Activities

Subterranean waters from faraway highlands nourish a verdant thicket in the midst of China Ranch inhabited by all manner of wildlife. Ten million-year-old lake deposits have folded and faulted into cream colored hillocks, whose peaks are ribboned with ancient Native American paths. The T&T Railroad grade snakes past palisades, marshes, and billion-year-old boulder capped pinnacles. All this makes China Ranch a mecca for outdoor activities.

• Bird Watching. There are over 200 species of birds that visit and live on the oasis. The spring and fall migrations are spectacular. Hawks, eagles and turkey vultures are an everyday event.
  
• Hiking. Vast open desert lands are waiting to be explored at your own pace and in your own way. Forge your own trails through undeveloped tracks of wilderness. Follow your own sense of direction to destinations unknown, or trek miles of the maintained Amargosa River Trail.
  
• Horseback Riding. Guests are welcome to bring their horses and ride the surrounding wilderness areas.
  
• Mountain Biking. Follow the China Ranch Canyon rim to implausible overlooks and remote historical sites.
  
• Natural Hot Springs. End your day with a soak in the Tecopa natural hot baths.
  
• Off highway Vehicles. Not allowed on the ranch or on the designated wilderness areas, which are virtually everywhere. However, there is easy access for some types of street legal vehicles up through the nearby Sperry Wash route to the Dumont Dunes.
  
• Road Excursions. Any vehicle can tour the nearby Kingston mountains range. Springs, mines and historical sites are well worth discovery.
  
• Rock Climbing. Several nearby peaks offer easy to challenging excursions.
  
• Rock Collecting. Abundant.
  
• Stargazing. Isolation from city lights makes astronomical event watching out of this world! Full moon risings are not to be missed. China Ranch has a singular advantage for stargazers, one fast disappearing from even rural areas: though it has electric power, and lodging, as well as ample open space, there is no outdoor lighting, either on the site or closer than five miles in any quantity. The closest serious source of light pollution is Las Vegas, which is about sixty miles ENE. See astronomical photos by Chad Zalunardo shot at China Ranch.