Las Vegas area

kunerd

We are going to have one week in the area and want to hit the racetrack in deathvalley, Brice, and Zion. Anyone got any tips on what to expect being in late March? Or good locations off away from the tourist crap? Thanks in advance.
D

denisegoldberg

That's a pretty short amount of time to visit three beautiful national parks. I could easily spend a week in any one of them.

If you are planning to stay in Bryce, the park is open year-round, but the lodge there doesn't open until April 1st - http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/lodging.htm. And they don't start taking reservations for the campgrounds until the first week of May, don't know if the campgrounds are open year round.

Death Valley in the spring... I'd love to time a trip out there in a spring where there are wildflowers in bloom. Found this - http://www.nps.gov/deva/naturescience/upload/Wildflower%20Update.pdf.

If you have any extra time in Las Vegas, I recommend Red Rock Canyon - http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/.

--- Denise

dogwood

denisegoldberg wrote:

That's a pretty short amount of time to visit three beautiful national parks. I could easily spend a week in any one of them.

Don't know where you're from, but out west, expect to drive several hours just to get to a single location-- there's lots of land out here. The racetrack in Death Valley alone is a five hour drive (one-way) from Vegas. That's a ten hour day plus shooting, no joke. And don't expect to be driving faster than 25-30 mph on the unpaved roads in DV.

WillCAD

My experience in Vegas is limited to one trip in April 2009, but I highly recommend both Red Rock Canyon national conservation area and Valley of Fire state park. Both are easy, short drives from Vegas, and both have spectacular photo ops. You could easily spend several days at each, but since your trip is only a week, you'll probably only want to schedule one day for each.

Red Rock is only 20 minutes from the Strip, just to the west of town, so it can be a little crowded, but is still well worth the time. And it's close proximity makes it an excellent choice for day hikes if you're short on time.

Valley of Fire is about an hour drive to the northeast of Vegas. Because it's a state park, it's often overlooked, but is an incredible place that is not to be missed. And it's a lot less crowded than Red Rock.

DsrtVW

I am going to be in Vegas towards the end of the month. Did Death Valley last year. It should be wildflower time again they had some good rains.
Wish I had time to go towards Page AZ. DV is on the way home, might do Hoover dam too that new bridge is cool

kdog

DsrtVW wrote:

I am going to be in Vegas towards the end of the month. Did Death Valley last year. It should be wildflower time again they had some good rains.
Wish I had time to go towards Page AZ. DV is on the way home, might do Hoover dam too that new bridge is cool

You should take in Valley of Fire if you haven't seen it yet, and Red Rocks after that.

PS: I didn't think the OP's itinerary was too aggressive.

DsrtVW

I am going to try for the Valley of Fire. I have wanted to go there for a while. But it is always in the other direction of going home and tied up during week at the trade show. Unfortunately work gets in the way and I also promised the wife to go to the Lion King. But we will prevail on some location.

dbd

kunerd wrote:

We are going to have one week in the area and want to hit the racetrack in deathvalley, Brice, and Zion. Anyone got any tips on what to expect being in late March? Or good locations off away from the tourist crap? Thanks in advance.
D

The Racetrack is not always accessible. Right now it is too wet to walk. Conditions do change. Check the site:

http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/road-conditions.htm

for updates. There are probably similar sites to check for other areas of interest. look around on the net before you go to prevent unpleasant surprises.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

mr peas

Somebody should have asked this first! So what are you guys planning on shooting? Cars? Models? etc?

Within the confines of LV, Red Rock Canyon (link) is definitely a great place to do a shoot at. You can reach RRC by heading West on Chalreston Blvd., past the 215 freeway, and it will be located on your right hand side. Understand that they do not 'allow' commercial photography without a permit, but so long as you don't carry huge lightboxes and what not you should be fine. The scenic drive recheas its peak (literally) at 1000ft. This spot has a small parking lot where you can park and admire the views. If you go early or late, you can actually get some great shots here with the entire valley behind your subject. I just don't recommend driving a car off the road to get shots in the desert (you can do that anywhere outside the national park anyway).

Valley of Fire (link) is not that far off either, about 30-45 minutes from here to Overton, NV. Local car clubs visit it all the time. There's a lot of scenery there and I'm sure you can pick a few spots within its confines.

Perhaps you'd like to shoot in the more 'rugged' areas of the town? The downtown area near the 95 freeway and Las Vegas Blvd. has a lot of great places to shoot at. Just don't shoot alone as it is not the prettiest area to be at by yourself at night.

Right now I'll tell you that it is plenty cold within the valley. It's been raining on and off and some places have seen snow. So pack accordingly.

I hope this helped even a bit. I really suggest you check out the national parks, the hiking is challenging but not hard at all. Plus its so much better to go hiking or shooting...or anything for that matter when the temperature isn't in the triple digits.

See ya in town!

WillCAD

mr peas wrote:

Understand that they do not 'allow' commercial photography without a permit, but so long as you don't carry huge lightboxes and what not you should be fine.

I didn't know that. On one of my days at Red Rock, there was a small crew shooting what appeared to be either a TV commercial or music video; an attractive woman in black lacy outfit with a veil (something said Turkish to me, but I'm not a very cosmopolitan person so I'm not sure) was being shot by a small crew with a video camera on a tripod setup.