Today on Outdoor Nevada, tucked away in Henderson is a beautiful oasis where bird species from all over the world are welcome to visit or stay.

This is our first visit to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, and it didn't disappoint.

Then we hit the trails in the Spring Mountains Recreation Area with Lindsey from the U.S. Forest Service.

We explored a trail, and she gave me some great tips for being a responsible hiker.

And finally, get ready for the hottest sport in Southern Nevada, and it's probably not what you think.

Get ready for some pickleball.

All this today on Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪ Nevada: It's an adventure waiting to happen.

Waiting for you.

What do you say, you ready?

Because I am.

♪♪♪ (John Burke) Do you like peace and tranquility?

Do you like getting outside?

Do you like birding?

Oh yeah, I'm talking about maybe 100 different species of birds in a beautiful setting.

Of course you do.

That's why we're at the Bird Viewing Preserve.

Let's go check out some birds.

(Chuck Ashby) We love you just TO come out and walk the trails and explore and see what you find and take pictures and enjoy the actual environment.

I'm Chuck Ashby, the outdoor recreation supervisor for the City of Henderson.

It's 100 acres in total.

It has nine water ponds, and it has one dry pond.

This last year we had 156 species of birds come visit this facility.

Some of them are native and live here year-round, some of them just kind of happened to drop by for a visit.

I can tell you, there's no other place like this in Southern Nevada.

It really is a hidden gem, and it's open and free for the public to enjoy.

You can be an experienced birder or a casual observer.

There are some things to know: First, always respect the environment and its inhabitants.

Do not feed the birds.

It's what they call "baiting."

There's plenty of water, insects, seeds, plants and other nature nutrients for the birds.

Allow the birds their space.

There are plenty of viewing locations to observe and enjoy.

It makes for a much better experience for you and the birds.

And make sure you talk with the staff.

They're here to help, and they know a lot.

The City of Henderson is very proud of the preserve-- just ask Kali.

(Kali Crose) I have a really amazing job working for the City of Henderson.

I get to be in charge of our trail system.

This beautiful preserve, the Bird Viewing Preserve, there's so much chaos outside, but then you come in here and you walk in the silence and you listen to those songbirds chirping and really observe them, and it's important for our community to do that, to get that reset and to really enjoy the nature around us.

It's over 100 acres, and it's full of just-- you know, we have nine ponds, trails.

I feel like any athletic ability could walk this facility and just truly enjoy it and the beauty that it has.

I did.

I walked this beautiful area and met up with two of the best birding companions you could ask for, Paul and Mandy, from the Red Rock Audubon Society.

When we say "Audubon," I know this is a very pedestrian question, but what is an Audubon Society?

What is it?

What do you do?

(Paul Rodriguez) It's a group of people that love birds.

-It's that simple?

-It's that simple, yes.

-And how long have you been part of it?

-I've been part of Red Rock Audubon for five years.

-How about you?

-Just a year.

-Just a year?

-Yes.

-Do you love birds?

-I love birds.

-Why?

(Amanda Crinigan) I think birds allow me to not think about the stress and the chaos in the world.

I can focus on their entertaining personalities.

I can go out in my backyard and watch them, and they are endlessly happy.

They're infectiously happy, and you never see a bird that looks sad.

-So with that in mind, how important is this place to you personally?

-This place is oasis and sanctuary for me both mentally and emotionally, especially now.

You can come here and immediately be transported elsewhere into a space that can calm your mind and calm your body.

And then of course if you want to get some physical activity and get your heart rate up, you can walk around and work on your physical health too.

-What about you?

What's your experience with bird watching and even coming here?

-For me it's, you know, I enjoy bird watching just because it gets me outdoors.

I work inside all day long, and it's just an opportunity for me to get out.

It's a type of activity that you can do solitary by yourself or you can go out with some friends, and for me, it's that camaraderie.

You know, I can set something up, call a couple of friends and say let's meet here at the Bird Preserve, and we can spend a couple hours here and do some great birding, see a lot of birds that are migrating through or the residents that are here, and within an hour or so, we can just have a great time.

-So the Red Rock Audubon Society has been involved in the development of this place, hasn't it?

-Yes.

-Tell me about that.

-Birds have been coming here for years, even when it was a waste management facility, and so the folks that started the Red Rock Audubon Society about in 1976, they did a Christmas bird count here in 1967.

And so the Christmas bird count is something that we do every year at Christmastime.

They were seeing all these birds come through here so I guess they got together with the City, and when they built that new facility, they decided to turn this place into a bird viewing preserve.

So this is an important stopover place.

A bird can't fly nonstop from the Arctic to Central America so they have to come down in these places, and this provides water, shelter and food.

-I know you're very passionate about birds and about this place, but you know what I've decided?

I'm going to just clear this place out and put in some high-density housing.

What kind of loss would that be?

-Birds are already telling us that they need us to protect our spaces.

We see massive fallouts from habitat loss, from new construction, from overdevelopment.

If we fail to listen to the dramatic losses of birds that we're seeing annually because of overdevelopment, because of habitat loss, the birds you see here today will not be here 10, 20 years from now.

You may only see them in books.

Your children will never see them.

-What does that mean?

-Well, birds are part of the balance in the environment, and just like coal miners used to take canaries down to tell them, you know, if the air was of good quality, birds tell us if our waters have good quality, if our air has good quality, if our ground is of good quality.

The things that we need to survive, birds need to survive so if they don't have it, we won't have it.

-By visiting with you today, I realize that this place is about much more than birds.

It's about more than even peace.

It's about love, it really is, and I see the love that you have for this place and the love that you have for the birds and the community.

So I want to thank you both for being here today; I really appreciate everything you've done.

(both) Thank you.

Thank you.

We'd love to have you here.

♪♪♪ The Spring Mountains Recreation Area offers so much to those who enjoy the outdoors.

One of those things happens to be a favorite of mine, hiking.

With over 60 miles of established trails, there's something for all levels of hikers from first-timers to experienced backpackers.

Today I got to spend some quality time on the trails plus learn a little something about trail etiquette from a new friend.

Her name is Lindsey, and she's with the U.S. Forestry Service.

(Lindsey Steinwachs) I grew up loving the outdoors, and it's one of the main reasons that I wanted to get into this career.

-You know, in terms of your career, where have you been?

Where do you want to go?

How do you see it playing out?

-I have been all across the country managing natural resources and now recreation.

I have worked in Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, California and now in Nevada.

I love managing and providing recreational opportunities to the public, so overall my goal is to always be able to be learning more about different types of recreation.

-Well, this is a loaded question, but of all the places you just mentioned, how does Nevada rank?

-Oh, number one!

(laughter) Good answer!

-Definitely.

-I have to agree with you on that.

So you've traveled around a lot, you've seen a lot.

What has surprised you about Nevada?

-Just the diverse recreational experiences and opportunities we have here.

You can have snow in the mountains, you can have the beautiful desert and solitude out in the desert, and there's just every type of activity you can imagine all jam-packed into amazing different types of public lands here.

-Which ones do you like to do?

-I love rock climbing, mountain biking, trail running, fishing... -Hiking?

-And hiking, yes.

-In the Spring Mountains, how many miles of hiking trails would you say that there are?

-We have about 62 miles of designated trails throughout the national recreation area.

-But I'm guessing some trails link up to other trails and probably you could go out here forever.

-Yes.

We have great opportunities for people that just want to come out for a really short one- or two-mile hike, and then we do have great connectivity of our trails where you could be out here for overnight backpacking trips or just for a really long day hike.

-I guess it's up to each individual as to what season they like best.

-Oh, most definitely.

This is a great place in the shoulder seasons and in the summer to get away from the heat of Las Vegas, but you can even go skiing up here in the winter.

-Well, I'll tell you, Lindsey-- and this is the honest truth-- hiking for me is one of the great joys in life, so I just want to ask you your opinion about etiquette on the trails.

What are some things that people should know?

-Definitely.

It's really important to come prepared, so before you leave your house when you're picking out a hike, check the weather first of all, and then do a little research on the internet to see what kind of trail you want to hike.

What's the difficulty rating, what's the length, and then based upon that, you know, pick out the proper water, food, clothing, sunscreen, et cetera, and then next would definitely be talking about waste management.

When you get to most of our trailheads, there's a bathroom.

Make sure you go before you leave on your hike.

But if you don't and you're going to go out for a longer hike for the day, make sure you come prepared.

Something I have here is what we call a responsibility kit.

So when you are going to go to the bathroom out in nature, we recommend that you are going to pack out your toilet paper or your wet wipes.

So you can buy a trowel to dig a cat hole or you can just find a stick wherever.

Hike off-trail somewhere more private obviously, hopefully, and, you know, dig at least six inches down so you can completely cover.

And then, you know, bring extra bags so you can actually take out your toilet paper and whatnot.

-And that's a big deal.

To see that on the trail for other people, it really-- it's not okay.

-It really detracts from the experience, and it lets you know that other people have been there.

But it also can have an impact on water quality overall, so it is something that we do try to manage.

And that goes the same with pet waste.

If you have a pet that you're hiking with, make sure if you're bagging up your dog's poop that you are actually physically taking that bag out with you and then throwing it away at the trailhead in a trash receptacle.

-Because plenty of times, you see somebody has bagged it up and just left the waste on the side of the trail for what?

I mean, they're-- I guess they're thinking somebody else is going to come get it which is-- again, it's not okay.

-Definitely, and I think that is another aspect of packing out your trash.

One of my mottos is leave it better than you found it.

So not only do I recommend, you know, pack out what you pack in as far as your own trash, but go above and beyond and pack out other people's trash if you see it.

You know, that candy wrapper or that bag of abandoned dog waste, do the right thing and take it out because it is leaving this place better than you found it.

-You know, I've also found myself when I'm hiking, if I'm talking with somebody interesting, when I see other hikers, I just kind of-- I stop talking for a little bit in case they want to enjoy the silence.

-Yes, definitely.

That is another aspect of trail etiquette, just being respectful and considerate of others.

One component of that is being quiet and providing that opportunity for solitude because people come out here different reasons.

Maybe it is to hike with friends, maybe it is that you had a bad day and you want to get away.

So definitely talking softly, silencing your phone.

If you do want to listen to music, great, but put some headphones in so you're not detracting from other people's experiences and also the wildlife we have around here.

And then also as far as when you're hiking, you're going to pass other people on the trail.

Most of our trails are multi-use; that means that they're open to hikers, bikers and equestrians.

So if you come across other people on the trail, mountain bikers are supposed to yield to hikers and equestrians, hikers yield to equestrians.

-And what if you're going up and you're passing somebody going down and it's a narrow trail.

What's the etiquette on that one?

-Yes.

You always want to give the uphill traffic the right of way.

So just step off the trail and especially with equestrians, you want to give those horses a lot of space.

So step off the trail enough so the horse doesn't get spooked and talk quietly until they've passed.

-What about single-file on the trail?

When is that appropriate?

-Yes, definitely.

That's something we recommend for hikers is hiking single file.

We do have issues with trail expansion, and that leads to unsustainable trails and erosion and issues with our overall management of our trails.

So we definitely recommend that, stay on the legal trails.

If you see another tiny trail off to the right, don't take it to see what's there because then you're going to create a management issue that we have to go back and fix.

And if there's switchbacks, switchbacks are always there for a reason, most likely because the trail is very steep.

It's hard to have a trail on a steep slope, which is why we have those switchbacks so that trail can be there for years and years and years without having to get rebuilt.

-What is a switchback?

-A switchback is when you have a steep slope that you need the trail to go up.

So if you have the trail go straight up, you would get a lot of erosion and it would be really hard to hike up, so what we do is we build the trail kind of in a zigzag formation so it's easier to walk up, but it takes a little bit longer because you have to go a further distance.

-And you hear quite often somebody got in trouble on the trail, and they had to go find them.

It's always a good idea to tell somebody when you're leaving, when you plan to be back and which trail you're taking.

-Definitely.

You always want to check in and out with someone and set up that time that-- a turnaround time because especially if you're new to hiking or even the most experienced hikers, you need to know when you're going to get back safely.

-And one last thing I've noticed about hiking is that there's a temptation to make it a destination.

Sometimes it is, sometimes you're trying to get to a campsite, but the idea is to enjoy it, right?

-Definitely.

The whole purpose of hiking is just to get outside and connect with nature.

A lot of people are looking for a specific destination, but a lot of the best hikes here are just overall that experience, a holistic experience.

-Yes.

You see many people start their hikes with a lot of concerns on their face, then they're coming back and they look just peaceful and like they got it figured out.

-Definitely.

-Well, let's go do some more of that.

-Sounds good.

Tell me about if you bring your dog out here.

Does it have to be on a leash?

-Yes.

We recommend that you have your pets on leash when you're on trails, at trailheads and within campgrounds just so if you come in contact with wildlife or other users that you have them under control.

-That makes sense.

Just another beautiful day at the office, isn't it, Lindsey?

-Definitely.

This was such a great day of getting out and exploring.

Hey, do yourself a favor-- make the time to visit the Spring Mountains Recreational Area.

It'll give you an appreciation of the diversity and the beauty of Nevada.

♪♪♪ Pickleball sure is fun to say, but make no mistake, this is very serious business.

Pickleball courts are popping up all over the country, especially here in Southern Nevada, where you can find them everywhere-- on rooftops, your favorite park, you name it.

Now, pickleball is interesting.

It's part badminton, part table tennis, part-- well, it's just a lot of fun.

Come on.

You're serving first.

♪♪♪ Do you have a special spin you put on the ball?

-Not from here.

My name is John Sloan, and I represent the Southern Nevada Pickleball Club.

When you're playing up here close, you pretty much hit the ball flat.

♪♪♪ One of the things we want to do, John, we're going to play as partners which is we're going to kind of play about six feet apart, and we're going to move together just like we're choreographed, like we're tethered to one another.

Okay?

-Okay.

-The sport was invented about 55 years ago by a fellow by the name of Joe Pritchard, who was the president of an envelope company up in the state of Washington.

They had a badminton court but no equipment, so they cut out some paddles and borrowed a wiffle ball from a kid.

They had a dog named Pickles, and Pickles used to run after the ball, so they thought they'd call it pickleball.

I think we're ready to start a game.

-Yeah, we're ready, right?

-So I'm going to serve first, and we need to stay behind the line when we serve.

When I serve, I'm going to serve underhand and the ball must be struck below my navel.

It used to be-- the rule used to be your waist, but old guys like me used to pull their pants up... (laughter) Now, we're going to serve into-- that's the service court beyond the line...

Okay, let's review the basics.

The court itself is a bit smaller than a tennis court.

You can play singles or doubles, doubles being the most popular.

A couple of things to know: First, you have to call out the score before serving.

The game can quickly turn into a tick-tock, back and forth of volleying but before it can, the ball has to bounce once on each team's side.

This is when players move to the front of the "kitchen."

Yes, the kitchen.

This is the kitchen, a non-volley zone.

You can't hit the ball inside of the kitchen unless the ball bounces in the kitchen.

Other than that, stay out of the kitchen.

Now, when it comes to scoring, you can only score a point when you or your team is serving.

If you do score a point, you continue serving until you fault.

At this point your partner will take their turn to serve.

If your partner faults, it's side out and it's your opponent's turn to serve.

First team to 11 wins.

(all) Good game!

Good game, gentlemen!

-Wow, that's fun!

That is fun.

I get it now.

I totally get this.

So is the proper thing to do when you lose, you take off?

-The proper thing when you lose, you walk off the court.

The winners will stay on.

They'll split up and take on a new partner, and two new people will come in.

-And that makes it social.

-It makes it very social, right, and moves the games along.

-But humbling.

-And humbling.

We got pickleball going in the community where I live and we got a club going, got people coming out to play pickleball, and we've made so many friends.

A lot of the people said you know, I've lived in this community for 10 years and have so few friends, and now I play pickleball and I've got all of these friends.

It's amazing.

And people that play at these venues here, they are all friends.

We become very close to one another, and it's amazing.

It's really a community.

Pickleball isn't just for the older crowd.

It's a sport for all ages to enjoy.

It's great for families too.

Nothing like some healthy competition, and it can get pretty competitive.

Meet Kyle.

He might seem calm and cool, but he is a stone-cold killer on the court.

-My name is Kyle Stoddard, and I'm an eight-time national champion.

I started playing in St. George with my dad.

I like that it's a really fast-paced game, and then there's also the side where you have to be patient.

I think in the future it will become bigger, hopefully, get it into colleges and maybe as an Olympic sport.

-How long does each game typically take?

-John, probably 10 or 11 minutes, 15 at the most.

-So it's not a beatdown.

-Not a beatdown at all, and players will come out and play six or seven games or more.

-I get it.

I get it.

I'm ready to go.

If you're looking to do something social and something that's outdoors and maybe something you've never done before and you want to meet people like John, because I tell you what, we're going to be friends for life now after this.

You got to try pickleball.

Out here in Southern Nevada, it's everywhere.

Trust me.

There's an empty court.

You ready to go?

-Thank you, John.

Enjoyed it.

-Let's go.

♪♪♪ Support for Outdoor Nevada comes from Jaguar Land Rover Las Vegas.

♪♪♪ Inspiring the spirit of adventure with confidence in any terrain or condition.

We're proud to help introduce a new generation of adventurers to the diverse experiences that our state has to offer.

Information at jlrlv.com.