When Vegas is too hot, go here!

Listen, we get it. Las Vegas is HOT. Moving here during June, I had an idea of what I was getting into. There’s a reason we sought out a house with a pool. However, what I failed to realize is that aside from pools, Las Vegas locals have an escape when they want to feel some crisp fresh air and be surrounded by nature.

I have coined and take full credit for dubbing this place “Mini Big Bear”. Those of you familiar with Southern California will understand that concept, but essentially, Mt. Charleston is a smaller scale mountain escape that fits all you need out of it to escape the desert.

To get to the mountains, funny enough you have to pass through a desert inhabited by locals, and by locals we mean donkeys. Once you gain some elevation, however, you’re greeted by The Retreat which is a lovely little homey cabin/hotel that is a great spot to stop and get some shaved ice (if their kiosk is open!). Across from The Retreat lies this very aesthetic church which I had to grab a few shots of.

Once you pass that, you have your first option for adventures: Go right and venture towards Lee Canyon or head straight into Mt Charleston. If you have time, I suggest adventuring to both, but if you have to pick, I say go to Lee Canyon. But first, let’s look at the quaint Mt. Charleston.

Once you head into the Mt Charleston area, the first things you’ll see are some nice camping spots, that no matter what time of year, seem to have at least a few people in some spots. From there, you can just keep flying up the main road to wind up to the base of Cathedral Rock. I’m told there’s a pretty decent hike that leads to the top of this mountain but have yet to report back yet. At the peak of the road, there lies the current ruins of the Mt. Charelston Lodge which unfortunately burned down in September of 2021. Plans are of course to rebuild it, but it’s a big loss to the Mt. Charleston area.

What I would suggest doing here, is venturing towards Mary Jane Falls, which has ample parking to go explore the nearby nature and fields at the base of the mountains. Often seen here are deer, or my girlfriend trying to scare the heebie-jeebies out of me.

If you have the time to explore some more areas, take the time to drive around the Lee Canyon area. From Mt. Charleston, heading to Lee Canyon is a BEAUTIFUL scenic drive with plenty of scenic pull-offs to take in the mountains overlooking the Las Vegas Basin.

Why do I favor Lee Canyon so much? Because there’s so much real estate to find some areas to have to yourself. Of the spots I’ve been able to explore so far, the helicopter landing pad near the base of the Lee Canyon Snow Resort is a super fun spot to park and plant some chairs and just hang out. It sounds wierd I know, but trust me.

From there, lies the Lee Canyon meadows. This is probably my favorite spot only because when I was here with the lovely lady, we were minding our own business in my hammock at dusk and out of nowhere we just start to hear running. Not a few seconds later, a wild spotted horse and its calf stampede by us not 15 feet away from our hammock and just had one of those moments in life where you just stay still for a few minutes smiling and thinking “did that really just happen?”. It did, and it was amazing, but of course, my messed up (or smart) minds immediate thought following that was “I wonder what they’re running from” which is when my girlfriend reminded me that this is mountain lion country so we skedaddled right on out fo there.