Saturday, June 19, 2010

Las Vegas - Mt. Charleston Trip

This Vegas adventure yielded a wonderful discovery. If you take the 95 north out of Las Vegas you will run into the Spring Mountains. It is only 19 miles out of NW Vegas. It took about 30 minutes to get to the ranger station. You start in pretty flat desert then move into higher cactus and some rolling hills.
You can see snow on the mountain and we hoped to find a little snow. But no such luck.

About 10 minutes in, the rock formations begin to get more interesting.



Then you start to see more green on the ground instead of just brown and cactus.

Wow....Pine trees! A real mountain feeling is starting to happen.

Each curve in the road (which is NOT real curvy!) yields an even better mountain experience.

In about 30 minutes you are at the ranger station at Kyle Canyon. This is a campground. There are tents, 5th wheels, and trailers in this park. When you step out of the car, the fresh pine smell and cool temperature fills you with that perfect mountain experience.

Of course, Smoky the Bear was there!

I'm holding an interesting brochure about the Spring Mountains, elevations, campsites, history, etc.

A friendly tourist snapped our picture.

The road goes on a little farther. We did not continue on to the other campsites. We did not find snow. But, we were sure we would not reach any snow according to the map.

Can you find Lyle?

Visitor Center and small store.
Shocked!

My Man!

Styling my NY short sleeve jacket. (Mother's Day gift from the kids)

Well, we have come to THE END!
Something we learned later from the weather report, it is about 30 degrees cooler at Mt. Charleston! So when those 110 degree days come, we know where to picnic! Just 30 minutes out of NW Vegas!

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