for over ten years now I’ve been making it a point to rent a bike and explore a little of the City and surroundings beyond the city limits, after working all week within the urban, concrete confines of the Strip and the Convention Center and the sights seen in between.

from the perspective of a bicycle rider, the City, although always interesting to explore, leaves much to be desired when travelled on a two-wheeler. I began to pedal Eastward from the Strip, where I had picked a heavy duty city bike off of the bike share rack. I headed to the Flamingo-Arroyo Trailhead on the edge of town, quickly realizing that riding through the City was not going to be fun or easy. although Las Vegas has made some efforts in recent years to accommodate bicycle travel in their road infrastructure, it’s still far too intimate with the overbearing automobile traffic for a rider to feel safe and fully enjoy the ride. bottom line: Car Culture rules supreme here. it’s evident in the often 5+ lane-wide “stroads” with sidewalks right at the curb that some urban designer actually thought was an okay idea. bike lanes that are frequently shared with bus and right turn lanes and traffic that generally speeds by, largely ignoring speed limits. it’s grossly apparent that the locals love big, fast, noisy, shiny and shitbox vehicles. pickups predominate. the bigger, the better. I tried to take refuge in a suburban ‘hood that didn’t offer much reprieve, having extra wide, flat, straight streets that invite drivers to speed through the middle-low class neighborhoods. it’s remarkable how many vehicles are parked on the street & front lawns, after the driveways are filled up. they love their cars. it’s not rare to see a small ramshackle $300,000 bungalow with one or two tricked-out $60,000 luxury model cars parked on the lawn. automobiles are apparently top priority in this culture.

with all that said, I was able to make my way to the trailhead without incident or delay. turning onto the trail, still within the urban boundaries, I was immediately faced with homeless encampments and collected belongings, trash, (burned and unburned) and seemingly sad, forgotten individuals living along the sides of this recreational trail. sad and depressing. this was the sight all along the concrete constructed Las Vegas Wash, to the true edge of town. I guess, along the Wash and under adjacent highway bridges, unhoused people could live near a free flowing water source (to clean their clothes?) without disturbing the suburban residents too much and still have reasonably close access to strip plazas, gas stations and fast food stores that (reluctantly) offered them restrooms where they could maintain some semblance of dignity when nature called. a rather dystopian scenario.

riding outside the City now, the concrete wash transitioned to a more natural stream of water running over the desert rocks and soil as it flowed down towards the Clark County Wetlands Park, my destination. again, I was shocked at the volume of trash that was left in the streams floodplain by previous deluges. it seemed like all the litter from the suburbs had been filtered out by the floodplain flora. plastic commercial wrap, tarps, bottles and containers caught high up in the branches of the shrubs, trees and tall grass. shopping carts, mattresses, tents, sleeping bags, and an endless assortment of trash washed into and then trapped in branches and destined to stay there until the unlikely event of a massive clean-up effort. again, depressing beyond words. the juxtaposition of these dystopian sights only a few miles downstream of the City’s thriving, decadent Strip, paint a chilling contrast that clearly highlights the yawning wealth gap between the residents of this town.

as I neared the Wetlands, the trapped trash diminished and the flora seemed to flourish more with every mile. desert creatures could be seen alongside the well maintained bike path. Roadrunners and desert rodents were a welcome sight, too fast for me to capture an image. yet further down in the Wetlands, ducks and other waterfowl were enjoying the cool water and were visible from the many footbridges along the paved trails. reaching the heart of the Wetlands, a thick growth of shrubs and dense tallgrass were a welcome sign of a thriving natural environment. the peace and quiet, a nice reprive from a week of busy traffic, bustling crowds and noisy casinos. I stood for many minutes in that serene environment on a bridge amongst the thick grasses and plants that towered over me. so beautiful. I walked my bike further along the path to Vern’s Pond, named after the community environmental advocate largely responsible for creating the Wetlands Park; an early 2000s effort to renew the degraded Las Vegas Wash. here I learned that the Wetlands, although appearing natural, are largely man-made! Vern would be proud of what the Park had become! Beautiful. a hidden gem that many Las Vegas citizens don’t even know exists, let alone the hoards of tourists who come from all over to experience Sin City. as I stood in the Sunshine on the upper balcony of the Nature Center overlooking the vast expanse of the Wetlands, I reflected on the 180° reversal of my mood from the first part of my journey through suburban squalor to the middle part, traveling through this pretty and peaceful Park. I realized once again what a profound positive impact that a calm, natural environment can have on our fragile psyche. a short exposure to this resets our hurried mind and acts as an antidote to our fast, furious and ultra-connected world. never underestimate the power of Nature and the degree to which Humans are woven into its fabric.