Topic: Day trips near Las Vegas (Read 10797 times)

jasonrandolph · « **on:** February 19, 2009, 05:08:40 pm »

My wife and I will be travelling to Vegas for five days at the end of May, and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any good locations for some landscape photography. We are staying on the strip, but we'll be able to travel by car to surrounding areas. Thanks for the help!

haefnerphoto · « **Reply #1 on:** February 19, 2009, 05:20:51 pm »

Jason, The Valley of Fire State Park would be my first recommendation, it's 50 or so miles northeast of Las Vegas. To the west are the sand dunes and dry lakes north of Baker, California and to the south is a dry lake called Red Lake. Just west of the Dumont Dunes (north of Baker) are some salt flats and more dunes about 10 miles from the highway. Jim

DesW · « **Reply #2 on:** February 19, 2009, 05:40:51 pm »

Quote from: jasonrandolph

My wife and I will be travelling to Vegas for five days at the end of May, and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any good locations for some landscape photography. We are staying on the strip, but we'll be able to travel by car to surrounding areas. Thanks for the help!

Hi,

Add Red Rock Canyon just off the 215 approx 20mins drive from the Strip take Flamingo,Sahara t/off plus if you wish some more intimate vistas with traditional western town structures/etc drive to the Nelson Ghost Town about 50mins from strip on the Boulder H/way.

Good Shooting,

DesW

jasonrandolph · « **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2009, 06:19:17 pm »

Thanks Jim and Des! I'm getting excited about the trip now thinking about some of the photographic possibilities!

masl · « **Reply #4 on:** February 27, 2009, 12:04:30 am »

I'll second the Valley of Fire as a near enough great spot for a couple of short hikes with great scenery, good sunrise or sunset. Red Rock is best for sunrise. There's also a nice loop drive: go to Hoover Dam then north along Lake Meade... it goes around to Valley of Fire.
-Mark

fike · « **Reply #5 on:** February 27, 2009, 10:55:19 am »

Red Rock Canyon is great around late afternoon and sunset. I took this shot around 6:00 pm when visiting Las Vegas two years ago.

MarchShaffer.net Calico Red Rocks

There are many miles of wonderful hiking trails that wind-off into the hills. I hiked there for about seven hours and then sat around waiting for sunset for another two hours.

http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/

John Camp · « **Reply #6 on:** February 27, 2009, 05:00:28 pm »

And you're only an hour or so, by car, from Death Valley.

Peter McLennan · « **Reply #7 on:** March 01, 2009, 06:14:05 pm »

Quote from: John Camp

And you're only an hour or so, by car, from Death Valley.

Mappoint 2009 reports 139 miles from LV to DV.

william · « **Reply #8 on:** March 02, 2009, 09:58:09 am »

Valley of Fire is great, definitely worth the trip. And I'd suggest doing the loop to Hoover Dam and Lake Meade as well if you can.

BTW, Death Valley is a lot more than an hour drive from Vegas. I did it last time I was there. It's been a couple years, but I think it was more like 2 1/2-3 hours from Vegas.

Here's a quick image from Valley of Fire (I can't find my fully edited version; this is just a quick JPEG with some levels applied). I'll try to post some photos from Death Valley later if I can.

Quote from: Peter McLennan

Mappoint 2009 reports 139 miles from LV to DV.

mshea · « **Reply #9 on:** March 14, 2009, 06:37:18 pm »

I flew into Vegas in early May last year and drove a few hundred miles over the course of ten days. You might consider Snow Canyon, fifteen minutes outside St. George, UT. St. George is about 120 miles NE of Las Vegas on Rt. 15 (maybe farther than you want to drive). Anyway, it's an interesting area to hike though; lots of varied terrain; good sunrise red rock possibilities, volcanic lava fields (watch your step!) with nice clumps of wildflowers and claretcup cactus blooms, although most of the flowers may be past prime by the end of May. I've explored only a small portion of it. You can find more info in Laurent Martres' book, Photographing the Southwest Vol. 1, Utah. For that matter, buy all three volumes in the series. They contain a wealth of useful information and will whet your appetite for further visits. I highly recommend them.

Merrill

Wayne Fox · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2009, 05:39:15 pm »

Quote from: Peter McLennan

Mappoint 2009 reports 139 miles from LV to DV.

That's just to get to the entrance, and it's a big place.

DV would be a great spot, but probably would be best if you spent at least one night there.

Lester · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2009, 09:43:23 pm »

Quote from: jasonrandolph

My wife and I will be travelling to Vegas for five days at the end of May, and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any good locations for some landscape photography. We are staying on the strip, but we'll be able to travel by car to surrounding areas. Thanks for the help!

If you like to shoot landscape, then the best location is the Valley of Fire. There, the valley is all red sandstone with a lot of wind blown caves and holes. You could walk around and see many different structures and caves, it is one hell of a place to shoot. I do go to Vegas about 3 times a year to shoot and I been all over, to red rock, the dry lakes, Death Valley, The sand dunes, the ghost town, the old casino, etc. The Valley of Fire got the most and my favorite.

carlda · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2009, 02:15:29 pm »

Quote from: Lester

If you like to shoot landscape, then the best location is the Valley of Fire. There, the valley is all red sandstone with a lot of wind blown caves and holes. You could walk around and see many different structures and caves, it is one hell of a place to shoot. I do go to Vegas about 3 times a year to shoot and I been all over, to red rock, the dry lakes, Death Valley, The sand dunes, the ghost town, the old casino, etc. The Valley of Fire got the most and my favorite.

These are some excellent recommendations. WOW, I would love to see some of the photos once taken.
Make sure that you get some shots of the skyline from the strip. It is pretty amazing. The Bellagio Hotel Las Vegas makes an excellent backdrop to a photo of the stirp.
Have fun!!!

jasonrandolph · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2009, 05:01:03 pm »

They are really excellent recommendations. Thank you all. Unfortunately, the Vegas trip is on hold indefinitely. We are, however, going to Kauai for an extended weekend, and I will be sure to share photographic highlights here. Thanks again everyone. I won't be getting there yet, but when I do, I'll be ready.

summitgreen · « **Reply #14 on:** May 16, 2009, 01:33:13 pm »

I agree with Wayne Fox.. DV is very big.. more like HUGE. You can drive all the way up near Mt. Whitney 395.

I suggest nearby VOF and Red Rock, if you can brush through those then do look into ZION. Which is 3hours north or so from vegas. And if you are great at driving long hours.. bryce is a possibility. But it's very hot as summer is here =)

have a safe and fun trip end of the month

Author Topic: Day trips near Las Vegas (Read 10797 times)