Spring Mountain Ranch State Park — Attraction in Summerlin South

My friends and I stumbled upon this place while taking a drive around Red Rock. We are locals and wanted a day to drive around looking at the scenery since it was nice out. This isn't too far from the Red Rock scenic loop area, and it has a stone sort of arch, so it's a little easier to see.

The downside was the $10 it costs for locals. It goes to something good, and there were 4 of us in the car, but it still felt a bit pricey. We drove through and parked in the parking lot. The visitor center is beautiful! The building looked older, the grass was so green, and the trees were very big. There were even 2 brown cows! There were a couple of different trails you could take, some of course longer than others. We weren't really prepared for a hike of any sort, but we took a small path near the visitor center that seemed to be having a pokemon event for kids. There was a small sign for a scavenger hunt, and as we did the short loop, we found some little pokemon images along the way. We didn't go into the visitor center, as we figured it would be a little busy since it was Veteran's Day, but the path we took was really nice! There were informational signs about the different trees and brush, I love history and knowledge, so I stopped to read each one. I learned quite a bit reading those and looking at the plants.

Once we looped back from this trail, we headed out toward another. We passed some neat white benches and walked up a rock path to get to what must have been the beginning of multiple trails. We were going to take the Lake Harriet Loop, which was 0.4 miles. We got maybe halfway and decided to turn back. We did see the little lake, which was really cool. If you grew up in Las Vegas like I did, little nature things like this excite you! There were quite a few people out, again, because of the holiday. I'm sure if we kept going, this would have been a really nice loop. This is a cool place to get out of the city and get into a...

WARNING- DO NOT BE LATE TO THE MOVIE! You will not be let in... regardless of whether your group is already there!

The ranger in charge of the movie was fabulous and the place was beautiful, but the supervisor ruined what was supposed to be a wonderful night!

Did not know that at 8pm they lock the gate and don't allow admittance to anyone. My friend got held up at work and was late- the supervisor on duty at the gate refused to let him in. I had the blanket spread out with other friends, snacks, drinks, the works, for a perfect beautiful evening in the scenic outdoors!

When I got the text from my friend at the gate, that he eased not allowed to enter, I asked the ranger in our group who then readied the supervisor on my behalf to ask for my friend to be let in. The supervisor refused him also, so I gathered my armload of supplies, got in my car and drove to the gate hoping my friend could come back with me in my car. The supervisor would not allow that nor would he let my friend follow me back into the park. He says it would be discrimination if he let my friend in and not others..I reminded him there were about 20 people that night, unlike peak season when there are hundreds!

I asked if he would change his mind one last time to which he said of course not. He did offer me a free night another time and even one for my friend, but that didn't help for that night, and what is $20 parking donation to the beautiful park?

I get rules, but of the football sized meadow, there were only 5 groups of people... maybe 20 in total? I believe the management decision in this case was poorly made... the beautiful place was dead empty and after a 30 minute drive out there, we were both...

Beautiful area, HORRIBLE staff. As I was leaving after a nice hike on marked trails, I stopped briefly alongside the road on the way out to take one last picture. I pulled over about a foot off the road in a spot with gravel and no plants because I care very much about nature conservancy and protecting the land. I just stopped for a minute to get out and walked off the paved road onto an old abandoned gravel road so I wasn’t taking a picture in the middle of the paved road. There were no signs advising against this anywhere along the road. As I was walking back to my truck after taking the pic, a female staff person stopped and immediately came at me hot threatening a $600 ticket for “trampling vegetation” and “hiking off trail”. Both were absurd accusations. She also interrupted me when I tried to explain I only stopped to take a picture and fully appreciated conservation efforts. She said there was “no justification” and didn’t want to hear anything at all from me. I didn’t want to argue because I could see she had already made her mind up about me being someone I’m not, so I walked away. She then got on the radio to call a Ranger. I drove to the gate where a Ranger was parked and spoke to him about it. He was cool thankfully. The girl was the most angry, judgmental, and inconsiderate park staff person I’ve ever encountered anywhere. And I’ve been to countless state parks and national parks across the country. Staff should at least ask questions before assuming the worst. This was a complete misunderstanding that could have gone much differently if she was willing to have even the smallest conversation about it. That interaction ruined my whole...