Mary Jane Falls

                If you hike in Las Vegas long enough, you will be told “You should hike Mary Jane Falls”. So I finally gave in and headed to Mt. Charleston to hike the famed trail. I was told Mary Jane Falls is a popular and easy trail. The “popular” part is very true.

There was less traffic driving to the trail than there was on the trail. If you hike to find solitude in nature, this is not the hike for you. As for the “easy”, although this hike is not technically challenging, it is almost two miles all up hill. On the positive side, Mary Jane Falls has beautiful views of old growth pine forest and snow caped mountains. It also offers much cooler temperatures to avoid the summer heat.  I will try this hike again on a weekday to see if the crowds are less, but from my first experiences, I would not recommend this hike.  From a photographic viewpoint, it does offer some nice vistas and terrain that is not available in the lower desert. On today’s hike the light was rather poor and light snow flurries made picture taking tough.Hopefully next time fewer hikers and better light will improve my Mary Jane Falls experience.