Base Camp Las Vegas

by Megan Edwards

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Base Camp Las Vegas: Hiking the Southwestern States
by Deborah Wall

I just got back from Boulder City, where I joined the throng at the Boulder Dam Hotel for the launch of Deborah Wall’s newest book, Base Camp Las Vegas: Hiking the Southwestern States. I’ve been waiting for this book ever since I heard about it last spring, and I was happy to get a hot-off-the-press autographed copy. I’ve long been a fan of Wall’s columns in the View Neighborhood Newspapers about exploring southern Nevada’s natural wonders, and her earlier book, Great Hikes, is a terrific resource. I wasn’t the only one eager to get copies of Base Camp and Deborah Wall’s autograph. The line soon snaked through the lobby of the hotel and down a long hall.

As the name suggests, Base Camp Las Vegas focuses on great hikes within a short radius of the southern tip of Nevada. Las Vegas is the perfect jumping-off point for exploring an amazing variety of national, state, and regional parks as well as wilderness and recreation areas in Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah. It’s wonderful to have a new book that celebrates this wild and natural side of Las Vegas, and it’s especially great to have it right now, as the weather gets cooler and the best season of the year for enjoying the desert begins.

Deborah Wall signs copies of Base Camp Las Vegas at the historic Boulder Dam Hotel
Photo by Mark Sedenquist

In fact, I’m heading out tomorrow to Sloan Canyon to check out the petroglyphs I’ve long heard about but never seen. A quick look at my new copy of Base Camp Las Vegas rewarded me with a great description of the site, a detailed map, two photographs, and information about the hike: length, elevation gain, degree of difficulty, and the best season for visiting. Wall recommends October to April, so I’m a little ahead of time. My plan is to beat the heat by starting early.

The section about Sloan Canyon is typical of the whole book. Descriptions, maps, and directions are included for each hike, and they’re all organized by location. In addition to chapters covering all the areas right around Las Vegas, like Red Rock, Mt. Charleston, and Lake Mead, there are sections covering other Nevada state parks and public lands. California is represented by a selection of hikes in Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley. In Arizona, Wall describes seven walks in Grand Canyon National Park and two nearer by in Chloride and Antelope Canyon. In Utah, Wall has included a variety of hikes in Zion, Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon. In all, there are 67 separate itineraries.

Thanks to Wall’s thorough descriptions, her excellent color photographs, and the detailed maps and directions, the book is not only a useful guide, it’s an inspiration. “Base camp” is the perfect name for this book, evoking as it does the image of such places at the foot of tall mountains. Base camp isn’t the final destination. It’s the launch pad. We may not have an Everest to climb here, but we do have Mt. Charleston and a tantalizing lineup of other wild destinations. We don’t need oxygen tanks or sherpas—just a book like this one and a yen to discover the natural wonders all round us. Thanks to Deborah Wall, getting out of base camp just got a lot easier.

Rate this post:
(8 votes, average: 4.88 out of 5)

 Loading ...