By Stacy

I take it as self-evident that trail runners, especially of the ultra variety, are eager iconoclasts, rarely as happy as when poking establishment pastimes in the eye. A marathon? On the road? Ha! Double the distance and treble the difficulty. Then we’ll talk.

Given this predisposition, I ask you: what could be more against-the-grain than an early morning trail run in lieu of, or in addition to, a 24-hour bender? Well, that’s exactly the kind of thing I hope to encourage with this trail runner’s guide to Las Vegas. You see, it turns out there are decent trail running escapes within eyeshot of the Strip. Check that, Vegas trail running escapes are better than decent. Much better.

My modest hope for this guide is that the next time you visit Sin City — whether for a convention, wedding, or unmitigated bachannalia — you might consider giving standard Las Vegas fare the brush-off, at least for an hour or two. If not for your mental and physical health, then just to tweak expectations.

Run: Redrock Canyon Grand Circle Loop

Of the several good trail running venues in close proximity to town, it is pretty easy to choose a destination if you only have one chance to run off-road Vegas: Red Rock Canyon NCA. Located 17 miles from the Strip and about 5 from the edge of town, it is convenient.

Red Rock also happens to be spectacular, challenging, and offers plenty of routes to choose from. I recommend the Grand Circle Loop. The perfect run starts a little before dawn and follows the loop in a clockwise direction. This gives you a front row seat as the sunrise sets fire to the massive, streaked escarpment to the west and puts you in position to end your run with a woo-hoo romp down the steeper east side of the loop at the base of the Calico hills. It also gets you off the trails before the park becomes crowded with car-assisted mini-hikers.

The Grand Circle Loop does not hug the base of the escarpment. It may not seem like it, but this is mostly a good thing. The trails that follow the drainages “into” the escarpment — Lost Creek, Icebox, and Pine Creek — are great, but the connector between them is lousy with ostrich egg-size rocks that will test both your ankles and your patience. Take this into consideration as you (invariably) find yourself being drawn to the giant walls like a moth to a flame.

Distance: 11.7 miles
Total climbing: 2,400 feet
Map: Grand Circle Loop

Other

• Free trail maps are available at the toll booth.
• Using the toll booth parking lot as your trailhead allows you to skirt the $5/car entry fee, which is collected if you can’t produce an acceptable interagency park pass. The Grand Circle Loop and several other routes work from here.
• The sun comes up early in Las Vegas. In the summer, it gets hot soon thereafter. Very soon.
• It’s hard to beat a crystal clear winter morning at Red Rock, especially right after a snow storm.
• Runner Up: over 100 miles of additional singletrack lies just outside the “scenic drive” portion of Red Rock in the Blue Diamond/Cottonwood Valley area. The views are generally less spectacular and the trails are multi-use, so you have to be better at sharing. But still a very high quality trail network.
• Even More: Boulder City/Lake Mead, Mount Charleston, and the Valley of Fire.

Photojournal

Rest & Recover (Or Not)

If you want to experience both air-conditioned, anti-reality Vegas and the severe truth of the desert outside, the Red Rock Hyphenate (Hotel-Casino-Spa) is the place to stay. Whether it should have been built at all was a matter of some local controversy, given the impact of a project of its scale. Which, I suppose, is saying something. We are talking about Las Vegas, after all. But it was built, and Vegas is the better for it, I think.

From my point of view, the Red Rock has two major advantages. One is its location at the western edge of town 10 minutes from the Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center. Being this far away from the Strip has a way of psychologically untethering you from your expectations of what Vegas “should be” and makes it a snap to get away to the prime trails of Red Rock Canyon, Blue Diamond, and Cottonwood Valley.

Red Rock’s second major advantage is the relative understatement of its design. Underscore relative. To be a member in good standing of the Vegas hospitality-gaming industrial complex, it is apparently mandatory to house on one premises not just a hotel and casino, but also a mini convention center and mall, a spa, an alphabet soup of restaurants, a theatre, a bowling alley, and much, much more. As the line goes, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. If you can put all that aside, you will likely find appealing the dry stack sandstone masonry and contemporary design flourishes. At least it isn’t someone’s baroque nightmare of another geographic place come to life.

Refuel

One option is to wander into one of the 10, yes 10, full-service restaurants or several additional fast-casual dining alternatives located inside the Red Rock. Another is to head for the Strip and open your wallet wide for the privilege of partaking of the celebrity offerings found there. You could do worse than either option, I suppose. But, if you’re in the mood for something a bit more lo-fi, you might consider the following post-run dining alternatives.

Old-School Breakfast Joint: The Original Pancake House

Granted, it isn’t native to Las Vegas and it’s a chain. But OPH stores rarely feel cookie-cutter, and the West Charleston location in Vegas definitely doesn’t. Their standard pancake menu gaps the competition. Their Apple Pancake, Dutch Baby, and baked omelettes widen it.

Really Old-School Breakfast Joint: Omelet House

About a mile down the road from the West Charleston OPH is another breakfast option. This one a died-in-the-wool native of Vegas. A little dive-y. Maybe more than a little. I’ve never tried anything but their omelettes. (Duh, it’s the Omelet House.) I personally favor the Petunia Pig and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Tip: when you’re given a choice of bread to accompany your eggs, choose the the pumpkin nut. Trust.

Meal of Shame: Kilroy’s (2 locations)

Really good bar food. Maybe because it’s a bar. You can sit with the smokers and play a slot machine on one side of the house. Or sit in the relatively pleasant dining room on the other. Your choice. The rationale here is that replacing the 2,000 calories you just burned running all over Red Rock Canyon shouldn’t be work.

Race

World of Hurt 50k & 25k

A small, new event held in October at the Bootleg Canyon mountain bike park in Boulder City. A good time of year to visit the desert.

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