Leaving Las Vegas for an adventure

By Beth D'Addono, Globe Correspondent, 04/07/02

		If you go  Mojave outshines city  People watching in Vegas  The West, Southwest  Favorite getaways

NELSON, Nev. - They don't call him Risky Richard for nothing.

There we were, at the mercy of driver Richard Morker, a.k.a. "Risky Richard," in a bright yellow Hummer - the commercial version of the US military's Humvee. Morker, who looks as though he could be General Custer's younger brother, somehow managed to balance the eight-foot-wide vehicle on a huge rock formation in the Eldorado Mountains - on two wheels.

This desolate moonscape of a mountain range couldn't be farther way from the glitz and kitsch of the world-famous Strip, although it's only an hour outside of Las Vegas. Already we had forgotten about the traffic, the gawking tourists, and the jangle of slot machines. Our adrenaline was pumping, and Risky Richard was clearly in charge.

Morker is a senior driver, mechanic, and all-around good guy at Rebel Adventure Tours, a four-year-old company that specializes in putting thrills into your Vegas experience. With a fleet of Hummers, vans, ATVs, Jet Skis, and other toys, Rebel Adventures takes tourists for a ride, delivering everything from Grand Canyon tours and desert excursions to white-water rafting trips on the Colorado River.

One thing we learned on this trip: A $34,000 neon yellow Hummer doesn't blend in. We drew a small crowd when we were picked up outside the hotel, and at every stop along the way the yellow bomber was a conversation starter. On our way out of town, traveling east on Interstate 215, Morker pointed out the features of this unusual vehicle: It is submersible, it can balance on a 45-degree angle (which we found out for ourselves), it has power steering and brakes, a sharper turning radius than most cars, and a satisfyingly loud sound system. Morker drives seven days a week if he can, taking everybody from little old ladies to 'N Sync's JC Chasez for desert thrill rides.

Our first stop was the Techatticup Mine Camp in Eldorado Canyon, the oldest and most famous gold mine in southern Nevada. Our guide, Brent Holden, a tall drink of water covered in a fine silt of mine dust, took us on a tour of the mine and the restored camp, which in the mid-1880s had a larger population than Las Vegas.

The Savage Mine, a 600-foot hole in the ground that yielded $5 million in gold during its 80-year run, and Techatticup Camp lay forgotten for years until Holden and his family decided to buy the property and restore it for tours. The place has a checkered history: With the closest sheriff some 300 miles away when mining was at its peak, the camp was a lawless and rowdy place. It was also visited by Nevada's first serial killer, a renegade named Queho who killed 23 people over two decades in the last century while eluding the law in the 1920s and '30s.

Holden and his cousins had been coming to Eldorado Canyon and the camp since they were youngsters, kayaking on the Colorado, and enjoying the elbow room away from the panorama of Las Vegas. They bought the ramshackle camp eight years ago, slowly restoring it to its former gritty glory, while offering raft and canoe tours of the river.

Techatticup Camp includes a general store, a doctor's shack, and an old barn, all full of artifacts and historic lore. As they say on the Techatticup Web site (www.coloradorivertour.com), "Old West history don't get no better than this." Individual tours of the mine cost $10 for adults and $5 for children, but the price is included in the Rebel Adventure Tour.

Leaving the camp behind, we went off-roading, jumping from rock to rock, climbing mountains, and traversing desert like true adventurers. Paved road came too soon, with a drive through historic Boulder City and then a stop on the Arizona side of Hoover Dam.

On the way back to the hotel, our little group, bonded now by thrills and laughter, made one more stop for a picture with the Hummer in front of the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, just outside town along the Strip. It is on a median in the middle of the highway - no problem for Risky Richard and his bright yellow Hummer. After all, what's a median strip compared to a mountain?

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Beth D'Addono is a freelance writer who lives in Belmont Hills, Pa.