Overview

The Spring Mountains Visitor Center, or the Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway as they prefer to call it, is a typical visitor center on par with those found in many National Parks. Visitors can stop in and pick up maps, ask questions, peruse the educational displays to learn about the area, pick up souvenir trinkets, and perhaps attend an interpretative program.

Outside, there are several exhibits on the back porch (ecology, native peoples, cold war memorial), an amphitheater, and trailheads to short and longer walking trails and a picnic area. There is also a classroom that groups can use.

Link to map.

Getting to the Spring Mountains Visitor Center

The Visitor Center is located in Kyle Canyon up in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, about 35 minutes northwest of Las Vegas.

From downtown, drive north on Highway 95 towards Reno for 17.0 miles. Just beyond the edge of urban Las Vegas, exit the highway onto Kyle Canyon Road (Highway 157; Exit 96); watch for signs to Mount Charleston. Be forewarned: this is one of those weird, new-fangled highway intersections, so be careful and try to stay in the middle lane.

Kyle Canyon Road curves left under the highway and heads west, up the hill. At about 16.3 miles out, drivers encounter a "round about." Drive 3/4 of the way around the loop (third exit) and exit to the right under the Spring Mountains Visitor Center ranch gate, which leads straight into the large visitor center parking lot. Continue towards the tall building ahead in the distance and find a convenient place to park.

The Visitor Center

Inside the visitor center, displays provide information on several aspects of mountain history and ecology. Read about the native people who called this home and the loggers, miners, and settlers that came after them. Other displays provide information on how plants and animals survive in this arid and cold environment. Some species occur only on this "sky island." What does that mean and who are they? Stop in and find out!

Also inside the visitor center is a gift shop with the usual trinkets, but also books and other materials with information about the Spring Mountains. They also provide a small supply of hiking and camping items.

Outside the visitor center, there are displays about mountain ecology, a memorial to people who died in an airplane crash near the summit of Mount Charleston on their way to Area 51 work on a secret project during the cold war, and an area where native peoples who lived on this land are remembered (they are still here). Staff provide educational discussions in the outdoor amphitheater.

In addition, short and somewhat longer trails begin from the back porch, and there is a nice picnic area.

The trails here have funny names, such as Kunav Huveep, Pack Rat, and Acastus. They make sense, however, in the local area. Kunav Huveep is the local Paiute name for Kyle Canyon. The Pack Rat Trail leads to an enormous and ancient Pack Rat toilet that is still in use (don't worry, even this makes sense). The name "Acastus" is for a rare orange butterfly species that lives in this area: Spring Mountains Acastus Checkerspot Butterfly (Chlosyne acastus robusta).