Indeed there is. As you ascend Kyle Canyon Road toward the Mount Charleston Lodge (elevation 7,700 feet), you will see many chalets and cabins squirreled away on the precipitous slopes of the ravine. At the present, 393 people (concentrated in 168 households) call Mount Charleston home, up from 285 in 2000.
A 40-minute commute from Las Vegas, it’s not a getaway for the thrifty: The median home price hovers just below $280,000 (far higher for single-family residences) and the median income is $25,000 above that of Nevadans in general. But Mount Charleston does have a library and a firehouse, among other amenities (including gambling machines at the Lodge). It’s also said to be a hub of marijuana cultivation in Nevada – not that we’d know anything like that.
While Mount Charleston can get cut off from civilization by heavy winter snowfalls, which also make a popular skiing destination, in summer it’s tinder-dry. In fact, forest fires are a serious hazard during summertime. Although there a few residents in Lee Canyon, most of them are bunched just downhill of the Lodge, 13 people per square mile. It’s a heavily Catholic populace, the plurality of which works in either public administration or construction. Best of all, there are no registered sex offenders on Mount Charleston, according to City-Data.com.
The eponymous mountain itself is a sprawling massif, peaking at 11,916 feet, the apex of the Spring Mountain range, which defines the western side of the Las Vegas Valley. Lying within a national forest, it’s thickly dotted with picnic grounds and camp sites, although a couple of LVA contributors scoped out the camp grounds, and found most of them considerably inferior in maintenance and amenities to those at Valley of Fire State Park. (The adjective "skanky" was heard.)
However, even if you’re not up for the hiking – which can be strenuous – a drive up either of Mount Charleston’s canyons is a sure way to beat the heat, especially in summertime. The mountain always enjoys, by far, the lowest temperatures in Southern Nevada. Knowing that, we’re surprised and a bit thankful that more Nevadans haven’t taken up residence on its forested slopes.
