On our way into Las Vegas our plan was to stop and hike at the Red Rocks Canyon. That did not work out as weekends are reservation only not just for the drive but for which hike you wish to take. So we decided to save that for Monday morning before 8 when no reservations are required. Since it was too early to check in we opted for the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. That is a lot to get on a sign. I got the location in the GPS and we set off for north LV. About a mile or so from where we thought the turn might be, the road was closed. We are still in a neighborhood so we took the detour except it had no outlet from the gated development. Turning around we tried to find a street that would lead there, no luck. We finally stopped a man walking and he gave us directions. Good thing we ignored them, he was not close. I kept poking around streets, lots of them dead end then we found one that led to some folks working and I got out to ask them where we might go to get to Tule Springs. Turns out it was them. Actually staff and volunteers working a clean up for a trail. The park is new, authorized in 2014 and we met the first Superintendent working on the team, Derek. He directed us over some rock piles and into the washes that comprise a large portion of the park. We took a few photos, walked a mile or so, but, again, it is early days, no VC and not much to do yet. Unless you wish to volunteer. Apparently they do that right as they were the number one park of all NPS units for volunteers. We met some of them and they gave us a patch and a magnet with the logo. It was a fun experience and we enjoyed chatting with Derek who is headed to Fayetteville soon for a Reserve stint.
One of the enthusiastic volunteers
work truck retuning from the trail.