Despite encroachment by urban housing tracts, portions of the northwestern Las Vegas Valley retain their rural feel, especially at Floyd Lamb State Park at Tule Springs, a former “divorce ranch” as well as working livestock spread.
Trip of the Week
Margo Bartlett Pesek writes about day trips from Las Vegas and information about the surrounding areas. Her column appears Sunday in Travel/Living.
Weathered remains of yesteryear dot Highway 165 to the old mining town of Nelson. The pavement continues through rugged Eldorado Canyon to a superb overlook above the Colorado River where steamboats used to dock at Nelson’s Landing. This 18-mile highway through history lies just 10 miles south of Railroad Pass on U.S. 93, within minutes of Las Vegas but a world away from urban bustle.
Springtime rates as the top season for spotting a wide variety of birds in the desert. One of the best places for bird watching in our area is the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve just off Sunset Road, east of Boulder Highway, at 2400 Moser Drive. Birders list more than 200 species of birds, both resident and visitors, at the site on the grounds of the Henderson Wastewater Reclamation Facility. When you first arrive, you may notice odors from the treatment plant, but most visitors soon get used to them and stop noticing.
Intermittent winter rains in the desert promise wildflowers in the spring. In our area, late autumn rains brought the inch of rain needed to trigger seeds to sprout in some areas, encouraged by mild to warm temperatures in January. Rain and snow from following storms furthered the tender greening on the desert. Winds carrying moisture did not dry out the seedlings. The conditions add up to a better than average wildflower show, but you have to know where and when to look.
Wonderful opportunities await nature enthusiasts during the first Wings and Wildlife Festival set for March 12-15 along the Colorado River, centered in Laughlin. Organized by a coalition formed in 2006 and called the Southern Nevada Bird and Wildlife Trails Partnership, the event showcases unique creatures frequenting varied habitat along the Colorado River in a tri-state region. The festival brings together experts from local, state and federal agencies, organizations involved with birds and wildlife, outfitters, tour companies and tourism agencies.
Despite often balmy days in Las Vegas at this time of year, snow-capped Charleston Peak, rising west of the city, reminds us that winter isn’t finished yet. Every storm front moving clouds across our valley carries the promise of fresh snow in the mountains. Whether the clouds deliver or not, the promise is enough to lure crowds to forested mountain slopes for snow play.
After 41 seasons, the show still goes on at the Amargosa Opera House in tiny Death Valley Junction, Calif. Multitalented Marta Becket entertains audiences each Saturday evening through May 9. Now an octogenarian with a bad back, the former dancer presents a sit-down performance featuring stories and characters from her creative past. She still gives her audiences their money’s worth.
The 21 current members of Nevada’s Bed and Breakfast Guild offer wide-ranging experiences all over the state. Those located in larger cities are handy to well-known visitor attractions. Some situated in smaller towns play upon laid-back local lifestyles. Others located in remote parts of the Silver State offer wild landscapes and adventurous activities.
Across the country, the popularity of houseboating continues to increase. Southern Nevada boasts easy access to houseboating hot spots on four desert lakes that enjoy long boating seasons. Closest to us lie Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, while Lake Havasu and Lake Powell lie a few hours’ drive distant.
Nevada once boasted about 70 railroads with thousands of miles of track linking remote mining towns with the transcontinental railroads. The mercurial nature of mining spelled doom for many of Nevada’s railways, but the development of the country’s highways led to the demise of railroads as our expanding young nation once knew them.
The remote corner of Clark County known as Gold Butte remained unknown to most Nevadans until a recently proposed congressional act brought it unusual attention. The long-ignored region lying south of Mesquite, east of the Virgin River and the Overton arm of Lake Mead and west of the Arizona border, may gain recognition and protection under the Gold Butte National Conservation Area Act, HR 7132.
White Pine County’s annual Fire and Ice Show on Jan. 17-18 promises winter visitors two nights of fireworks, two days of competitive ice sculpting and opportunities for activities possible only where the snow is deep and the ice is thick. The event earned recognition with its recent listing as one of the Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association for 2008 and 2009.
Paddlewheel cruise boats plying Lake Mead and the Colorado River recall the days before dams controlled the river and created lakes. Sturdy little steamboats served as workhorses on the untamed river of yesteryear. A vital link for remote communities, the boats carried passengers, supplies, draft animals, equipment and the production from area mines and mills. In bygone days, the challenging passage on the river always included elements of danger from shifting sand bars, driftwood, boulders and white-water rapids through narrow canyons.
An excellent guidebook on Southern Nevada, “Geologic Tours in the Las Vegas Area,” is now available with updated content and GPS coordinates. If you hurry, you can still obtain the newly released edition in time for holiday gift-giving. Sure to please desert lovers and Nevada buffs, the guide will be a welcome addition to collections of reference materials on the state.
While striving to meet the growing demand for wine in this country, the wine industry expands into unlikely areas for viticulture, places once considered too extreme for grapes to flourish. Located in the Mojave Desert just a mountain range away from Death Valley, the driest place in North America, Pahrump Valley ranks among the most unlikely locations for a winery. But there sits the Pahrump Valley Winery, a winebibber’s oasis just an hour’s drive from Las Vegas on Highway 160.