Nevada – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Tule Springs Fossil Beds (Nevada) 22-Jan-2020

2020-01-222022-01-31Posted in Nevada, Other Stuff, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Las Vegas Nevada, Nevada, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Mounument Nevada

Years ago, I was working at what was then the Nevada Test Site and we briefly contemplated moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. That was before it became the massive urban sprawl it is today. But even then we were looking at places out of town, up north near Mount Charleston. I recall leaving the Vegas city limits and driving north on I-95 through actual open desert before we reached the turn-off for Charleston. Well, those days are gone. I-95 now bisects a solid sea of beige box houses (with more being built) all the way out to the turn-off.

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Fire Canyon Wash Loop (Nevada) 21-Jan-2019

2019-01-212022-01-31Posted in Hiking, NevadaTagged Day Hiking, Fire Canyon Wash Nevada, Hiking, Las Vegas Nevada, Mouse's Tank Nevada, Nevada, Petroglyphs, Silica Dome Nevada, Valley of Fire State Park Nevada2 Comments

For our fourth (and last) hike in the Las Vegas area, we drove northwest out to Valley of Fire State Park. The park, being a state enterprise, was not shutdown by the federal foolishness but a local power outage had disabled the visitor center’s gift shop. So we pressed on – to a hike we’d found on the Hiking Project that started at the Mouse’s Tank Trailhead and looped around cross-country to the Silica Dome parking area, with some interesting scrambling enroute. There’s an established trail through Petroglyph Canyon to Mouse’s Tank, a depression in the sandstone that collects water. Along the way we passed four big horn sheep that were so indifferent to people that they actually “posed” for us.

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Sloan Canyon Petroglyphs (Nevada) 20-Jan-2019

2019-01-202022-01-31Posted in Hiking, Nevada, Nevada Wilderness AreasTagged BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Day Hiking, Hiking, Las Vegas Nevada, Nevada, Petroglyphs, Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area Nevada, Sloan Canyon Petroglyph Site Nevada2 Comments

Sloan Canyon, our third hike near Las Vegas, is home to the Sloan Canyon Petroglyph Site, a large collection of Native American petroglyphs. This site is within the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area just south of Henderson, Nevada. It used to require lots of gravel driving to reach it until the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) built a paved access road from Henderson and installed a visitor contact station (which was closed thanks to the shutdown ).

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Redstone Peaks (Nevada) 19-Jan-2019

2019-01-192022-02-07Posted in Hiking, NevadaTagged Day Hiking, Hiking, Lake Mead National Recreation Area Nevada, Las Vegas Nevada, Nevada, Pinto Valley Wilderness Nevada, Redstone Peaks Nevada5 Comments

For our second hike near Las Vegas, we picked a short, but steep, cross-country route to the Redstone Peaks in the Pinto Valley Wilderness. This wilderness lies within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which was open despite the federal shutdown. But no fees were being collected and there were no rangers on duty if we’d needed help. We didn’t but it’s still a stupid way to run a government. 😡

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White Rock Loop (Nevada) 18-Jan-2019

2019-01-182022-01-31Posted in Hiking, Nevada, Nevada Wilderness AreasTagged BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Day Hiking, Hiking, Las Vegas Nevada, Nevada, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Allegiant Airlines now offers direct service between Medford, Oregon and Las Vegas, Nevada. We decided to give this low-cost airline a try so we could do some hiking in the Las Vegas vicinity. Our flights were great and the tickets cheap but they charge extra for everything else, so “low-cost” can quickly lose its “low” component. Still, they replaced four days of driving with two hours of flying so we think it was worth it. This is also the quick way to reach Death Valley, another favorite hiking location.

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