 9:30 a.m. | Pleistocene Palooza, National Fossil Day | Tule Springs Fossil Beds, N. Durango Dr. & W. Moccasin Rd. | Free |
| Sat., Oct. 17, 1–2 p.m. | Monumental Mammoth Scavenger Hunt | Ice Age Fossils State Park | Park entry |
| Sun., Oct. 25, 1–3 p.m. | Spooky Skeletons craft drop-in | Ice Age Fossils State Park | Park entry |
| Fri., Oct. 30, 9 a.m.–noon | Nevada Day Celebration | Ice Age Fossils State Park | $3 entry; 12 and under free |
| Fri., Oct. 30, all day | Free-entry day | Floyd Lamb Park | Free |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 9–11 a.m. | Pop-Up Science: Sloth Salad | Ice Age Fossils State Park | Park entry |
The state park's programs don't add a fee or require registration beyond regular entry. The Megafauna Walk & Talk follows the park's 0.3-mile accessible Megafauna Trail, which makes it the shortest guided walk on the calendar.
The table leaves out one event. The Protectors of Tule Springs calendar lists a Halloween Night Hike at the state park on October 24, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., but its event page still says "save the date" and promises more details later. It would be the only after-dark program of the month, if it is confirmed.
October 17 Is the Monument's Big Day
The National Park Service calls Pleistocene Palooza a free annual outdoor event. It includes working scientists, a Junior Paleontologist Program, live animals and fossils up close. It starts at 9:30 a.m. and runs three hours in the parking area at N. Durango Drive and W. Moccasin Road, with visitor parking on the northeast side of the intersection. The Protectors of Tule Springs page lists a longer window, so the NPS listing is the safer schedule to plan around.
The fossils on display are between 100,000 and 12,500 years old. NPS lists the event as dog friendly. That affects the rest of the day, because the area's other big October draw doesn't allow pets.
The other draw is The Las Vegas Farm's 2026 Fall Harvest Festival at 7222 W. Grand Teton Drive. It runs on October 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31. Shopping the farmers market is free. Festival and animal entry costs $10 for ages 13 and up and $5 for ages 12 and under, and activities are priced separately. The farm doesn't allow pets. All festival proceeds go to its nonprofit, Barn Buddies Sanctuary.
On October 17, the three events fit together in this order:
- Pleistocene Palooza at Durango and Moccasin from 9:30 a.m., with the dog along.
- Drop the dog at home, then go to the Mammoth Scavenger Hunt at the state park from 1 to 2 p.m.
- Visit the farm for pumpkins, which it describes as including at least a dozen hard-to-find varieties.
To end the day, Able Baker Brewing's Bomb Shelter at 6371 Centennial Center Blvd. is a family-friendly satellite taproom with 26 taps and patios. Las Vegas Weekly reviewed it in July 2026.
October 30 Stacks Three Agencies on One Date
Nevada Day falls on Friday, October 30, and it is the one date this fall when the city, the state and the Park Service all have Ice Age programming or free access on the same day.
The state park's Nevada Day Celebration runs 9 a.m. to noon, with outdoor crafts, games and activities at the usual $3 entry. Floyd Lamb Park waives its $6 vehicle fee that day and is open until 5 p.m. The National Park Service is taking the Tule Springs fossils off-site to Nevada Day at the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas, 309 S. Valley Blvd. That event runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with family activities and is free for Nevada residents.
The museum event is the only one of the three held away from the fossil beds, so a version of the day that stays close to home is shorter. Spend the morning at the state park and the afternoon at Floyd Lamb before the 5 p.m. gate. The next morning, October 31, has Sloth Salad at the state park, a program on ground sloths and the plants they ate that includes a plant scavenger hunt. The farm's last festival day is the same Saturday.
The Stop Inside Floyd Lamb That Isn't a Park
The Nevada Division of Forestry's Las Vegas Nursery sits inside Floyd Lamb Park at 9600 Tule Springs Road. Its fall 2026 inventory, dated September 17, includes desert willow, Joshua tree, penstemons and milkweeds, with container prices from $4.50 to $55.75. The nursery says stock changes constantly and recommends calling ahead at (702) 486-5411. That list is in effect a catalog of the same native desert plants that grow on the protected land a few miles away. Since the park now closes at 5, a nursery stop has to fit into the same daylight window as everything else.
What Stays Fenced Into 2027
The monument has one major project underway. Construction on the 3.3-mile accessible Tufa Trail began August 22, 2025. The trail will have bilingual waysides, tactile models and wayfinding, and the Park Service expects it to open to the public in 2027. 8NewsNow reported that the existing Durango and Aliante Loop trailheads would stay open during construction.
The NPS conditions page still posts a temporary closure south of Grand Teton Drive, between Tule Springs Parkway and North Fifth Street. That alert was last updated in October 2025, so call ahead before planning a walk in that section. Until the Tufa Trail opens, the monument doesn't have its own accessible trail. For now, the state park's 0.3-mile Megafauna Trail and visitor center host most of the October programs on the calendar above.
After October, the monument's calendar goes quiet. The Protectors of Tule Springs list December 19 as "Happy Birthday TUSK!", marking the anniversary of the law that created the monument, but they haven't posted any activities for it yet.
Fossil Day and Nevada Day fall within two weeks of each other this month, just north of Lone Mountain. If you'd like to know where your Lone Mountain home stands this fall, Virtue Real Estate Group offers an Instant Home Valuation that gives you a clear, current starting figure, and our team is available to walk through it with you.
