Coming out to visit a friend in mid-December for eight days, staying at his house. We have plans to do some hiking and some shooting on BLM land, so far the list of possibles includes:

National Atomic Testing Museum
Valley of Fire
Red Rock Canyon
Hoover Dam
Grand Canyon
Mount Wilson
Bryce Canyon
Mount Zion

I doubt the last two will happen but it would be cool to check any/all of them out.

Anything else I should definitely hit? Last time I was in Vegas was 2004 and I was only 14, I don't have any interest in the strip really (maybe drive down it once and take a picture with the sign again but that's about it - neither of us gamble or drink). This is more of a "spend time in the outdoors and stop sweating your fucking ass off in Florida" kinda trip.

OP,

Plan a trip to Vegas when Nevada has a Republican governor.

Then and only then will you have a good experience.

JMO

I might be too old to make the trek before that happens again with the influx of Californians all around you guys...

Hoover Dam's visitor center and tours are closed. You can still walk around.

Red Rock may be busy, but it is truly about the weather. Valley of Fire is less busy and easier to get around, but a much further drive.

Bryce Canyon is still very empty. It is slow and a great time to go. If you do go, there are tons of empty trails right now.

Sam's Town Atrium



Cactus garden at Ethel M ( edit: I heard you need to make reservations now, no idea if it's true )



Springs Preserve

Fisher Space pen in Boulder City



The brain building - downtown.

http://whisper.sh/whisper/0516b2af248e199515138c7a16ca71c9d08a53/Check-out-boulder-hwy-or-Tropicana--valley-viewCheap-hookers-everywh#

Red rock requires reservations to go in now.

What kind of vehicle are you driving? If you're don't know any safe BLM spots and you're not a fudd who sets the fucking desert on fire (yes I passed them a few weeks back and called BLM fire) shoot me a message and I can point you to a decent BLM shooting spot.

Supposedly rare fish at amargosa springs I believe the name is.



Please don't do this

My buddy I'm staying with has a new crew cab Tacoma and he's outfitted it for overlanding (lift, tires, 4WD, CVT tent, ample lighting, Dometico fridge/freezer, additional batteries, HAM/CB, water/fuel storage, etc). Makes my 4Runner with just ditch lights here at home look a bit like a chump.

We aren't fudds, in fact we were planning on doing some night shooting honestly before my NODs got delayed again and he lost his PVS-14 on a work trip (he may be a fucktard in this instance... sorry if you read this buddy ). He found a spot not far from his house but I'm always open to more suggestions.


As of right now, my plan is loose and subject to change because of COVID restrictions.

I'd like to get in and get set up on day 1 (plane lands around lunch, go on a Walmart/REI run for the stuff I either haven't been able to get or can't fly with, like butane canisters for my stove) and take the obligatory photo in front of the sign on the strip (I have one from 2004 I'd like to compare it to, lol). Day 2, I'd like to check out the Atomic Testing Museum if it's still open on the next day, followed by some afternoon/evening shooting at his usual spot.

I think the plan after that is Valley of Fire, Grand Canyon for 2 nights, Hoover Dam on the way home, maybe some more shooting/hiking locally afterward, and that will about wrap up my time there... subsequent trips can always be planned (further in the future and better thought out) now that lodging is free

Sounds like you got a decent plan. Like I said red rock is reservation only, but tons of hiking outside of that. If you want a nice cold spot to camp carpenter canyon has a cool little area but most of it's no fires right now.

Normally in the summer we run burro canyon and river runs to play in the water. Winter time it's more casual runs around and into the great white powdery stuff.

If you need a place to shoot where you can stretch your legs out shoot me a message. Also there's a new sign next to the strat you can grab some photos at.

Since you guys are going to be on that side (GC-HD) maybe make a quick detour and check out Nelson, NV.

The hoover dam tour is closed due to "muh covid"

You could still drive across it; the last time I was there was in 2004 and it was closed for tours for maintenance, if I remember correctly, so I just got the same views I did 16 years ago on this trip.

Trip went off pretty well. Got to try some of the local restaurants around my buddy's house (and In-n-Out, which I have somehow never had and thought was pretty good), we spent a lot of time hiking (IIRC my Fitbit was somewhere around 57 miles for the week and a half period that encompassed my trip and the two days after I got home, which I did absolutely nothing during) and I got some decent photos with my phone. We went out to a BLM range that was approximately 1200 meters or so, according to him, and shot our AR's and handguns. I wish we would've had some steel targets and less wind, would've been fun to shoot further but as we all know, you can only pack so much shit into suitcases to go on an airplane.

TSA was very impressed with my packing skills regarding the carry-on suitcase that had my body armor & helmet in it (along with about 1/4 of a daypack worth of camping supplies), and my bag got selected for additional screening both on the way out and on the way back from Las Vegas. I think I won $20 on the slot machine near my gate in the airport (what a clusterfuck airside "C" is right now, Jesus) and both flights were good.

Grand Canyon was cool, Red Rock Canyon was cool (we made a reservation and did the scenic tour via car, as well as several hikes totaling 3-5 miles around Mount Wilson and off the scenic route). Kaibab National Forest was cold as hell - it snowed the day before we got there and we tent camped with a low of 7 degrees. High that day was like 38, if I remember right.

The quality on these got murdered moving them from my phone and editing them, but it is what it is:

Looks like you had a good time. There's so much of the outdoors to enjoy nearby, it's awesome to go out and explore.

Nice pics, OP.

Glad you enjoyed yourself and got to see more of Nevada than just the Strip and Downtown.

That's a good lookin' pup you got there, too!

Thanks! He's a bit of a handful but does well out in nature, my buddy has him trained VERY well, to the point of having about zero discipline issues... just excitable because he's only two.

Definitely going to have to make a return trip in the future!