The national park boasts wonderful hiking opportunities and about 3,100 fruit and nut trees.
Deborah Wall
Deborah Wall is the author of "Great Hikes, a Cerca Country Guide," and "Basecamp Las Vegas: Hiking the Southwestern States," published by Stephens Press. Email: deborabus@aol.com
With its fiery red sandstone formations, the area is similar to Valley of Fire but offers much more solitude.
Grapevine Canyon, just north of Laughlin off state Route 163, is one of the finest petroglyph sites in Southern Nevada.
There are hundreds of slot canyons in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park, but most are hard to find, and it might take days afoot to reach them. A few, however, are accessed fairly easily on a day trip, as long as you are up to driving rough gravel roads and able to hike a round trip of a few moderate miles.
Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area is a must-see. Handily located at the southern tip of Nevada, the park was established in 1996, on the Colorado River south of Laughlin’s Casino Drive.
Yosemite National Park is one of those places everyone should see at least once in their lifetime, and over the next two months are ideal times to go. By happy coincidence, it is easiest to go there during the very months when Las Vegans most need to escape the heat.
Any visit to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area should now start at the Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, is such a feast for the eyes that more than a million people from around the world visit every year. Located on the eastern rim of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, the park features natural amphitheaters filled with a colorful landscape of spires, pinnacles and pillars called hoodoos.
With the opening of school and the approach of holidays, most of us become too busy to escape for long from our city lives. That makes the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge a good choice for a September escape. Lying in Nevada near the California state line, it’s close enough to enjoy thoroughly in a single day, yet it’s a little farther north, a little higher, and therefore a little cooler, than our own valley. Now is an especially good time to go if you enjoy birdwatching or counting how many different kinds you can see, for the fall migratory season is upon us, and more than 275 species have been recorded there.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah is enjoyed by about 2 million visitors a year who come to see its 10 deep, hoodoo-filled amphitheaters. Hoodoos are called that because they are tall natural columns that suggest living but unearthly beings. They are formed by an unusual type of erosion involving the freeze-and-thaw cycle that is repeated approximately 200 days every year due to the park’s high elevation.
The heart of Zion National Park in southeastern Utah is Zion Canyon, a magnificent chasm carved into the edge of the Colorado Plateau. This is where the North Fork of the Virgin River snakes its way downstream flanking the six-mile Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. The beauty of this area is complemented by the thick vegetation that lines the river including the impressive, old-growth Fremont cottonwood trees.
Adventure awaits even busy people in Page, Ariz. If you’re short of time but love the water and want to see the region’s stunning scenery, historic sites and plenty of wildlife, a half-day raft trip here offers a taste of them all. And you’ll savor the memories for years to come.
With the temperatures in our region finally cooling off, now is a good time to head out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. There are many canyons to explore in the park but Pine Creek Canyon should be tops on your short list.
After driving miles of remote desert road through the Mojave National Preserve, Californians are often surprised to come upon the Kelso Depot, where a railroad station large and elaborate enough to serve a small city sits virtually in the middle of nowhere. It serves as the primary visitor center for the preserve, has excellent museum displays and even offers a good place to get a light lunch.
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