Boulder City, Nev., a nice, warm stop for biking, hiking

Boulder City recently hosted the 24 Hours of Bootleg Canyon, a hardcore mountain bike race, but you don’t have to be that crazy to enjoy the more than hundreds of miles of bicycle-friendly routes, lanes and paths in the area, including the tough but easy-to-navigate River Mountains Loop Trail.

Boulder City borders picturesque Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the country, and not only is there plenty to do on the lake itself, but Las Vegas is only about a 40-minute drive away, as is the funky, old-school Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino, which holds the oldest active gaming license in southern Nevada, in nearby Henderson.

The view of Lake Mead from the River Mountains
 Loop Trail. (roadtripster)

But why would you spend time inside when there’s so much to do out in the nice, warm temps this time of year, especially if you come from somewhere cold? There was a bit of wind – ok, that’s an understatement; we nearly got blown off the trail – one day, but otherwise it was toasty enough to wear shorts and T-shirts the whole time.

The River Mountains Trail is not for sissies: It gains 1,334 feet in elevation, and it’s wavy-gravy the whole way. But it is paved, and the scenery, especially going past the lake and Red and Black mountains, is pretty spectacular. If you don’t want to take on the whole loop, you could just pick a piece and do it as an out-and-back to BC. We wound up getting off at Henderson for a breather and a late lunch; there’s a spur section that follows the road.

If you haven’t hauled your bikes, there are several rental shops in town. We used All Mountain Cyclery (1404 Nevada Hwy., 702-453-2453), which had a decent selection of Specialized hardtail bikes for $40 for a full-day.

They tried to talk us into renting full-suspension bikes at $75 per day, but we weren’t going to be doing anything serious in Bootleg, and so we settled for the hardtails. They don’t go overboard on maintaining the hardtails, so be warned; we had some issues with under-lubricated chains and shifters, as well as heavily patched tubes that blew, and they had given us a pump that didn’t work with Pressta valves. Just sayin’.

Bike shops are your best stop, though, to pick up trail maps, most of which are free. For $5, it’s worthwhile to grab a laminated copy of the one for Bootleg Canyon. If you’re not a biker, there’s a beautiful hikers-only trail called River Mountain that will get you into this great area; it’s about a 2 1/2 –miler, round-trip, out-and-back.

To refuel, Evans Old Town Grille (1129 Arizona St., 702-294-0100) is destined to became one of our favorite eateries, so friendly that on our first pass while walking our bikes around town to scout dinner options, a server chased us down the street to make sure we had a copy of the menu so we could think it over. We were rewarded that night with huge plates of food, including falling-off-the-bone-tender pork ribs in a sweet-spicy sauce and excellent shrimp scamp. Pick the Greek salad over the regular, for sure, and if you can, at least try to split a dessert (the watermelon sherbet pie is weird, but wonderful).

Also, we can vouch for Massage Therapy by Gloria, so necessary after all that exercise. There is a Gloria, and she has amazing hands (if you tell her you like “deep pressure,” she will oblige). An hour (and it’s a full hour, none of that sissy 50 minutes stuff) costs $60, and it’s worth every penny. Also, there were two of us, and so she brought in Katherine Weir, another local therapist, who’s also a serious hiker and understands those needs. Weir was great, too, and runs Kare by Kathy (702-497-7412). Same pricing.

There are several RV parks and campgrounds in the Las Vegas area; visit Go Camping America’s site to check them out. 

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.