Base Camp Las Vegas: 101 Hikes in the Southwest
Base Camp Las Vegas: 101 Hikes in the Southwest
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Overview
Within easy reach are five national parks, including Zion, Grand Canyon, and Death Valley. Dozens of state parks, regional preserves, recreation areas, and public lands offer amazing variety, from sand dunes and salt flats to alpine meadows, waterfalls, and ancient forests. Unique plant and animal life as well as archaeology, paleontology, and fascinating Wild West history are all waiting to be discovered in this region, making Las Vegas an ideal basecamp: Hikers can enjoy solitude and unspoiled wilderness by day and world-class urban amenities by night. Base Camp Las Vegas includes 101 of the best hiking destinations within hours of Las Vegas. Base Camp Las Vegas tells hikers where and when to go--and also how to prepare--to enjoy the best trails this unparalleled region has to offer.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780997236989 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Imbrifex Books |
| Publication date: | 08/08/2017 |
| Series: | Base Camp , #1 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 256 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
| Age Range: | 15 - 18 Years |
About the Author
Deborah Wall is a freelance writer and photographer specializing in both adventure travel and family excursions. She writes an outdoor column for View Community Newspapers, a division of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A lifelong hiker, she has been a ski racer and has taught skiing and sailing. A former television producer and news anchor, she also worked as a model for skiing and outdoor publications. This book, her fourth, is an expanded and updated edition of Base Camp Las Vegas a best-selling hiking guide first published in 2010. Ms. Wall is the author of Great Hikes: A Cerca Country Guide (2004). She co-authored Access for All: Touring the Southwest with Limited Mobility (2014) and was a major contributor to Road Trips and Adventures, two more of the Cerca Country Guide series. She has won several Nevada Press Association awards and blogs about little-known hiking routes in the Southwest and tips for taking fun and safe trips for BaseCampGuides.com.
Read an Excerpt
1 Calico Basin—Red Spring Interpretive Trail
Calico Basin offers a mixed grill of the Red Rock area’s best, including riparian habitat, meadows, springs, and even some cultural resources, all within the area’s signature Aztec sandstone landscape.
An easy way to taste it all is to take the Red Spring Interpretive Trail, which starts directly behind the picnic area. This will take you up a small rise and to the grassy bench above. From here the trail makes a one-half-mile loop around the perimeter of the meadow. This trail is accessible for wheelchairs and baby strollers.
A boardwalk was installed in 2005 as part of a restoration project to protect the environmentally sensitive areas. This way, visitors can still enjoy the area without disturbing the fragile plant life. Outside the boardwalk there is a fence to keep burros and horses from trampling these areas.
As you travel along the boardwalk, stop and read the interpretive signs. Be sure and take time to sit quietly a while on one of the many benches along the way, listening and looking for wildlife. Because of a permanent supply of water, lush vegetation, and surrounding canyons, many animals thrive here. More than one hundred species of birds have been recorded, and the area is also home to mountain lions, kit foxes, coyotes, rabbits, ground squirrels, desert tortoises, and ringtail cats. I even had the good fortune of seeing a gray fox on one early-morning visit.
There are three springs in this vicinity. Ash Spring, Calico Spring and Red Spring provided reliable and vital water sources to humans for thousands of years. American Indians used this area and were followed by homesteaders and ranchers. As you make your way around the walkway and over to the sandstone cliffs, keep an eye out for rock art. There are two types in Red Rock Canyon, petroglyphs and pictographs. Here you will be seeing petroglyphs which have been pecked into the surface of rock, unlike pictographs, which were painted on the surface. Some of this rock art is thought to be more than five thousand years old.
Once you reach the far end of the boardwalk from where you started, you will see the waters of Red Spring itself, flowing from a small tunnel or cave. If you look carefully you will see many water-loving plants such as the stream orchid, watercress, Nevada blue-eyed grass and black-creeper sedge. The boardwalk protects not only these plants but also local inhabitants such as red-spotted toads and Pacific chorus frogs.
A few biologically sensitive species also call this area home. The Spring Mountain springsnail, Pyrgulopsis deaconi, is found only in four springs, all of them nearby. The alkali Mariposa lily, which grows in the surrounding riparian meadow, is found only in a few other places in Southern California and Nevada. The largest population in Nevada is said to be the one here.
If you visited this area before the boardwalk was installed, you might remember being able to drive almost up to the base of Red Spring, and park there. As you travel along the boardwalk it’s worth a look in that area to see how it has been transformed. The old road has been covered over and replaced with native vegetation. It’s on its way to restoration as original habitat.
Although this is an excellent place to go when your time is constrained, there are hiking trails just outside of the boardwalk area that are well worth exploring when you have more leisure.
Table of Contents
Area Locator & Maps Index
Foreword 10
Before You Hit the Trail 12
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area 27
1 Calico Basin-Red Spring Interpretive Trail 30
2 Calico Tanks Trail 33
3 White Rock Hills/La Madre Spring Loop 36
4 La Madre Spring Trail 38
5 Children's Discovery Trail and Lost Creek 42
6 Ice Box Canyon 44
7 Pine Creek Canyon 47
8 First Creek Canyon 51
Mt. Charleston/Spring Mountains National Recreation Area 55
9 Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway 58
10 Mary Jane Falls 60
11 Cathedral Rock 62
12 Big Falls 65
13 Fletcher Canyon 67
14 Robbers Roost 70
15 Bristlecone Trail 72
Lake Mead National Recreation Area 77
16 Railroad Tunnel Trail 79
17 Fortification Hill 83
18 Liberty Bell Arch 86
19 Black Canyon National Water Trail 88
20 St. Thomas 92
21 Bowl of Fire 95
22 Grapevine Canyon 98
23 Spirit Mountain 101
Nevada State Parks 105
24 Spring Mountain Ranch State Park 108
25 Atlatl Rock, Valley of Fire State Park 111
26 Mouse's Tank, Valley of Fire State Park 114
27 White Domes Loop Trail, Valley of Fire State Park 117
28 Kershaw-Ryan State Park 119
29 Cathedral Gorge State Park 122
30 Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park 125
Nevada's Other Public Lands 129
31 Sloan Canyon's Petroglyph Trove 131
32 River Mountain Hiking Trail 134
33 Bridge Spring Trail 136
34 Keyhole Canyon 140
35 Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area 143
Desert National Wildlife Refuge 147
36 Corn Creek Visitor Center 149
37 Hidden Forest 151
Basin and Range National Monument 155
38 White River Narrows 160
39 Mt. Irish Petroglyh Site 162
Great Basin National Park 165
40 Wheeler Peak 168
41 Alpine Lakes Loop Trail 173
Ruby Mountains 175
42 Alphine Lakes 177
43 Ruby Crest Trail 180
Death Valley National Park 185
44 Zabriskie Point to Golden Canyon 188
45 Badwater 191
46 Telescope Peak 193
47 Darwin Falls 196
48 A Racetrack for Rocks 199
49 Eureka Dunes 202
50 Lone Pine/Alabama Hills 204
51 West Side Road 208
52 China Ranch 211
Mojave National Preserve 215
53 The Rings Trail 217
54 Rock Spring Loop 221
55 Teutonia Peak Trail 223
56 Lava Tube 225
57 Fort Piute 227
58 Amboy Crater 229
Zion National Park 233
59 Pa'rus Trail 236
60 The Watchman Trail 239
61 Angels Landing 242
62 Riverside Walk 244
63 Zion Narrows 246
64 Grafton 251
65 Huber Wash 254
66 Kolob Arch 257
Cedar Breaks National Monument 261
67 Alpine Pond Trail 265
68 Winter Yurt 267
69 Bunker Creek Trail 270
Bryce Canyon National Park 275
70 Fairyland Loop Trail 276
71 Mossy Cave Trail 279
72 Bryce Canyon in the Winter 282
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument 285
73 Calf Creek 288
74 Peek-a-boo and Spooky Slot Canyons 291
75 Coyote Gulch 294
76 Willis Creek and Bull Valley Gorge 297
77 Hackberry Canyon 301
Capital Reef National Park 305
78 Fremont River Trail 308
79 Capitol Gorge 309
Canyonlands National Park 313
80 The Maze 314
81 Horseshoe Canyon 317
Arches National Park 321
82 Delicate Arch 322
83 Landscape Arch 324
Grand Canyon National Park 327
84 Bright Angel Trail 329
85 Rim Trail 332
86 Cliff Spring Trail 335
87 Greenland Lake Trail 336
88 Widforss Trail 338
89 Uncle Jim Trail 339
90 Rim to Rim 341
91 Toroweap/Tuweep 344
Other Arizona Highlights 349
92 Lee's Ferry and Lonely Dell 351
93 Antelope Canyon 354
94 Monument Valley 357
95 Canyon de Chelly 360
96 Walnut Canyon 363
97 Sunset Crater 365
98 Wupatki National Monument 367
99 Slide Rock State Park 370
100 Palm Canyon/Kofa National Wildlife Refuge 373
101 Chloride, Arizona 375
Acknowledgments 381
Choose Your Perfect Hike 383
What People are Saying About This
"Chapters are ordered according to distance from The Strip. A profusion of color photos fills the book. Each chapter provides an area overview and map, while each hike gets its own description along with direction to the trailhead, degree of difficulty, elevation (and gain), best time of year to go, and other relevant information.” — Al Bonowitz, Westways AAA Magazine
"Aside from the wealth of information found inside these pages, it is an absolutely beautiful book as well. I highly recommend “Base Camp Las Vegas: 101 Hikes in the Southwest” by Deborah Wall to anyone interested in hiking or camping. It is an invaluable resource guide for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts of all activity levels.” — Sheri Hoyte, Reader Views
"Part travel guide, part history, part paean to the Southwest, Deborah Wall's descriptions of the region are warm, personal, and informed. Her love for and knowledge of the 101 locations covered here shine through, and her superb photography captures the full beauty of the Southwest's many different geologies and landscapes. This is a book that will appeal to locals and visitors alike, one that readers will refer to over and over again, delving in to discover the almost unlimited number of scenic wonders within easy reach of Las Vegas, that most improbable of gateways to the great outdoors." -- Peter Thody, RoadTripAmerica.com
"A good guidebook for nature enthusiasts who are curious about the vegetation and critters they encounter" -- Scott Wyland, European Stars and Stripes
"We live in the golden age of guidebooks, Base Camp Las Vegas by Deborah Wall is a beautifully laid out, richly photographed and impeccably organized guide to one of America’s greatest trekking regions."--GearFlogger.com
"Diving into the book, it provided a broad cross-section of terrain and difficulty, providing something for everyone. The book uses full-color printing throughout, and the photography is beautiful. There were a number of obscure trails and adventures that I had only heard of in passing, and that’s where Base Camp Las Vegas excels, in whetting your appetite for exploring places you may have heard of but have never been."--Jeff Hester, SoCalHiker
"The book was spot on with descriptions of the areas I’ve been to, and the photography is superb. The publication itself is a high quality, slick stock, soft cover book. It could be carried in a daypack. The directions for different hikes are clear and easy to follow." -- Leon Pantenburg, SurvivalCommonSense.com
"I really like the idea of a "base camp" from which to explore an area and instantly liked the quality feel of the book. Deborah Wall's writing is engaging, it feels like a friend is talking to you and preparing you for your day's adventure. Each description is followed by a "quick glance" feature that includes the season to go, hike length, difficulty, elevation gain, starting elevation, any warnings, the jurisdiction and driving directions?"-- Carol White, author of Live Your Road Trip Dream: Travel for a Year for the Cost of Staying Home
"There is more to do in Las Vegas than visit the casinos and the Strip! Having hiked many of the hikes in Deborah Wall's Base Camp Las Vegas: 101 Hikes in the Southwest over the years, I can say she is spot on. The Rings Trail and Lava Tube hikes in Mojave National Preserve are quite the adventure but not difficult. After hearing about Valley of the Fire State Park in Nevada for years, we recently completed the Mouse's Tank and White Domes Loop Trail hikes taking us through stunning beauty." -- Jaimie Hall Bruzenak, author of Retire to an RV: The Roadtrip to Affordable Retirement
"Deborah Wall's new book, Base Camp Las Vegas: 101 Hikes in the Southwest is truly a unique hiking guide that takes readers on a tour of 101 different hiking trails found in the vicinity of Las Vegas that includes forested canyons, geological wonders, and some off the beaten path hikes that even locals may have overlooked. Almost every page has a beautiful picture of the locations featured in the book."-- Osie Turner, Living-Las-Vegas.com