Vegas: Charleston 01 - drive out to Mount Charleston!

Driving out to Mount Charleston from the city of Las Vegas is a fairly short sojourn of roughly an hour for the vast majority of the mountain. When it comes to finding a change of scenery, though, it's an absolute treat and for such a short distance it's practically like traveling to a foreign planet. For the cost of gas and some time rolling down the freeway, you can escape the asphalt and concrete jungle to frolic among wildflowers and trees, plus the additional elevations let you chill off by about 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit: a much-needed respite from the summer heat of the valley! It's beautiful out there, too. There's a lot of camping available, varying from the power and water necessitating RV setups to boondocking areas, depending on your skills, needs, and equipment. While both Antho and I have done overnight boondocking camps here in the past, most of our visits over the more recent years have been day trips. It's an easy drive from the city, not so far that you really need to worry about extensive preparations but you should absolutely take a big bottle of water and some snacks along, just to be safe. Whether you're going hiking or just hoping to do the scenic loop in your vehicle, it's better to be prepared in the event of an emergency. On top of going camping most weekends with my family as a kid and getting stuck in sand dunes, rock pits, mud, and any other perilous desert surface, I've had the same car for over a decade, and as a result, I've gotten uncomfortably familiar with the variety of ways a car can poop out on you in a time of need. Crap happens, so be prepared. Maybe that timing belt you never thought about decides it's time to let it go, like Elsa in a blizzard, right as you crest a perilous peak. With my old lady, she simply loses engine power and glides to a stop wherever she loses momentum- but maybe your car will go out in a violent paroxysm of mechanical failure when you least expect it. As a responsible human being, we need to plan and prepare for these things to happen when we least want them to because murphy's law insists that's when they must absolutely happen. Such is life. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. But don't let that stop you from hitting the road! There's so much out there to see and enjoy. The world is a big, beautiful place after all. Get out there! 

Until next time~

💖

XOXO,

NAU