Las Vegas, the city of a million lights, is replete with lavish casinos and mega trade shows; it's the original sin city. When someone mentions Las Vegas, these are the things most people think of. What you may not know is that just a few miles beyond the bells, whistles, and flashing lights of the strip is a network of some of Nevada's best four-wheel-drive trails.
Long before the glitter and neon lights appeared, the arid southern Nevada desert known as the Las Vegas Valley had a long history of backcountry travel. Rugged individuals traversed the area on the Old Spanish Trail en route to California and the Indian territories. With expanses of open desert, countless lost canyons, and one of the routes to Old Mexico, the area provided a safe haven for an assortment of outlaws, confident men, and other undesirables. It's even rumored that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid took safe haven there while heading to Mexico. Enticed by the opportunity to trace the footsteps of such men and experience some great four-wheeling, we hooked up the crew from Jeep Jamboree USA for their first annual Red Rock Canyon Jamboree.
The eastern foothills lay silhouetted by the pre-dawn light as the sun crested the horizon. The crowds had long since retreated to their rooms and the neon lights surrendered to daylight. "Clark Gable had coffee right here once," the waitress told us as we grabbed a cup of Joe and shuffled past rows of slot machines onto Freemont Street where 80 Jeeps sat in a long row. Grand Cherokees, XJs, Wranglers, TJs, CJs, and Flatties staged curb to curb, ready to head out to four different trails. Jeep Jamborees have a long history of great family events, offering a variety of trail rides ranging from mild to wild. The Red Rock was no exception. For day one, we opted to saddle up with the gang heading for the Bowl Trail.
Our group rolled out and headed northeast on I-15 about 35 miles to the North Muddy Mountains. Pulling off the pavement, our trail leader Blake Monk of the Vegas Valley Four Wheelers informed us on the CB when we were crossing over the Old Spanish Trail. The open desert terrain slipped behind us, turning to folding rifts of sandstone and loose, sandy washes. The trail skirted the Muddys, dropping into Weiser Wash and then a narrow canyon. Monk added that back in the day, an old renegade Indian named Three Toes used the canyon as a hideout and occasionally bushwhacked passing settlers.