Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
12
Get Out of Town
Take a 2-hour drive (or less) out of Vegas,
and you'll see mountains, lakes, and
maybe even an alien
by Kate Silver
W
HEN THE DINGING OF THE SLOT MACHINES
,
RESTLESS CROWDS
,
AND
swirling eccentricities of Cirque du Soleil start to get on your nerves, it's time to
alter the scene. Las Vegas is a great place for a couple of days, but you may soon
be craving sunlight, fresh air and blue skies that aren't painted on a casino ceiling.
Head to the hills, the rivers, the mountains, the canyon, or even the mysterious
hinterland of alien lore and I guarantee you a memorable, rewarding time.
Because it sits smack in the middle of the Mojave Desert, visitors are often sur-
prised to find that the Las Vegas Valley is actually quite colorful and the outlying
areas aren't just flat, dry, and dull stretches of sand and bleached bones (as the
term “desert” implies).
When you flew into town, you may have noticed the mountains that surround
the Las Vegas Valley. The area was actually shaped over the millennia by the erod-
ing effects of water that once flowed through these mountains. The Spring
Mountains and Red Rock Canyon lie to the west, Frenchman Mountain is to the
east, the McCullough Range is to the south, and the Sheep and Las Vegas ranges
border the north. Each area offers different outdoor opportunities, making it pos-
sible to spend your entire vacation amusing yourself in Las Vegas without setting
foot in a casino. And people do. According to the Las Vegas Convention and
Visitors Authority, more than one-fifth of Las Vegas visitors take some kind of
side-trip during their stay here.
We applaud them for doing so. One of the reasons that this town is growing
so quickly is its proximity to so many other adventures—places where you can
downhill ski, water ski, raft, hike through multicolored canyons, and more . . . all
in the middle of the desert.
With the exception of the Grand Canyon, I've limited this chapter to places
that are less than 2 hours away. Because the city is so spread out, you'll want to
get to all of them. And if you're looking to go further, Los Angeles is 280 miles
south by car, and San Diego is about 330 miles. To the northeast, Zion National
Park is just 160 miles away, and Bryce Canyon National Park is 260 miles.
