Planners will never find themselves wondering what to do with attendees during off-session hours in Nevada, where year-round outdoor adventures for groups are in abundance. Outfitters situated nearby major meetings destinations throughout the Silver State look forward to working with groups, and deliver all manner of laid-back to high-energy activities.
Following are some ideas to get the group outside during your next event in Nevada.
Las Vegas Area
Pink Jeep Tours (702.895.6777; www.pinkjeep.com), according to General Manager Alix Reed, has nearly 50 years of experience off-roading with meeting attendees in the rugged terrain surrounding Las Vegas.
Pink Jeep can accommodate up to 200 people, with six to 10 people seated per vehicle, including a professional tour guide who provides informative and entertaining narrative on each tour.
“Anything the meeting planner can dream up for team-building activities, we can fulfill,” Reed says, citing scavenger hunts, photo safaris, Western cowboy games and spy games.
The outfitter is particularly proud of providing an exciting small group experience that allows participants to strengthen their creativity, communication skills and trust.
Twenty-five miles from Las Vegas in Boulder City, Nev., is Bootleg Canyon Flightlines (702.293.6885; www.bootlegcanyonflightlines.com), owned by Greenheart LLC. According to Ian Green, a manager at Greenheart LLC, this is no zipline.
“The flightline is a unique trail system designed to allow riders to experience nature with a bird’s-eye perspective,” he says, at speeds of up to 50 mph in Bootleg Canyon.
He says the company is able to structure the experience to allow for a wide range of groups, who travel down the lines with guides.
“With respect to team building, the opportunity to fly over a mile-and-a-half on this two-hour guided ecotour has been very well received,” he says.
Laughlin
The Laughlin Visitors Bureau’s Meg McDaniel, senior manager, regional sales, says nearby Desert River Outfitters (888.KAYAK33; www.desertriveroutfitters.com) in Bullhead City, Ariz., provides group kayaking and canoeing trips around the tri-state area of Arizona, Nevada and California, including on the Colorado River and Lake Mohave.
The featured mode of transportation via outfitter Laughlin Adventure Tours (702.298.2345; www.laughlinadventuretours.com) is the sandrail, which, according to McDaniel, is “like a dune buggy on steroids.”
Brad Mays, owner of Laughlin Adventure Tours, says his company prefers to work with smaller groups of around 16 people but has also accommodated groups as large as 68 people.
“Our tours are scenic and slow-speed,” he says. “Groups will leave our tour with a real sense of what the pioneers endured in the early 1900s.”
During the tour, groups visit the mining town of Oatman, Ariz., for shopping, lunch and a Western shootout.
Mays adds that a special GPS team-building scavenger hunt can be planned to challenge a group in the desert.
Lake Tahoe
Outdoor options are endless in Lake Tahoe year-round.
According to Mike Frye, sales and events manager at Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, in the summer, groups can utilize the gondola at Heavenly (www.skiheavenly.com) for magnificent views of the lake and hikes for every level.
During the winter, visitors can go downhill and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and partake in exciting Lake Tahoe Snowmobile Tours (530.546.4280; www.laketahoesnowmobiling.com).
Elko
Chris Crystal, spokesperson for the Nevada Commission on Tourism, says snowmobiling is a popular option during the winter in Elko as well.
“It’s loads of fun and exhilarating, and you don’t need experience to snowmobile,” she says.
Tom Lester, convention and tourism manager at the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority, agrees, recommending Snowmobile Opportunities (800.248.3556; www.elkocva.com/snowmobiling.shtml) for everything from extreme outings in Lamoille Canyon to milder excursions in Sunflower Flats.
Lester adds that Nevada consists of 85 percent public land, so there’s a lot of outdoor recreation, particularly in Elko, including ATV Adventures (775.738.4091; www.elkocva.com/atvadventures.shtml).
Another popular option is Elko’s Cowboy John Tours (775.753.7825; www.cowboyjohntours.com), which guides guests on hikes into the Ruby Mountains, as well as fly-fishing and overnight camping tours.
“We run small group tours to view Nevada’s wide-open spaces and mustang horses, and to hike alpine mountains looking for birds and wildflowers,” says Janice Collett, spokesperson for Cowboy John Tours.
Lester adds that the mountains here are known as the “Alps of Nevada,” so horseback riding and rock-climbing adventures are popular as well.
