VEGAS FAV’S: PART II

March – April, 2019

So who comes to Las Vegas to find hiking and biking trails? Who comes to Las Vegas to go out of their way to travel off-road and see the desert in bloom? How about to find petroglyphs, lizards, abandoned train tunnels, the pupfish, and fossils?

Yeah, Yeah…We know.  The last blog started off with the same thought, and did we really mean the repeat?  Well, of course, and here’s the point.  Vegas is amazing, and a place in the world that working stiffs, people looking for an incredible vacation, those with disposable money to spend, and the rich and famous can all find whatever it is they want to find – and find it in excess.  We’ve all known somebody that has been to Disney often enough to earn Disney perks, or has earned privileged status with this or that cruise line for being at sea on the company’s vessels often.  For some, Vegas is their Disney or cruise line…it’s their special get away place.

We have chosen to make the road our home.  Each of us who lives on the road makes the decision as to the next destination, what we think we’ll do there and in general, how active or “retired” we’ll be.  Barbara and I could simply figure out our destinations and stick with the most popular places and activities there OR we could chose which of those popular places and activities we’d like to see, and mostly focus on finding and doing the cool stuff not everybody would go see or do.  We do try to blend in our personal preferences too:  things like baseball games, BBQ, staying highly active, and being outside whenever possible.  In Vegas there are fabulous outdoor activities within a short reach of the city, and a plethora of Atlas Obscura/Road Less Traveled/Roadside Attractions/The Crazy Tourist stuff (more on all of that in a separate blog) – you just have to take a step away from the seduction of the glitz and glamour.

The Valley of Fire State Park and the Hoover Damn/Lake Mead National Recreation Area are fabulous, no doubt.  But there’s quite a bit more for us to share.

The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is about 15 miles west of Las Vegas, and it is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape Conservation System (National Landscape Conservation System?).  More than two million people visit each year, which would be a ranking of 16th place if this were a national park.  On weekends the line of vehicles wanting to enter the park can stretch back a few miles.  Thankfully there was an express line for those with a National Parks pass.  By the way, the senior National Parks pass is loving referred to as a geezer pass!

Coming in from the South our first view of the area was striped mountains hinting at the beauty we’d find in Red Rock itself.

There’s a 20-mile long stretch of gently slopping fairly straight roadway with beautiful views and vistas adjacent to the Canyon that leads past the entrance into the hills north and the valley south.  The roadway is very actively used by bicyclists and runners for recreation, races and rallies.

Once a wild burro living in Red Rock Canyon, Jackson, has become the Canyon’s mascot.

Compared to other Conservation Areas in which we have hiked, Red Rock is a well- organized, 13-mile one-way roadway that ambles up and down the hills that define the paved portion of the Canyon.  Along the way there are many prescribed parking areas that lead to the trailheads of wonderful hikes.

The highest point along the 13-mile loop affords the best view of a beautiful red rock outcropping and the western horizon.

We couldn’t resist taking the trail to view petroglyphs, as well as being sure to get lost while following what we thought was the proper trail.  After a mile or so we ran across some other hikers coming the other way who explained that we had found wilderness, and we were not on the path to view ancient symbols carved into rock.  We had to turn around and get lost a couple of more times, but finally our stubbornness paid off.

Our longest hike, the Calico Tanks Trail, took us deep into the Canyon.  The path was easy to follow because of its white sands.

Along the way we were fortunate to see our first blooming Yucca…

…and swore that we were being followed by this little guy!

We’d highly recommended a trip out to Red Rock if you happen to be in the area.

This was the satan of bike rides…bar none.  What started out described as an easy 8-mile paved and then moderate 5-mile “off-road-but-hard-pack-dirt-follow-the-signs” ride ended up being a very fun 10-mile ride and 10 miles of “where the hell are we and how do we get back ’cause the wind is in my face, I’m tired and this just sucks.”  We can get lost all by ourselves, but the path markers just stopped somewhere around mile 11 or 12.  Thank goodness for GPS or we may still be wandering around the streets between Las Vegas and Henderson trying to find our way home.

While riding we did find great views of the Vegas Strip, some of the countryside, and a couple of other pretty things as well.

We finally encountered a snake.  Brian noticed the back end of a coral and black banded, 5 foot-long snake slithering off of the bike path and into the shade.  We had to hurry to try and see more than a snake’s back end, and we found it attempting to hide out in the shadows and behind a few small rocks (see the head and tail?).  Brian approached for a closer picture, and was hissed at as the snake made haste away under the bike path.

The Desert National Wildlife Refuge is north of Las Vegas, and at 1.615 million acres is the largest protected wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states.  It’s more than twice the size of Rhode Island, and it is part of the Mojave Desert.  Although there are miles and miles and miles of unimproved roads (ox cart paths may be a better term) and an occasional campground (tents only) throughout the Refuge, it is essentially wilderness.  It’s not a place to wander about or for the rookie in the wilderness; there are no facilities, no water and no cell service.

So why would geezers like us bother? Well, after talking to the Ranger at the Visitor’s Center, we bounced along a dirt path (road?) for 5-6 miles through a Joshua Tree and Yucca Forest starting its spring bloom in pursuit of fossils!

At least we believe these are fossils. Woo-Hoo?

Not sure that the pictures do justice to the beauty of springtime in the desert, but we stopped every quarter mile or so to admire the scenery.

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is “a biodiversity hot spot and a haven for rare plants and animals, and an incredible story of survival for an ancient species of fish.”  It also calls itself the last remaining oasis in the Mojave Desert.  Oasis?  Are we in the Sahara or lost for 40 days in the Sinai?

The Devil’s Hole Pupfish is an ancient species of fish only found in the geothermal aquifer-fed Devil’s Hole in Ash Meadows. Only about 1 inch in length the pupfish may be the world’s rarest fish with an estimated population of less than 200.

The Amargosa Niterwort and Ash Meadows Sunray are 2 endangered plant species found nowhere else in the world.  

There’s a small lake in the Refuge fed by the geothermal aquifer, and it is an amazing color of blue

There’s fun to be found all around the excitement of Las Vegas.  For us, we found satisfaction and wonder in all of the hikes and the bike ride we enjoyed.  Get off the Strip and Freemont Street even if just for a little while – you’ve got all night for the rest of that stuff after all.  Come hike Vegas…we’ll never tell.  What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Barbara and Brian