When you think of Vegas you hardly think of wetlands but we rode around them! The Wetlands Loop we rode was 24.6 miles with 1164′ of climbing. This loop is mostly on a paved path closed to motor vehicles but there are a few miles of off roading that were interesting.
The Las Vegas Wash bisects Wetlands Park on its way to Lake Mead. The Wash is the natural water system that first brought Native American and early settlers to what became the Las Vegas Valley. Its source or headwaters, lies at what is now the northwest boundary of the Park, one of the lowest parts of the Valley. Once fed only by intermittent water flows, the Wash became a perennial stream as result of the discharge of treated flow from the Valley’s wastewater reclamation facilities, beginning in the 1950’s. I know a lot of people would be squeamish about the idea of this but water is not infinite and it’s time for creative solutions.
We started our ride at the entrance station to Lake Mead National Recreation Area by Lake Las Vegas and road the River Mountains Path to get to the Wetlands Loop. The first part takes you up into the foothills and then winds around beside the stream. I like that the path isn’t just long straight stretches but is twisty instead. There aren’t many users on it until you get close to the neighborhood trailheads by Vegas. We diverted around those and hit the unpaved section. It had rained the night before our ride and parts of the offroad section were completely wiped out by the rush of water that must have streamed through. This made route finding interesting.
The section of the path closer to Vegas travels by some bigger ponds and wider stretches of flow where you can see all kinds of wildlife. The wetlands are home to a multitude of birds! We saw herons, egrets, ducks, and even roadrunners. Unfortunately, since part of the stream is urban runoff, part of the wash right by the neighborhood collects trash that flows in before the control devices. So sadly, we saw a giant crane wading around among trash.
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