Mountain Springs

Mountain Springs Bar

Just outside Las Vegas on the way to Pahrump on Highway 160 is Mountain Springs.  This is a very interesting area as there is a lot of spring water bubbling to the surface.  Getting to Mountain Springs, not to be confused with the Mountain Springs Bar shown in picture on the right, is a short drive further to Lovell Canyon Rd, turn off shown on the next graphic.

Lovell Canyon Road

Be sure to click on each picture to enlarge in order to have a closer view.



The turn off to Lovell Canyon Rd is on your right after you've gone over the 160 Pass from Las Vegas from Blue Diamond Rd.  See the full Google Map with driving directions from downtown Las Vegas here.  Again, this is if you're leaving from Downtown, 'Old Las Vegas'.  You'll see you can catch the route from I-15.




If you'd like the KMZ file (Google Earth) you can download it from here.





Once you arrive at the dirt road, you'll travel approximately three miles up to a few parking areas off to the side.  You can only drive so far as there's a gate disallowing vehicles to travel any further.  In the next graphic you will see the complete drive from the dirt road with LAT and LON approximations.

Once you reach the trail-head you'll find a steel bar gate blocking further off-road travel.  Continue walking through the gate.  Shortly after the gate you will run into trickling water and after another fifty feet or so you'll find you're dredging through thick mud and water if you don't veer to the right to follow the trail.

Pictured left is what it looks like shortly after you walk through the gate.  The sides of the wash begin to heighten and become more narrow.  The vegetation also begins to change vastly.

Here you can see the water starting to pool down the center of the stream area.

The further you walk the more lush the vegetation becomes.  More colors come into view along with the bugs, yes there are of course bugs, mosquitoes included, although they are not too bad.  If you're here in early spring you'll hear plenty of frogs doing their thing.  These pictures were taken in the middle of May 2017 and there was still plenty of water.

Soon the 'marsh' becomes filled with vegetation, flowers everywhere and plenty of thirsty plants.  You'll most certainly want to walk around to the right of all this.

This old fence might likely have been placed many years prior by sheep herders.  There are many wire fences wrapped around young tree saplings, so it appears the Bureau of Land Management is attempting to protect some rare trees, see the next picture.

Many trees surrounded by wire fencing

There were a few pools with tadpoles as can be seen in the above pictures.  The small pool I found contained about twenty or so.

There is a trail which winds around through the hills, and I would recommend you stick to the trail if you're unfamiliar with the area unless you're carrying a GPS on you.  I always carry a GPS, or two, because I like to go where others don't.

The vegetation after the spring was somewhat sparse, mostly pinion trees and other types of vegetation, but there was plenty of cacti and flowering plants.

The picture above contained a really interesting plant, one I've not seen before.  It was lushly green and clung to the rocks like algae.  The leaves were two to three millimeters in length and very densely packed like sardines and it was all nuzzled (used as a noun) under the very different cacti.  I found several pods of this plant along with the same type of cacti - by the way, I have not seen these varieties of cactus anywhere else other than stores.

Some really nice views from up in the hills.

The pic above looked like many barrel cacti bunched together.  I have see this type of growth before, but with four to five tiny barrels, but not this many.

As you can see the flowering plants were out in force, in huge quantities.

Additionally, there were a few pine trees at this location, but not many - they are definitely in the minority of the plant population.

The hike for this area is somewhat strenuous at times, but overall it's not difficult.  I did take some of the trail on the way back, but then diverged to check out other areas.  I also went almost directly up the hills which was tough.  The trail actually switches back and forth and makes its way gradually up the hills.

The hike can be done in a few hours and should be enjoyable.  If you don't care to take the hike, at least check the spring, you will enjoy it.  The spring is cooler in temperature and surrounded by the hills, making it shade more quickly as the evening falls.

The following are a few my actual GPS coordinates should you want to import them and use them.  It starts at the entrance of the dirt road.  Remember I didn't use the trail much at all.

N36.01977° W115.56182°

N36.03194° W115.55130°

N36.03491° W115.53860°

N36.04059° W115.52723°

N36.04491° W115.51848°

N36.05042° W115.51227°

N36.05258° W115.51012°

N36.05237° W115.50833°

N36.05460° W115.50501°

N36.05542° W115.50311°

N36.05625° W115.49958°

N36.05587° W115.50359°

N36.05564° W115.50541°

N36.05489° W115.50801°

N36.05042° W115.51227°

Happy Hiking

Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada

Another great place to visit is the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge.  There is FREE camping for up to 14 days and there are limited spots.

The park itself is very nice.  You're a little close to the freeway (Great Basin Hwy - 93) going by but the noise is not overwhelming.  If you want/need information from their Web site, click here.  The following link will take you to the map of the Refuge.  And if you need directions from Las Vegas, click this link, it will take you to Google Maps with directions.

If you'd like the KMZ (Google Earth) file, including the entrance and parking areas, click this link.

LAT and LON for the entrance:  LAT:  37.316761  LON: -115.129754  (Make sure you always verify directions)
                                                     LAT: 37° 19' 0.3396'' N  LON: 115° 7' 47.1144'' W

Pahranagat is a great refuge for animals.  There are many hikes and several lakes and streams to see.

The sunsets at the refuge are amazing.  The parking areas are on the East side of the lake next to a dirt road and the sun sets over the lake.  On some days when it's mildly cloudy the skies present spectacular views.

I visited the refuge in May of 2017, the weather was great, I needed neither AC or heat.  It was a time for mosquitoes, so I recommend repellent of some kind.



As I mentioned, the views were fantastic.  If you hike many of the trails around the refuge you will understand.

The majority of the wildlife here is birds, they are everywhere by the thousands.  The North-most lake/pond was closed off to visitors because the majority of wildlife breeding takes place there.  In the evening hours there were so many birds flying over the North lake it was incredible.

The picture above captures numerous birds in-flight catching insects as they swoop down to skim over the water and back into the air again; from my point-of-view there were several hundred birds in this small location of the North end towards the dusk hours.

The boardwalk or walkway between the Northern lake and Southern lake makes a great area for watching the waterfowl.  They are not acclimated to people so they take off rather quickly.

Geese on the walkway

Hawk

Crow or Raven

Above, a father goose leading goslings and the mother trailing looking back.  As I wanted along the bank these geese took off towards the center of the lake.  They obviously keep a sharp eye out for predators.  Their behavior was quite interesting, as they swam to the center of the lake the father led the group, the goslings kept very close to the father and the mother trailed slightly and in as much of a straight line as possible to conceal the goslings.  They didn't stop swimming until they felt comfortable I was not going to go after them.

I was lucky enough to catch view of a Beaver swimming along the edge.  It was very stealthy and was dragging a long piece of lake-grass in its mouth.  At first I thought it might have been a fishing line - the sun was reflecting off the water and was difficult to see.  Through later pictures I was able to make out the item.  Seeing a beaver was a big plus, it was the only non-flying mammal I found and I think the Beaver is less see then other animals.

Another final note about wildlife, while meandering around the lake there were many fish jumping out of the lakes, I presume a fisherman's dream (I don't care to fish).  The lakes are open to fishing a few times during the year.  Check the NWS Web site to find out more about the seasons.

Map

Google Earth Map Overview

 Click the map to enlarge.  This image, from Google Earth, shows the upper and lower lakes and depicts some of the camping areas.  There are several other lakes the further south you traverse; you can hike to them, but I recommend you use a vehicle as they are several miles away.

 




RV Sites

The area has 12 to 14 camping sites.  The sites do not all accommodate recreational vehicles, several are for tents and some for cars.  Additionally, some of the sites are multiple, for two of more RV's / cars.  A number of the sites are very nice, somewhat secluded and a great way to relax.  The area is rather busy on weekends and during the summer.  There is also a lot across the freeway where you can park overnight (free) if the refuge is full so you can attempt to obtain a spot the next day.

The campground map gives a good depiction of the camping area and tells which types of vehicles, or non-vehicles, are accommodated.

Direct download of the PDF map is available here.
Map and information pulled from https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Pahranagat/map.html
 


 

Camping sites 1 through 11

Camping sites 12 to 14

Hiking

There exists very nice hiking around the lake.  The weather can be very warm during the summer, so be prepared.  The hike around the lake where you may camp is approximately three miles and not strenuous.

There are a number of rest areas and plenty of wildlife to view.  You can also hike to the visitor center and the additional lakes to the South.  The distance to the furthest lake from the camping area is approximately ten miles.  The lower lakes can be hiked around and are full of wildlife, I highly recommend the hike - however, you should probably drive to the lower lakes.

There are additional hikes as well, which I have hiked, near the perimeter fence and takes you quite a ways off the beaten path, but if you're looking for more diversity and are willing to work at it, you will find them enjoyable.  I did not provide GPS coordinates for the additional hikes here as I did not have a GPS at the time.

Scenery
While hiking, and depending on the time of year, there is much to see for scenery.  Most of the following photos were taken on several of the trails.

Wildlife in the Southern-most lower lakes