Adaptive Hiking and Birding at Wetlands Park
Enjoy identifying birds on a walk/roll with a representative of Red Rock Audubon. Your family members and friends are welcome to join us but not your pets. Wetlands Park is a nature preserve that does not allow pets. Clark County Wetlands Park Nature Preserve, on the southeastern side of the Las Vegas valley, is part of a 2,900-acre restoration of the streams and mesquite groves that once lived along the Las Vegas Wash before modern settlement confiscated the water. Las Vegas, in Spanish, means “the meadows”. This is part of the original meadows. The Las Vegas Wash is the main stream that drains the entire Las Vegas Valley. There are approximately three miles of flat paved trails and also some fine aggregate surface trails.
Clark County has built a demonstration park with numerous trails circulating through the trees and wetlands with an ultimate destination of a bridge over the Wash. There is a nice duck pond with turtles and crayfish. Keep your eyes open for signs of beaver. Across the bridge there are miles of strenuous paved desert bike trails.
The park even has a nature center with a theater and is the site of numerous school field trips. Because this is an area of periodic flooding, the visitor/nature center is elevated. There are long ramps with resting levels from parking up to the information center. An elevator is also available.
Trailheads are at the visitor center and also across the parking lot at the accessible restrooms with actual flush toilets.
Wetlands Park is located at the eastern end of Wetlands Park Lane. The Lane intersects East Tropicana Avenue in the curve where Tropicana becomes South Broadbent Blvd. Accessible features include restrooms at the parking lot, as well as nicer restrooms at the visitor center. No picnicking or pets are allowed at Wetlands Park.
TRANSPORTATION: We know that some individuals rely on RTC Paratransit for transportation, but Paratransit doesn’t go to Wetlands Park. To help with this shortfall, Trail Access Project is renting a wheelchair ramp van to drive from an RTC Transit Station that Paratransit does service. The van carries two wheelchairs and will be driven by a volunteer. Additional details will be confirmed once we receive your request. Must reserve or cancel by April 5.
Trail Characteristics:
Length: >3 miles
Width: 8 ft.
Surface type: concrete, asphalt, crushed stone
Typical grade: 1%
Maximum grade: 4% at the Las Vegas Wash bridge
Typical cross slope: 1%
Maximum cross slope: 1%
Obstacles: none
Use Fee required?: none
Accessible features: visitor center, restrooms
