DISTANCE: 65 miles (105km)
TIME: A full day
START: Golden Gate Hotel
END: Larry’s Hideaway
POINTS TO NOTE: This route is best done by car, preferably an air-conditioned one. Make an early start, heading off by 9.30am, earlier if possible. If you want to do a sunset trail ride in Red Rock Canyon (note that this is fairly expensive), book as far ahead as you can.
Las Vegas became a railroad town when it was chosen as a stopping point for trains. Then, cowboys came to the saloons on Fremont Street for much the same kind of recreation that is offered by casinos to visitors today. As you spend time Downtown, you’ll no doubt see authentic Westerners from Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho towns, where most commercial flights from the local airports go to Las Vegas, as well as many who make their homes in the vast, mostly empty landscape that surrounds Sin City.
Golden Gate Hotel
If you want an Old West-style hotel, try the Golden Gate Hotel 1 [map] (1 Fremont Street; tel: 702-385-1906 or 800-426-1906; www.goldengatecasino.com; for more information, click here). Make an early start with breakfast at the hotel’s Du-Par’s Restaurant & Bakery, see 1.
Red Rock Canyon Road
Al Argueta/Apa Publications
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Park
From the hotel, follow North Main Street northeast to Washington Avenue; turn right and drive about four blocks to the intersection with North Las Vegas Boulevard and Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Park 2 [map] (500 East Washington Avenue; tel: 702-486-3511; http://parks.nv.gov/parks/old-las-vegas-mormon-fort/; daily 8am–4.30pm), the first main stop of the tour.
Old Mormon Fort
Within the park is one of Nevada’s most venerable buildings, the Old Mormon Fort, which was built to protect missionaries and settlers en route to California. Inside the high adobe walls, a reconstructed tower overlooks a plaza deserted except for a broken-down wagon and the iron pegs for throwing horseshoes.
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
The only surviving part of the original structure is the building nearest to the little creek, rising from underground aquifers a few miles west. These supplied a water source running through the fort, nourishing the poor soil in which the hopeful missionaries planted crops, including potatoes, tomatoes and squash. Some of these same plants are grown today in the museum’s demonstration garden.
After the Mormons left, a miner named Octavius Gass acquired the site, along with other land, to assemble a sizable ranch – the first in the region. He also opened a general store and blacksmith shop. It was then bought by Archibald Stewart, whose widow Helen ran the ranch after her husband was killed in 1884, and later sold the property to the railroad. The site on which the Stewart home stood is scheduled for excavation to unearth any secrets that may lie buried beneath.
Pro Rodeo’s “Superbowl”
The biggest cowboy event of the year in Las Vegas, the National Finals Rodeo, has been held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas every December since 1985. The 10-day event draws upward of 140,000 spectators each year to watch the top professional rodeo athletes in the US and Canada compete in saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing. Tickets are very hard to get. A lottery is held one year in advance, and only one out of every 25 people who enter actually get tickets. There is a second lottery for balcony seating 10 months ahead. To try for a ticket, visit www.nfrexperience.com. Tickets are often available online from vendors who buy blocks of tickets to resell individually at a profit. First Choice Tickets (www.nfr-rodeo.com) and (www.vegastickets.com) are good places to start.
Nevada State Museum and Historical Society
Next stop is the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society 3 [map] (309 South Valley View Boulevard; tel: 702-486-5205; http://museums.nevadaculture.org; Thu–Mon 10am–6pm). Until recently this small museum was set on a lake in Lorenzi Park, off Washington Avenue, 3 miles (5km) due west of the Old Mormon Fort, but in 2011 it moved to new premises fewer than 2 miles (3km) away, next door to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve on Valley View Boulevard, west of Downtown. Twice the size of its old home, this new museum showcases historical exhibits on the Las Vegas area from pioneer days through World War II, as well as fossils, and stuffed and mounted specimens of present-day Mojave desert fauna.
Nevada State Museum
Nevada State Museum
Floyd Lamb State Park
By now it should be around noon – time for a spot of lunch at the Floyd Lamb State Park 4 [map] at Tule Springs (9200 Tule Springs Road; tel: 702-229-8100; daily 9am–5pm). This is 15 miles (24km) north of downtown Las Vegas off US Highway 95 (take exit 93 – Durango Drive – and follow the signs). You can pick up picnic fixings near the park at Albertsons supermarket (8410 Farm Road; tel: 702-658-2030).
The park is named after late state senator Floyd Lamb, who was instrumental in getting the land transferred to the state in 1977. Six years later, Lamb was convicted of soliciting a $20,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent; the authorities have been trying (without success) to have his name removed from the park ever since. Guided carriage tours are available within the park.
Floyd Lamb State Park
Ken Lund
Historic site
This 2,040-acre (825-hectare) park occupies the site of Tule Springs, a large desert oasis that was a stopping place for nomadic Indian hunters and, later on, explorers and prospectors. Farmer Bert Nay bought water rights to the springs and started a small farm here in 1916. It was expanded into a working cattle ranch in 1941 and, during the late 1940s, it was converted into a dude ranch, where women stayed while establishing Nevada residency to take advantage of the state’s liberal divorce laws.
Red Rock Canyon
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
The park today
Today, several buildings from the former ranch still remain, along with the descendants of the peacocks that strolled the lawns during the ranch’s heyday. Most of the park is natural desert, with three fishing ponds (a Nevada fishing license is required if you want to fish) fed by the springs. Picnic tables with grills surround the ponds. The springs area is also known as one of Nevada’s major fossil quarries, where remains of mammoths, giant camels, sloths, miniature horses and even giant condors have been found. Note that many of these fossils can be viewed at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum (900 North Las Vegas Boulevard; 702-384-3466; daily 9am–4pm).
Red Rock Canyon
To reach Red Rock Canyon 5 [map] take Durango Drive to County Road 215 (also known as the Bruce Woodbury Beltway). Go south for 10 miles (16km) to exit 22, Charleston Boulevard/Red Rock Canyon. Follow West Charleston Boulevard (Nevada Highway 159) for 5 miles (8km) until you pass the Red Rock Canyon entrance (Scenic Loop Drive). Stay on the main highway for another 5 miles (8km), until you reach Spring Mountain Ranch.
Spring Mountain Ranch
The Spring Mountain Ranch 6 [map] (Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area; 1000 Scenic Loop Drive; tel: 702-515-5350; tour times vary, so call ahead) dates back to 1876, when it was named Sand Stone Ranch. When the original owner died, he left it to two Paiute orphan boys whom he had adopted. The ranch later passed through the hands of several celebrity owners, including Hollywood furrier Willard George and the billionaire recluse Howard Hughes.
Guided and self-guided tours take in the original cabin, the mansion-like main house, the cemetery, the blacksmith shop, horse barn and corrals, and a facility where Willard George used to farm chinchillas. Docents lead guided tours during the early afternoon and are on hand to answer questions the rest of the time.
Cowboy threads
In Las Vegas, you can wear boots and a cowboy hat in the most exclusive resort hotels in town – including most restaurants that have dress codes – without feeling out of place. Visitors, both men and women, who find themselves in need of Western apparel will find great selections at Sheplers Western Wear (4700 West Sahara Avenue; tel: 702-258-2000) – the most conveniently located of three branches of Sheplers in Vegas – and Cowtown Boots (1080 East Flamingo Road; tel: 702-737-8469). During the National Finals Rodeo, more than 400 vendors sell Western wear at Cowboy Christmas, a public gift show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Cowboy Trail Rides
If your budget allows and you’ve booked well in advance, at around 5pm it is time for a sunset horseback ride and barbecue at Red Rock Canyon (Cowboy Trail Rides, Red Rock Canyon; tel: 702-387-2457; www.cowboytrailrides.com; hours vary; reservations essential).
A 90-minute guided horseback ride takes you through the narrows of Red Rock canyon floor, then up to Overlook Summit, where you can watch the sun set and the lights of Las Vegas come on in the distance. Then it’s back to camp for a chuckwagon steak dinner, and, afterwards, you can roast marshmallows and s’mores (marshmallows, roasted with chocolate, and sandwiched between wafers) over the campfire, listen to some tales and history, and sing along to cowboy songs.
If playing at cowboys does not appeal, head back into central Vegas and choose a restaurant from the Directory section of the guide (for more information, click here).
Photographer in Red Rock Canyon
Sydney Martinez/TravelNevada
Larry’s Hideaway
“Real” cowboys and cowgirls in the Las Vegas area go to Larry’s Hideaway 7 [map] (3369 Thom Boulevard; tel: 702-645-1899; daily 24 hours), a huge country & western dance club with a small menu of bar food in an otherwise rather desolate area of north Las Vegas. To get here from Red Rock Canyon, retrace your route until you’re going northbound on County Road 215. If you haven’t heard any singing cowboys lately, be sure to come here on a Wednesday evening for karaoke night.
Food and Drink
1 Du-Par’s Restaurant & Bakery
1 Fremont Street, Las Vegas; tel 702-366-9378; daily 24 hours; $$
A family-run chain that opened its first restaurant in 1939, Du-Par’s arrived in Las Vegas back in the 1950s. They claim to have introduced the shrimp cocktail to Las Vegas in 1959, and to have served over 40,000,000 since. The food is classic and hearty. Try the buttermilk pancakes.