Ride Spots Near Vegas?

P

Pattle

Location
Orange, CA
I have a new job here in SoCal with a satellite office in Henderson, NV. I will need to head up there every few weeks and am wondering if there are any good places to ride, if it's just me. I would be camping.

Lake Mead seems kind of unfriendly in the sense that the ramp is far from the nearby RV park, and once launched there doesn't seem like a cozy, fun place to ride - just wide open huge lake. Lake Las Vegas is all private, I think, so no access. Down river, maybe Willow Beach? Seems like a real quiet part of the river, so not sure jet skis would be appreciated. Lake Mohave, maybe, but that's a pretty good distance from Henderson.
 
MikeTangoIndia

MikeTangoIndia

Location
Kingman AZ
Cool. Not sure if you’re aware but Lake Mead and all the way down the river to Davis Dam no two strokes allowed anymore. Lame. So to be legal you have to take two strokes to at least Bullhead city. I usually go to Lake Havasu or Parker along the river. But…if you have a four stroke then Willow beach is awesome. I’ve seen plenty of Jet skis there up and down the river when I have my boat down there. Lake mead is just boring IMO. Willow Beach is fun, Cottonwood Cove Marina is good, Katharine’s Landing on the AZ side is good. Those are all part of the Lake Mead National Rec area so four strokes only. I’m sure you can sneak a two stroke into the park (lots of people do) but…if a park ranger is out patrolling on their boat and catch you. Probably not gonna be a fun day.
 
P

Pattle

Location
Orange, CA
I just spent a couple days at Willow Beach.

Started the trip Wed night and camped at Sams Town in Vegas (wife's choice). After 2 days of work in Henderson, loaded up again and went down to Willow Beach, about 50 miles. The campsites at Willow Beach are nice, but a pretty good ways from the water. The wife was kind enough to get me launched a few times. The first trip I went upriver as far as I could, to the bridge just before Hoover dam. Not much gas left by the time I got back to Willow Beach. I also explored downriver, but not as far. Looking at a map now, I wish I had gone a bit further. Looks like some interesting coves start appearing as you get close to Lake Mohave.

I'm glad I went upriver on Sat, since they block that direction to motored vessels on Sunday/Monday. There were still lots of kayaks out there on Saturday, which is kind of a bummer, since apparently we need to slow to zero wake speed within 50' of each one. (as I was told by a nice pair of rangers keeping the peace a few miles up river).

I'd do it again, but I'm not in any big hurry. I'll explore elsewhere first.

For the Jul 4th weekend, we'll be camping at Crazy Horse in Havasu. It'll be crazy. :)
 
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