Destinations near Las Vegas

[PhilD]

I'm off to Las Vegas next week and in between the casinos and shows I've booked a 172 from West Air at North Las (VGT) for a couple of days. I'm thinking of taking in the Grand Canyon (I know about the Special Rules Area), and Death Valley, and hoping to make it as far as Monument Valley. If anyone has been to this part of the world recently I'd appreciate any advice on locations and/or airfields.

[newswatcher]

http://www.swaviator.com/html/issueMA02/Tuweep3402.html

http://www.mountainflying.com/airstrip_junkies.htm

This second site is sorted by airstrip name, so you will have to page through it, to pick out the Grand Canyon ones.

[onehunga]

I was there a few weeks ago flying in an archer out of the LA basin. Flew into North Las Vegas airport so that we could spend a night on the "strip". It is a nice airport and very helpful controllers. They gave me radar vectors to keep me out of the way of the big boys out of nearby McCarran Int'l and set my flight following up for me on the ground without a quibble. If you land at VGT before 7pm at night there is a free shuttle to the strip.

For the grand canyon I landed at West Grand Canyon (uncontrolled) and paid the local indians an absolute fortune to hop on a rickety old bus and partake in what they described as a bbq meal. Couldn't help but feel that they had cheapened the whole experience. If you are feeling rich you can take one of the many commercial helicopter/aircraft sightseeing rides. Am sure that the rotary that went down there recently was an isolated incident. By the way don't expect anyone to respond to your radio calls if you decide to fly in there. Maybe it was just me, my accent or the time of the day but I got the distinct impression that they didn't like the idea of outsiders coming into their little airfield.

Would recommend Grand Canyon National (contolled) instead. Looked a much bigger set up from the air than Grand Canyon West. I couldn't be bothered buying the extra chart which you need to fly under the special rules so avoided it when I was flying around that area.

Took in Page as well to the NE of the canyon which had some pretty amazing coloured rock formations against the bluest lake I have ever seen. Very friendly FBO operator there who gave us a free ride into town and picked us up again after we had eaten and watered ourselves.

If you get further East check out Sedona in Arizona. Nice airport on the top of a rocky outcrop surrounded by canyons and a great restaurant onsite.

Finally, check out airnav.com for fuel prices if you need to upload whilst enroute. I was only being refunded $2/gal and doing 50 hours in total so needed to be a bit careful about the price I was paying to keep the bills down. Up around the Arizona area I found a really cheap self service facility at Howard Clark Memorial (I think?). 100 ft wide runway that you could get a 737 into. Not another plane in sight. Only in America!! Still not less than $2/gal though.

Enjoy.

[Aim Far]

Bryce Canyon is good - its only a couple of hours from Vegas. Small airport with a friendly manager. There is a shuttle bus into Bryce National Park (maybe summer only, better check) and you could easily get the idea of the place in a few hours and get back to Vegas.

Monument Valley is also good - best in the sunset but that would be a fairly long night flight back. Its not a national park either so the 2000ft rule doesn't apply:D

Bagdad, AZ is a popular stop these days for the novelty value.

[capt_sparky]

Lake Havasu is an amusing tourist destination - about an hour south of Vegas - the home of London Bridge!

Lake Havasu Tourism Bureau (http://www.golakehavasu.com/)

[AlanM]

Grand Canyon Airport (GCN) (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/191133/L)

nice airport - fairly busy with lots of the scenic airlines Twin Otters. A bit of GA kicking around and not too far from the South Rim.

Enjoy

[Tall_guy_in_a_152]

Furnace Creek Ranch (http://www.furnacecreekresort.com) has its own airstrip in the middle of Death Valley, a few kms from the lowest (and probably hottest) point in the US.

The Ranch is a comfortable place to spend the night with a restaurant and shop. The Inn up the road (same management) is pricey and quite posh.

TG.

[david viewing]

Don't forget Temple Bar, right down on Lake Mead, nice for a lunch stop and an interesting one-way strip. And Marble Canyon, N End of the Canyon, just before you get to Page. And St George Utah, lovely little town. I've described some of these at http://www.viewing.com/arizona/arizmap.htm .

David