Book excerpt: Beyond the bright lights of one of the city's fastest growing metropolitan areas is some of the most rugged, beautiful, and remote country around. This comprehensive hiking guide features more than 100 hikes within a three-hour drive of the Las Vegas Strip. Popular destinations such as Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Death Valley, and Mt. Charles are covered, as well as lesser-known areas such as Anniversary Narrows, Arrow Canyon, Bowl of Fire, and the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness. This second edition includes new trips in Death Valley, Hamblin Mountain on North Shore Lake Mead, Virgin Peak, Potosi Mtn, and Clark Mountain in Mojave National Reserve. Each trip showcases the diversity of this region, from the geological wonders and rare life forms surviving in Mojave National Preserve to ancient petroglyphs. The hikes range from easy strolls to challenging treks and include distance, time, elevation change, difficulty, and trail-use notes. A custom map accompanies every description, and GPS waypoints are given for key locations.