Posted by dean hebert on October 16, 2010 at 1:34 AM
Hey, I'm going to be in vegas for 3 days near the end of october. I'll have no transportation, but I'm thinking about renting a car for a day. Any suggestions on an easy-to-find sunset location?
Thanks,Dean Hebert
Posted by Max Waugh on October 16, 2010 at 12:35 PM
No idea about sunset, but isn't Zion only three hours away from Vegas? If you're allotting a whole day I imagine that could be worth a visit.
Valley of Fire is a little over an hour north on I-15, and it's a great spot. Keep going north toward Zion, and in the middle of the Virgin River Canyon take the Mahogany Flats exit and go left, rather than right to the rest area/campground. The dirt road takes you up into the Beavertail Mountain Wilderness Area, which is worthy of a stopover on the way to or from Zion, but except in spring with flowers not an all day adventure. Zion is great, but you'll use a lot of your day driving and be frustrated with too little time while there. I've spent a week in Zion at a time and always felt it was too little.
I don't remember the highway #, but just south of Vegas you take a right toward Pahrump and Death Valley to reach Red Rock rec area. It's pretty busy, but the hiking is good and there are some very good photo ops. Death Valley itself is really no further from Vegas than Zion, but that's another destination that consumes days rather than hours.
Again, I don't remember the highway, but another possible and worthy daytrip is to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Kinda depends on what you like to shoot, but I spent a day with the dam and never lost interest. The surrounding terrain has lots of possibilities for landscapes, but you have to like rough rock to find what you like.
Oops. I forgot Vegas itself! I've never found entertainment shooting in daylight, but all is different at night with a tripod and longer exposures. Very early AM is probably better than late night, simply because there are fewer folks around.
Discussion
4 repliesThanks,Dean Hebert
Max
I don't remember the highway #, but just south of Vegas you take a right toward Pahrump and Death Valley to reach Red Rock rec area. It's pretty busy, but the hiking is good and there are some very good photo ops. Death Valley itself is really no further from Vegas than Zion, but that's another destination that consumes days rather than hours.
Again, I don't remember the highway, but another possible and worthy daytrip is to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Kinda depends on what you like to shoot, but I spent a day with the dam and never lost interest. The surrounding terrain has lots of possibilities for landscapes, but you have to like rough rock to find what you like.
Oops. I forgot Vegas itself! I've never found entertainment shooting in daylight, but all is different at night with a tripod and longer exposures. Very early AM is probably better than late night, simply because there are fewer folks around.
Arka C.