Las Vegas Wetlands

The Las Vegas Wetlands Trail takes hikers alongside a lovely waterway known as Las Vegas Creek or Las Vegas Wash. While beautiful, unfortunately this water is contaminated and unsafe for activities such as swimming. The area does however attract birds and wildlife from miles around, and is perhaps the only place within a reasonable distance where one can find a large, reliably flowing creek.The trail begins above the waterway and is well traveled with rocks outlining both sides of the path. Taking a right at the first junction takes the hiker to a wonderful overlook of the creek where the water spills over a small dam structure. There is no access to the water from here.Continue down along the path until it begins to narrow and follows a ridge. There are a couple different ways to get down but the most straightforward is to just continue along to the end of the ridge, this will take you down to water level. From here you can explore the beautiful wetlands by walking alongside the creek either upstream or downstream as you wish. Vegetation including mesquite, saltcedar, saltbush and cattail are thick, and be sure to keep an eye out for the birds and other wildlife that are attracted to this riparian corridor.After you've enjoyed your time along the creek, return to the parking area via the second half of this loop trail. While not as scenic, the trail follows parallel to the gravel road on the right side of the ridge you descended and provides easy hiking all the way back to the trailhead.