By:
Submission
Small camp ground, once you reach the end of the trail. It probably gets full on weekends and holidays. Primitive camp: no facilities, bring everything and take everything with you. Right now they don't want you to build fires even in rings only with gas stoves... takes away from the camping experience and there really doesn't seem to be much danger of fires getting out of hand if they were allowed. Been living and exploring in Las Vegas area for quite awhile and the summers here can be deadly. Yet, here we are in late June and just got drenched with rain and hail ... and then it's warm again all in one day! Elevation makes the difference. Once you have explored all these areas in all seasons you begin to long for those huge forests of the Sierra Nevada's. My kids were ok with it.. just ok. and the wife was feeling real nervous about the phones not working here.
It's a 4 mile offroad trail and find any area you can set up your tent along the trail. Its a rough road and I recommend high clearance or 4x4 vehicle especially if you want to go all the way to the end of 4-mile trail although I've seen some sedans made it all the way just take your time. This is free and primitive camping(even better for me) due no water, toilet or electric so be prepared and bring a lot of water. Find your spot, enjoy and please bring your trash out with you.
Had a good time at Mack's Canyon. Went during the week and had the camp to ourselves at the end of the road. We made it up with a 2wd Jeep compass. High clearance recommended just take it easy.
It is all primitive, so no public restrooms, no water, etc. And you lose cell service. Bring water with you.
We seen some birds, deer and squirrels (Chipmunks?) up there. Felt safe. No animal threats.
Was disappointed at the amount of trash we saw left behind by others but we cleaned it up. Pack it in and out people. Don't be that person. Respect the land.
There are two signs coming in that say no fires but there's fire pits everywhere up there. It gets chilly in the evening and what's a camp without a fire? If you do have one it's at your own risk. Keep it small and contained and be responsible.
Long dirt road, had a 2 drive truck. Curvy road most spots ok, would have been tough if had another car going the others way. Road pretty narrow in spots, also a few rough patches. Popular spot, very pretty.
Disclaimer: we didn't make it all the way to Mack's. We've got a long, low clearance ford transit pulling a Honda CR-V and had some bad luck lately with long, windy dirt roads. So we pulled off 73 well before Mack's and camped at one of the established sites closer to the highway.
Found a number of decent trails and followed them to the tops of mountains for some great views. Campsite is close enough for a day trip to Vegas or Hoover dam, lake Mead area. Temperatures are much cooler than in the city.
Not a lot of wildlife, some lizards and birds.
Very dry, and something in the air got my allergies going pretty good. An alarming amount of garbage. We cleaned out multiple bins of broken glass, cans, stone (a whole countertop's worth), automotive scraps, discarded camping gear, you name it, from our site over just a few days, and the whole area looked like this.
