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LAS VEGAS — In North Las Vegas, the new Craig Ranch Regional Park offers free family-friendly activities for visitors to the city of lights.
Located at 628 W. Craig Road, the park is easy to find and it provides a variety of play options as well as plenty of grass and trees — things that are welcome and rare in the southern Nevada desert. Before being repurposed as a park, the area was a golf course, which explains why it already has mature trees and green meadows.
The park encompasses a spacious 170 acres with ponds, paths and open grassy expanses. The acreage includes baseball fields, a skate park, and basketball and tennis courts. There are several picnic areas and pavilions.
In the center of the park, an adventure playground includes a number of themed play areas. One has a desert focus with a rattlesnake slide and a tarantula web/rope climb. Another area has a treehouse theme with a giant jackrabbit and a timber/log playground.
Another area of the ranch another resembles a flower garden with enormous, colorful metal and plastic blooms, and play equipment that looks like insects. There is also a huge sandbox with a lizard that sprays water from its mouth so children can mix sand and water for building sand castles.
Rock Mountain is a hill in the center of the park with long slides and a climbing wall with padded ground underneath. From the top of the hill, one can view the entire expanse of the park.
Other features include a dog park and an area for community gardens. There is also a splash pad, which was under construction at the end of March but appeared nearly complete.
Jenine Guariglia moved to North Las Vegas from Utah County four years ago with her husband and daughter. She said her family is excited about the new park because of the play areas for young children and because it is literally an oasis in the desert.
“Las Vegas has some nice parks, but most of them don’t have the big trees and the open grassy areas like this one,” she said.
The park opened for visitors in March 2014. Weekends are likely to be crowded because the newness still hasn’t worn off. But weekday visits offer plenty of elbow room.
According to information from the city of North Las Vegas, the park is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. Reservations for picnic shelters or plazas can be made at the park office, 851 W. Lone Mountain Road, at the information kiosk within the park grounds, on the city’s web site at cityofnorthlasvegas.com or by phone at 702-633-2418.
Flint Stephens has a master's degree in communications from Brigham young University. He is author of "Mormon Parenting Secrets: Time-Tested Methods for Raising Exceptional Children."
