What do you do in Las Vegas when there’s a pandemic going on?
Head for the hills!
At least that’s what we’re doing for the couple of weeks we’re here. Our first excursion, last Saturday, was to Gold Butte National Monument. The trail head is a quick 30ish minutes from Mesquite, NV which in turn is an hour from Vegas. Translation: ya gotta wake up and get moving if you want to spend time enjoying the scenery and take 200 plus photos by making your ever-so-patient spouse stop constantly.
Now, I admit to being a tad nervous about this particular expedition. A couple of the blogs we read talked about visiting the Gold Butte NM said how horrible the road between Mesquite and the trail head is. The Travel Nevada website shared these words of encouragement:
“…the road to Gold Butte was last maintained decades ago, and is extremely rough. Though it sounds dramatic, it’s not uncommon to get one or two flat tires while exploring the National Monument. High clearance, four wheel drive rigs are crucial, so are two full sized spares.”
Ummmm….no worries right?
I’m not going to tell you not to heed the advice above, however, our experience was visually exciting, not vehicular so. The road is definitely bumpy and you will be on dirt or gravel at various points throughout the drive, but we saw enough cars visiting the area to confirm as long as you take it easy and mind your tire condition most cars will have no problem with the road.
The drive between Mesquite and Gold Butte is not the prettiest though certainly not the worst I’ve seen. At least signs along the way are entertaining.
Right before entering Gold Butte we found a wonderful spot to deflate our tires for the promised ruggedness…and do a little bit of rock scrambling. I mean, how can you resist playing on these beauties?
There are a few different sights to visit here, some more interesting than others, but the favorite by far is Little Finland. A mass of red rocks showing off other worldly beauty created by both sweeping and delicate rock formations everywhere you look.
Did I mention I took 200 plus photos this trip?
This was the perfect time to visit as there was nary a soul to be seen.
As there was still a few hours of daylight left when we finished puttering around this national monument, we opted to continue sight-seeing by crossing into the bordering Grand Canyon – Parashant National Monument. Oh my, what an entirely different aspect of nature waited for us there.
Along the journey we ran across what appears to be an abandoned ranch…
…briefly forayed back into Arizona…
…and were able to do some actual off-roading. The path we took back to Mesquite via the Lime Kiln Pass was on more challenging terrain than what Gold Butte offers but not too bad, mostly just a slow careful drive. Still, I wouldn’t recommend a non 4×4 for this route.
It’s a little surreal to go from the red rocks of Little Finland
Drive to Little Finland
only to end up passing through a shadowy, rugged landscape with scrubby, dark green trees and patches of snow.
What a difference a few miles makes.
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