Vegas Ride
Road Captain
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 539
Likes: 7
From: Indiana
My wife and I rented an Electra Glide Classic from Eagle Rider's in October. We had the bike for three days. Day 1 we rode through Death Valley. I enjoyed that trip very much.
Another day we rode to Hoover Dam. Going over the new bypass bridge is not so special. You can't see anything from the bridge itself, and may even be oblivious to the fact that you just went over the Hoover Dam. They have built the sides of the bridge up high so gawkers won't slow down traffic. Instead take the exit before the bridge to go down to the dam itself. The first parking lot on the right allows you to walk up and walk across the bypass bridge from which you can look down over the dam. It is a nice view. Go early. By the time we walked down from the bypass bridge around 11:30 PM, traffic was backed up for a very long way with vehicles trying to get in the (rather small) parking lot. Then go on to the dam itself. You can park there and walk across the dam. Pretty cool, if you haven't been there before. On the way back toward Vegas, take the road through the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The fee is well-worth it. This was by far the prettiest ride in my book.
We also did Red Rock Canyon. It was just okay. Pretty enough, but short.
As others have said, prepare for a wide range of temperatures. We were sweating in shirt sleeves one day at Death Valley and bundled up and cold the next at higher elevations.
Watch yourself on I-15. Traffic is horrible and cage drivers are careless.
Close to Hoover Dam I was running 75 mph in the right hand lane and got passed twice on the right by vehicles taking to the berm. Idiots.
Another day we rode to Hoover Dam. Going over the new bypass bridge is not so special. You can't see anything from the bridge itself, and may even be oblivious to the fact that you just went over the Hoover Dam. They have built the sides of the bridge up high so gawkers won't slow down traffic. Instead take the exit before the bridge to go down to the dam itself. The first parking lot on the right allows you to walk up and walk across the bypass bridge from which you can look down over the dam. It is a nice view. Go early. By the time we walked down from the bypass bridge around 11:30 PM, traffic was backed up for a very long way with vehicles trying to get in the (rather small) parking lot. Then go on to the dam itself. You can park there and walk across the dam. Pretty cool, if you haven't been there before. On the way back toward Vegas, take the road through the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The fee is well-worth it. This was by far the prettiest ride in my book.
We also did Red Rock Canyon. It was just okay. Pretty enough, but short.
As others have said, prepare for a wide range of temperatures. We were sweating in shirt sleeves one day at Death Valley and bundled up and cold the next at higher elevations.
Watch yourself on I-15. Traffic is horrible and cage drivers are careless.
Close to Hoover Dam I was running 75 mph in the right hand lane and got passed twice on the right by vehicles taking to the berm. Idiots.
Road Warrior
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,479
Likes: 4
From: SoCal
Well I was there last week, and was glad in the passes that I was in our 4X4 SUV and not on my FLHR - heavy falling snow and an inch of slush in the roadway with traffic is not fun at all. It's very, very cold with the windchill and easy to windburn in the dry air just walking around, so as suggested pack for extreme cold. Red Rock canyon is worth a ride out, it's IN Las Vegas, not outside of it, and no one will fool with your bike if you take a few of the great short hikes. Definitly go north to Valley of Fire as an alternative, 50 miles N of Vegas but well worth the trip. Oh yeah, I forgot to pick up my fireworks. If you have time, pick up $40 worth of 'crackers, neon bottle rockets, and two packages of 8-oz rockets for me from Phantom.
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