Paradise Outdoor Activities

Las Vegas Rock Crawlers stamps the outdoors with treads from a fleet of fully equipped Jeep Wrangler 4x4s that have 35- or 37-inch tires and front and rear lockers. Using these utility vehicles, experienced guides lead jeep tours through the Valley of Fire, Amaragosa Dunes, Apex/Nellis Dunes, Eldorado Canyon, Red Rock Canyon, and Logandale Trails—listed in order from sightseeing terrains to terrains with the steepest drop-offs, sharpest inclines, and boulders voted most likely to succeed in rockslides. Each destination features bypass routes for novice drivers and obstacle-clad routes for experienced drivers. The Rock Crawlers crew also brings adrenaline rushes to customers' parties and events by setting up mobile ziplines.

Golf Summerlin operates a triumvirate of courses that roam the desert tundra just east of Red Rock Canyon and showcase the fairway-carving vision of renowned course architects Billy Casper and Greg Nash. All three courses—Palm Valley, Highland Falls, and Eagle Crest—present their own brand of tee-to-green challenges as golfers aim for fairways framed by sandstone-hued peaks.

Palm Valley Golf Course spans 6,849 yards of undulating fairways and bent grass greens. Relatively generous fairways entice aggressive tee shots throughout the course, but particularly ill-struck drives are likely to find the shadows of encroaching pine trees or the grizzly sands of 68 bunkers peppered throughout the course. Nine ponds also populate the course, occasionally forcing golfers into tricky course-management decisions and granting golf balls a chance to pursue their lifelong dream of becoming dinner for fat fish.

Highland Falls Golf Course measures a modest 6,512 yards, yet manages to present a gauntlet of treacherous greenery. Throughout the course, golfers may notice that their drives carry a few extra yards, a product of the dry, thin air—the course perches at an elevation of 3,000 feet—and golf balls galvanized by the electric lure of the Las Vegas Strip, visible from certain vantages across the layout. Careful club selection and a keen eye for distance are critical throughout the round, as dramatic elevation changes complicate basic readings of yardage and legions of sand traps await to ensnare misplayed shots.

The shortest of the three courses, Eagle Crest Golf Course cozies up to the amber mountainside with an 18-hole, 4,067-yard executive layout. The par 60 layout features 12 par-threes—where golfers can zero in with pin-high iron shots—and six par-fours, where players can unleash aggression with flush drives. Rounds conclude at the straightaway, 370-yard, par 4 18th hole, where the fairway plummets 40 feet into a large, bunker-fortified green that lets you punch it if it flinches in anticipation of a craterous ball mark.

At Combat Zone Paintball, four obstacle-spattered outdoor fields provide a cardio-packed challenge for beginner to advanced paint slingers. After staff members equip players with a full set of rental equipment and perform an inspirational interpretive dance, teams swarm the battlefield, where bunkers, sandbags, and wooden shelters provide cover from the raining barrage of paint. The facility’s large speedball field ratchets up adrenaline levels with fast-paced, simulated battles, and two scenario fields reward teamwork and superior tactical judgment. Combat Zone Paintball stocks its onsite store with equipment and extra paint for purchase, repairs paintballers’ own equipment onsite, and provides indoor bathrooms for use between games.

The sharpshooters at Pacific Archery Sales outfit hunters with the tools and skills necessary to hit the bull’s-eye of any target, be it an eight-point buck or the doorbell of a friend’s house. Inside Pacific Archery’s pro shop, open seven days a week, experts help customers select bows, arm guards, and targets, as well as additional hunting supplies such as knives and bow-fishing equipment. Students refine their aim during lessons on an indoor range boasting 20-yard lanes and mounted trophies from past hunts.

Breaking in the new Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas water park, The Soggy Jog combines healthy family fun with heat-beating, aquatic entertainment. Obstacles such as the Lazy River Shiver, Slimy Swamp, and Foam Monster break up speedy trots and drench joggers throughout the race, building up to a slip ‘n' slide that sends racers headlong toward the finish line with low-friction aplomb. After the run, guests spend the rest of the day exploring the water park, chasing thrills by hurtling down towering slides or pantsing Poseidon.

Hosted by the Nevada Restaurant Association, the annual Las Vegas Epicurean Affair brings together world-renowned chefs from Las Vegas’s finest restaurants, nightclubs, and bars to prepare their signature creations. In the past, the event has drawn liaisons from such restaurants as Wolfgang Puck and McCormick & Schmick’s, finally uniting the city’s chefs for an occasion other than dueling at dawn with handheld mixers.