Spring Mountains NRA Visitor Center & Camping at Hilltop Campground

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Spring Mountains NRA Visitor Center & Camping at Hilltop Campground

The temperature had dropped to the comfortable mid-70s. We sat for a bit, taking in our surroundings. The sky was blue; the weather was fair and not much wind. The site was surrounded by ponderosa pine, mountain mahogany, juniper and white fir. Pale pink Palmer’s penstemmon and vibrant orange desert paintbrush provided a dash of color. The air smelled fresh and clean. The view over the canyons below and the peaks in the distance was awesome.

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Exploring Mount Charleston – Lee Canyon

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Exploring Mount Charleston – Lee Canyon

The Paiutes called it Nuvagantu, “where snow sits”. In the winter, it’s the place to go skiing in Las Vegas. In summer, we call it a welcome respite from the Mojave Desert’s relentless heat… Mount Charleston. At 11,916 feet (3,632m), it is the highest mountain in southern Nevada’s Spring Mountains and the fourth highest mountain in the state. Snow-covered for six months of the year or more, it looms over the Las Vegas Valley as a prominent feature of the western horizon, visible from the Strip and, on clear days, our front yard.

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Midhills Campground at Mojave National Preserve

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Midhills Campground at Mojave National Preserve

Our campsite #21 was just perfect… spacious, lots of juniper and pinyon pine to provide shady little nooks for our camp chairs. Trash and recycle bins were just across the road and the site was reasonably close to the clean, well-stocked vault toilet. A constant, gentle breeze and the increase in altitude kept it much cooler than Hole-in-the-Wall. We were the proverbial ‘happy campers’.

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