Due out in November, his book offers a comprehensive guide to the major trails and outdoor recreation areas in Nevada. After hiking everywhere, Purdue confidently names the Charleston Loop, the route to Charleston Peak, the best hike in the country. There and on the peak hikes of Lee Canyon, breathtaking views stimulate the elated impression of having climbed to the top of the world. For a different world, jet out to Lake Mead, which resembles the surface of the moon with a massive built-in swimming pool. The National Park Service manages the five main trails along Northshore Road.
Easy hikes offer great views of the lake.
Like the BLM, the park service realized the need to join forces to improve its trail systems. Efforts by the county and such volunteer groups as the Southwest Gas Hikers and the Boy Scouts of America will eventually expand the Historic Railroad Trail down to Hoover Dam. Over the next three to five years, the park service and the county also hope to complete the River Mountain Trail's forty-mile loop through Boulder City and Henderson. The road off U.S. 95 looks initially like someone's driveway, but leads to the Corn Creek Field Station and the only formal nature trail on the refuge. Ecosystems range from cacti desert to ponderosa pine forest in the higher elevations of the Sheep Mountains.