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L.A. Times Travel

Red sandstone formations at the Valley of Fire State Park, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago.
Red sandstone formations at the Valley of Fire State Park, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago.
(Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)
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Instead of shiny steel hotel towers, I saw dusty red rock pinnacles towering above me. Dazzling neon signs had disappeared in favor of delicate petroglyphs peeking out between the stones. People ambled along a gravel promenade carrying walking sticks rather than yardstick drinks.

Something strange in the air made my ears perk up. It was silence. I had escaped Las Vegas.

Just an hour’s drive from the Vegas Strip, the Valley of Fire State Park is one of many outdoor destinations that provide a welcome respite from nonstop sensory overload that is Las Vegas. Even as a frequent visitor and fan of the city, I try to make time on every trip to get away from the Strip and enjoy some of the phenomenal nature Nevada has to offer, much of it doable in an easy day’s journey.

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Las Vegas escapes provide a roulette wheel’s worth of options, including hiking, biking, ATV-ing, kayaking, houseboating and camping. These activities can provide as big or as little a gamble as you could want: If you want derring-do, there’s extreme rock-climbing straight up cliffs; if you want something a little tamer, there’s the mellow stroll down a wide hiking trail or even just sitting behind the wheel for a car-based photo safari.

On my recent trips, I selected the surf-and-turf option from the Vegas escapes buffet, enjoying a hike in the Valley of Fire, cooling off for a sail and a swim in Lake Mead, and biking the pathway between desert and water.

Hiking the Valley of Fire

Walk just a short way off the paved highway onto a trail in the Valley of Fire State Park, and you’ll feel as though you’re on another planet. Trails weave through otherworldly sandstone formations of arches, rock towers, strangely striped domes, alien-looking outcroppings, and mysterious caves.

The red rocks and dust reveal few signs of life in the 40,000-acre park, making it seem like a Martian landscape. In fact, the outdoor Mars scenes from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie “Total Recall” were filmed in this park.

I encountered so few people and heard not a single chirping bird when I was there that the silence was a shock to my system. After the clamor of clanks and bangs of Vegas casinos, I had to shuffle my steps on the gravel just to make a little noise.

Adding to the air of mystery are strange petroglyphs drawn onto the rocks about 2,000 years ago, their meaning long since lost to time. Along Mouse’s Tank Trail, I spotted some that looked to me like symbolic communications to an alien life form, maybe explaining the history and meaning of their culture, or perhaps sharing some coded betting tips.

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For those interested in tracing the meaning of the symbols and learning about the area’s geology, the park’s visitor center provides several displays.

Once you leave the well-traveled trails or press on into the desert, remember the park is made up of real wilderness, not a Las Vegas facsimile, so know your limits. Carry plenty of water, map the trails, and be aware that the rock formations do not come with guard rails to protect you from selfie-induced mishaps.

One of the prime photo spots in the Valley of Fire State Park is Rainbow Vista, an iconic Nevada viewpoint overlooking the highway winding into the desert scrub.

Sunrises and sunsets are most spectacular, but even under the hot noon sun, the contrasting colors present a desert painter’s palate of contrasting hues, textures and lighting. It’s a wide-open welcome reprieve from the sometimes-claustrophobic clamor of Las Vegas.

Boating in the Valley of Water

Even when the temperatures heat up in Las Vegas, it doesn’t mean your only options are to retreat to air conditioned casinos or huddle in a cabana at a hotel pool. Lake Mead, created in the valley behind Hoover Dam, provides nearly 250 square miles of watery playground space for boaters, fishers and swimmers.

The Lake Mead National Recreation Area, spanning the state lines of Nevada and Arizona, offers sunset cruises, jet skiing, power boating, kayaking, house boating and even an old-time paddlewheel cruise to view the dam.

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Three large marinas, operated by independent companies, provide boat and equipment rentals and food and shopping facilities

More than 550 miles of shoreline create plenty for secluded spots to hop off the boat for a picnic or barbecue. As I motored around the lake, I saw sport fishermen casting lines in quiet reed-filled shallows and families camping on small beaches as toddlers playing in the water

Anchoring a boat near an empty beach, sitting on flat water surrounded by towering red cliffs, I found it easy to imagine I was many hours, if not days away from civilization, rather than a short commute from the neon madness of Las Vegas.

On an overnight houseboat trip, after a day filled with swimming, kayaking and a few whooping plunges down the water slide, I lay down on the upper deck of my boat, watching the moon rise over rocky cliffs reddened by the setting sun. An eagle circled silently high in the sky. The landscape reflected off of Lake Mead’s water, which was as smooth as black glass.

I was alone in the high desert, imagining I was one of the first prospectors to come here looking for hidden treasures. As night fell, the stars came out in a display spectacular enough to rival any light show of the Las Vegas Strip.

Biking between fire and water

When you see residents shooing away bighorn sheep nibbling on their rose bushes, you know you’ve reached the border of civilization and the wilderness.

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Boulder City was created in the middle of the Nevada desert for workers and suppliers during the construction of Hoover Dam in the 1930s and has reinvented itself as a tidy escape-from-Vegas destination with an emphasis on cycling. The area features an extensive network of mountain biking trails as well as excellent paved bike paths, including one leading from town to Hoover Dam.

A walk around the slow-paced town is a welcome contrast to the Vegas Strip, with a few gift stores and antique shops along the way.

The Historic Railroad Trail was created along the path of the tracks and tunnels used by trains to deliver workers and supplies from Boulder City to Hoover Dam during construction. The bike path covers about 10 miles, mostly downhill from Boulder City to the dam, which means you need to conserve energy for the return ride, unless you have a shuttle waiting for you.

For reluctant bikers, some rental shops offer new electric-motor-assisted bikes, which make the ride a breeze and ease any worry about the uphill return.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep your eyes on the trail with all the expansive views of the landscape and Lake Mead along the way. But given the relaxed nature of the ride, it’s no problem to stop for photos.

The path includes five large railroad tunnels carved from the rock inside hills along the way. Speeding along the path changing suddenly from the bright, rocky desert into the dark tunnels made me feel a little bit like Wile E Coyote in a “Roadrunner” cartoon, worried, against all logic, I was going to run into a train coming the other direction.

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After the bike ride and my other assorted adventures, I figured I had earned a visit to Boulder City’s Boulder Dam Brewing Co. to taste some (OK, all) of the in-house beers. A juicy burger and crisp fries accompanied the drinks.

It was a good payoff from a weekend escape from Las Vegas, sitting around a table with friends trading tall tales of mountains conquered, lakes traversed and biking records set, all without a slot machine in sight.

IF YOU GO

WHERE TO STAY

All of these escapes can be reached on day trips from your favorite Las Vegas hotels.

WHERE TO EAT

The Inside Scoop, 395 S. Moapa Valley Blvd., Overton, Nev.; (702) 397-2055, xeri.com/insidescoop. Good spot to stop for ice cream treats (and a sandwich) after a hot day in the Valley of Fire. Sandwiches about $10.

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Boulder Dam Brewing Co., 453 Nevada Highway, Boulder City, Nev.; (702) 243-2739, boulderdambrewing.com. Friendly venue with live music has an array of microbrews on tap, as well as tasty burgers for lunch, about $10

TO LEARN MORE

Valley of Fire State Park: parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire

Lake Mead National Recreation Area: nps.gov/lake

Historic Railroad Trail: lat.ms/historicrailroadtrail

Boulder City, Nev.: visitbouldercity.com

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