Las Vegas Travel
Red Rock Canyon
The closest concentration of classic Southwestern canyon scenery to Las Vegas lies a mere twenty miles west of the city center. The sheer 3000-foot escarpment that towers above Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is clearly visible from hotel windows along the Strip, with every fiery detail picked out each morning by the rising sun. What you can't see until you enter the park, however, is that there's a cactus-strewn desert basin set deep into those mighty walls, surrounded by stark red cliffs that are pierced repeatedly by narrow canyons accessible only on foot.
Run by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, Red Rock Canyon covers almost 200,000 acres of wilderness. Like other such BLM areas, it's less groomed for tourists than a national park or monument. Thus while it includes over thirty miles of hiking trails, they're not as well signed or maintained as you might expect, and it's all too easy for novice walkers to get lost.
Calico Hills
The most dramatic views along the Scenic Drive come early on, as you head straight toward the Calico Hills that form the basin's northeastern wall. From two successive overlooks, Calico Vistas 1 and 2, it's possible to scramble short distances down from the road to find yourself dwarfed amid these crumbling domes of cream and red sandstone.
Further along, the Calico Tanks Trail , a 2.5-mile round trip, heads up from Sandstone Quarry and beyond the visible rim to reach the largest of the area's natural "tanks." The rainwater collected and stored in such depressions was once a valuable resource for nomadic desert peoples. On a clear day, you can see the Strip from up here.
The visitor center and around
To reach the canyon, just keep going west on Charleston Boulevard, from the extreme north of the Strip. The pink leaves of the trees lining the road perfectly complement the pink strata of rocks on the mountains straight ahead, though this scene has been somewhat spoiled by the construction of the Summerlin residential and resort development at the west end of Charleston. Although the first phase only opened in 1999, it has already mushroomed to become a fully-fledged suburb of the city.
Having continued due west for the entire width of the valley, Charleston Boulevard eventually veers south to follow Red Rock Wash. Not far from here is Red Rock Canyon's smart new visitor center (daily 8am4.30pm; tel 363-1921, www.redrockcanyon.blm.gov or, for detailed hiking information, www.redrockcanyonlv.org ), to the left of the highway at the start of the Scenic Drive.
Gray Line (tel 384-1234, www.grayline.com ) runs full-day bus tours from Las Vegas, combining visits to both Red Rock Canyon and Mount Charleston, for around $40.Inside, displays and models explain the geological formation and wildlife of the canyon. The area outside the center, though, is of more interest. Here a landscaped terrace commands a panoramic view of the canyon's main features, facing into a natural amphitheater of Aztec sandstone that soars on three sides of the central basin. In the foreground, small gardens are planted with various cactus species, including cholla and Joshua trees, and there's an enclosure of rare desert tortoises. Paving stones along the Dedication Walkway here are engraved with memorials to the victims of September 11, 2001. Farther back, the Wilson Cliffs to the left are topped by a layer of gray limestone, which has preserved them from erosion and left them taller than the rounded Calico Hills to the right.
Las Vegas
Shimmering from the desert haze of Nevada like a latter-day El Dorado, Las Vegas is the most dynamic, spectacular city on earth. At the start of the twentieth century, it didn't even exist; at the start of the twenty-first, it's home to well over one million people, with enough newcomers arriving to need a new school every month.
Las Vegas is not like other cities. No city in history has so explicitly valued the needs of visitors above those of its own population. All its growth has been fueled by tourism, but the tourists haven't spoiled the "real" city; there is no real city. Las Vegas doesn't have fascinating little-known neighborhoods, and it's not a place where visitors can go off the beaten track to have more authentic experiences. Instead, the whole thing is completely self-referential; the reason Las Vegas boasts the vast majority of the world's largest hotels is that around thirty-seven million tourists each year come to see the hotels themselves.
The telephone area code for all phone numbers in the text, unless otherwise indicated, is 702.Each of these monsters is much more than a mere hotel, and more too than the casino that invariably lies at its core. They're extraordinary places, self-contained fantasylands of high camp and genuine excitement that can stretch as much as a mile from end to end. Each holds its own flamboyant permutation of showrooms and swimming pools, luxurious guest quarters and restaurants, high-tech rides and attractions.
The casinos want you to gamble, and they'll do almost anything to lure you in; thus the huge moving walkways that pluck you from the Strip sidewalk, almost against your will, and sweep you into places like Caesars Palace . Once you're inside, on the other hand, the last thing they want is for you to leave. Whatever you came in for, you won't be able to do it without crisscrossing the casino floor innumerable times; as for finding your way out, that can be virtually impossible. The action keeps going day and night, and in this windowless and clock-free environment you rapidly lose track of which is which.
"Little emphasis is placed on the gambling clubs No cheap and easily parodied slogans have been adopted to publicize Las Vegas, no attempt has been made to introduce pseudo-romantic architectural themes or to give artificial glamour or gaiety."
WPA Guidebook to Nevada, 1940
Las Vegas never dares to rest on its laurels, so the basic concept of the Strip casino has been endlessly refined since the Western-themed resorts and ranches of the 1940s. In the 1950s and 1960s, when most visitors arrived by car , the casinos presented themselves as lush tropical oases at the end of the long desert drive. Once air travel took over, Las Vegas opted for Disneyesque fantasy, a process that started in the late 1960s with Caesars Palace and culminated with Excalibur and Luxor in the early 1990s.
These days, after six decades of capitalism run riot, the Strip is locked into a hyperactive craving for thrills and glamour. First-time visitors tend to expect Las Vegas to be a repository of kitsch , but the casino owners are far too canny to be sentimental about the old days. Yes, there are a few Elvis impersonators around, but what characterizes the city far more is its endless quest for novelty . Long before they lose their sparkle, yesterday's showpieces are blasted into rubble, to make way for ever more extravagant replacements. The Disney model has now been discarded in favor of more adult themes, and Las Vegas demands nothing less than entire cities . Replicas of New York, Paris, Monte Carlo and Venice now jostle for space on the Strip.
The customer is king in Las Vegas. What the visitor wants, the city provides. If you come in search of the cheapest destination in America, you'll enjoy paying rock-bottom rates for accommodation and hunting out the best buffet bargains. If it's style and opulence you're after, by contrast, you can dine in the finest restaurants, shop in the most chic stores, and watch world-class entertainment; it'll cost you, but not as much as it would anywhere else. The same guidelines apply to gambling . The Strip giants cater to those who want sophisticated high-roller heavens, where tuxedoed James Bond lookalikes toss insouciant bankrolls onto the roulette tables. Others prefer their casinos to be sinful and seedy, inhabited by hard-bitten heavy-smoking low-lifes; there is no shortage of that type of joint either, especially downtown.
On the face of it, the city is supremely democratic. However you may be dressed, however affluent or otherwise you may appear, you'll be welcomed in its stores, restaurants, and above all its casinos. The one thing you almost certainly won't get, however, is the last laugh ; all that seductive deference comes at a price. It would be nice to imagine that perhaps half of your fellow visitors are skilful gamblers, raking in the profits at the tables, while the other half are losing, but the bottom line is that almost nobody's winning. In the words of Steve Wynn, who built Bellagio and the Mirage , "The only way to make money in a casino is to own one"; according to the latest figures, 85 percent of visitors gamble, and they lose an average of $665 each. On top of that, most swiftly come to see that virtually any other activity works out cheaper than gambling, so end up spending their money on all sorts of other things as well. What's so clever about Las Vegas is that it makes absolutely certain that you have such a good time that you don't mind losing a bit of money along the way; that's why they don't even call it "gambling" anymore, but "gaming."
Finally, while Las Vegas has certainly cleaned up its act since the early days of Mob domination, there's little truth in the notion that it's become a family destination. In fact, for kids, it's doesn't begin to compare to somewhere like Orlando. Several casinos have added theme parks or fun rides to fill those odd nongambling moments, but only ten percent of visitors bring children, and the crowds that cluster around the exploding volcanoes and pirate battles along the Strip remain almost exclusively adult.
Willow Spring
The easiest trail in the canyon starts at Willow Spring , a short way up a spur road seven miles from the visitor center. Designated the Red Rock Canyon Discovery Trail , it follows the tree-filled minor canyon formed by Lost Creek, passing rock shelters used by the region's prehistoric inhabitants. Children who complete this 1.5-mile stroll can claim a certificate and badge at the visitor center, which provides full details on request.
Out of the city
Spend more than a day or two in Las Vegas and you'll soon find yourself gasping for a blast of sunlight and fresh air away from the casinos. A glance at the horizon makes it clear that you'll have to cross an expanse of empty desert before you reach anywhere interesting, but exhilarating day-trip destinations do exist.
Perhaps the most obvious targets lie in the eye-catching Spring Mountains to the west. At their base, monumental walls cradle the desert fastness of Red Rock Canyon , while further north wooded slopes rise toward the summit of Mount Charleston . If Red Rock Canyon whets your appetite for otherworldly desolation, you'll also enjoy the longer excursion to the incandescent moonscape of the Valley of Fire , northeast of the city. Finally, neither Hoover Dam nor Lake Mead counts as a natural wonder, but each is in its own way every bit as breathtaking.
The telephone area code for all phone numbers in the text, unless otherwise indicated, is 702.This section only includes places that can be reached and explored in a day's round-trip excursion from Las Vegas. Although many tourists take the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon while they're here, getting to the national park involves a 600-mile round-trip drive, so we've only covered organized flight or bus tours that can get you there and back in a day. Similarly, we haven't included the awe-inspiring national parks of southern Utah, such as Zion , which is 160 miles distant, and Bryce Canyon , eighty miles beyond that. All these parks are covered extensively in our Southwest USA guide. On the basis that Las Vegas holds enough casinos to last any sane human being a lifetime, neither does this guide include the nearby state-line gambling resorts of Primm, Mesquite , or Laughlin .
Pine Creek Canyon Trail
Energetic hikers who lack the urge to do out-and-out rock climbing should enjoy the Pine Creek Canyon Trail , which sets off a little less than eleven miles from the visitor center. From the trailhead, look down and to the left to see the row of ponderosa pines that reveals the presence of Pine Creek. Reaching the ruined homesite beside it takes around twenty minutes, along a sandy-red footpath fringed with cactuses.
The clear stream itself, rippling over red-rock boulders and lined with lush flowers, can be accessed via various imprecise trails. The main trail, on the other hand, continues up to the right. Keeping going all the way to the foot of a red-capped monolith that divides two forked canyons will give you a total round-trip hike of roughly five miles.
Red Rock Canyon's Scenic Drive
Red Rock Canyon's Scenic Drive (daily 6amdusk; $5 per vehicle, bicycles free) is a one-way loop road that meanders for thirteen miles around the edge of the basin before rejoining the main highway a couple of miles southwest of the visitor center. As the name implies, it's designed for drivers not pedestrians, but it's also popular with cyclists, who can cycle on designated trails as well as on the road itself, and for whom its gradients are never too demanding. Along the way, it passes a number of overlooks, many of which also serve as trailheads for hikes of varying lengths. Rock climbers should enquire at the visitor center for details of recommended ascents.
If you plan to hike, buy a good map in the visitor center before you set off; the free handouts aren't up to the job. Be warned also that the desert is home to mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and even gila monsters, which, should you permit one to chew on you for several hours, are poisonous.