RonnieAdventure #0163 - Spring Mountain Visitor Gateway, Spring Mountains, Clark County, Nevada

The Spring Mountain Visitor Gateway outside of Las Vegas (Nevada) opened to the public at the beginning of summer this year with an open house for dignitaries, but the U.S. forest Service has never held the much anticipated open house for the general public. My curiosity finally got the best of me, so last week I decided to go inspect the new facility. 

The new facility is located on the road to Mount Charleston at the junction of Nevada State Routes 157 and 158. The site contains 128-acres of land that were purchased by the Federal Government over 10 years ago. Before the government purchased the property, the site was used for a 9-hole golf course, two miniature golf courses, and an ice-skating rink. 

The Gateway's main attraction is the new 4,500 square-foot state-of-the-art visitor center that is so sophisticated the building requires its own weather station. A computer automatically opens and closes windows to help regulate temperatures in the building. Air is circulated through approximately 10,000 linear-feet of underground coils to heat the building in the winter and cool the building durnig the summer. The upper windows of the building, at first glance, appear to contain a frosted looking landscape scene; but when viewed with polarized glasses, beautiful colored nature paintings appear. 

Located on the west side of the property is a national memorial dedicated to the Silent Heroes of the Cold War. The memorial contains a granite monument and a propeller from a military aircraft that crashed into Mount Charleston in 1955. The military plane was on a top-secret mission transporting 14 people and equipment to Area 51 in support of the U-2 Spy Plane effort.  

Located at the geographic center of the property is the Seven Stones Plaza, which recognizes the sever Paiute Indian Tribes that are collectively known as the Nuwuvi. The circular plaza contains seven metal rays that are projected outward from the circumference of the plaza and there is a stone in each ray that represents each individual tribe. The names of the tribes are displayed on the inside of the Plaza at the base of the ray.

In addition to two amphitheaters located on the property, there are decorative areas for meditation, a training center, and a number of new hiking trails. Some of the new hiking trails are paved and handicapped accessible. 

Now I will have to return when the weather is cooler and try some of the new hiking trails.