One curated list of things worth doing around competition week. Every price and opening hour on this page is graded and, where possible, linked to where it came from.
To first matches, Sat 22 Aug 0900 PT
How this works. Fixed items are already placed. Open the Options tab, pick what looks good, and assign it to a day. This preview does not save between visits yet. Shared saving arrives with family links.
GO
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TOO HOT
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RECOVER
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Expect 105 to 110 F. Sunrise about 0615, sunset about 1920. Outdoor plans work before 1000 or after 1830.
Recommended sequence, driven by opening days. Fri 21: Ice Age Fossils at 0800. Sun 23: Grand Canyon West, full day. Mon 24: Springs Preserve at 0900 for Dino Safari, pool in the afternoon. Tue 25: Hoover Dam plus the Historic Railroad Trail. Tuesday is the only slot where both fossil sites are shut, which is exactly why the dam belongs there.
Eight days
Dinosaur verdict
1. Springs Preserve. Worth it.
Dino Safari is the real answer. Eighteen giant animatronics on a walk-through route, and the same ticket buys the Nevada State Museum, a full ichthyosaur skeleton, Boomtown 1905, the botanical garden and the train. Best hit rate across a wide age range, younger kids through teens.
CatchThu to Mon only. Closed Tue and Wed.
Exhibit0900 to 1600, runs through 5 Oct
Ask about$8.95 military rate at the ticket office
2. Ice Age Fossils. Worth it at $3.
Cheapest thing on the whole list and the only real fossil ground. Young kids can walk the 0.3 mile Megafauna Trail past life-size sculptures, and the Big Dig Trail runs through the actual trenches cut by the 1962 expedition. Under 12 is free. Different flavour from Springs Preserve, so doing both is not redundant.
CatchWed to Sun only. Closed Mon and Tue.
Heat rule0800 arrival. Skip the 1.2 and 1.5 mi trails.
Honest noteMammoths and dire wolves, not dinosaurs
3. Dinosaur Outpost. Not recommended.
$24 a head with no child rate, which adds up fast for a family visiting an indoor play center at Town Square. Real animatronics and young kids have fun, but teens will be bored and Springs Preserve does the same job better for less. Hold it in reserve as a hot-afternoon energy burn.
Height gates36 in min for Annie, carts, play structure
Before goingSign the waiver online. Bring socks. Cashless.
Scheduling trap. Springs Preserve is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Ice Age Fossils is closed Monday and Tuesday. Neither one can go on Tue 25 Aug. Assign either to a closed day and the Plan tab will flag it in red.
Honorable mentions
Volcanoes, lava tubes, springs and oddities researched on 17 Aug 2026. Same grading as everywhere else: claims link to their source, drive times are routing estimates. These are ideas, not scheduled activities; ask via the Suggest tab to promote one onto the list.
On geysers, honestly. There is no natural geyser within range of Las Vegas. The nearest, Fly Geyser, is 9 to 10 hours north, man made from an abandoned well, and viewable only on a guided walk on private land. The closest real geothermal spectacle in range is Devils Hole, a flooded cavern held at a constant 93 F whose bottom has never been found, plus the 87 F crystal springs next door at Ash Meadows.
Closed, gone, or out of range in August
Quick roadside oddities
How to read it. The venue is the diamond marker and the shared anchor. Everything else is placed on surveyed coordinates. Tap any point to see its numbers and drop it onto a day. Filled points are already assigned and carry that day's colour. Drive times are road estimates, not straight-line math, so the far ones look closer than they drive.
Event facts
Where and when
EventUFC BJJ Open, Las Vegas
VenueLas Vegas Convention Center 3150 Paradise Rd
Sat 22 AugNo-Gi day
Sun 23 AugGi day
Doors0800
First matches0900
Registration closedTue 4 Aug, 2359
Schedule and bracketsReleased Fri 14 Aug. Already live.
One class, correct format, two days out. Skip the wrestling block so nobody arrives at the no-gi hour already tired, and skip the gi block because Saturday is no-gi. Verify before booking whether the $20 is per athlete. There is a second Odin's Halls in Centennial Hills with a different schedule. The Paradise location is the right one.
A second family's plan. Held here so both families can coordinate Saturday and so nothing gets confused between the two itineraries. Every item is tagged. Green means no issue found. Amber means it works but there is a catch. Red means not recommended.
The two plans compared
Family 18 days, Vegas hub and spoke, low cost, competition first, built around a young competitor
Family 25 days, road trip into Utah and Arizona, higher budget, competition is a half day
SharedSaturday at the LVCC
Both also visitValley of Fire and Hoover Dam, but on different days
Where the two trips actually overlap
Thu 20, 1700Odin's Halls no-gi drop-in. Both youth competitors on the mat together, two days out, correct format. $20 drop in.
Sat 22, 0900LVCC. Youth no-gi runs first, so both kids are in the early block. Share a cooler and split coaching.
Sat 22, 1330Lunch, then Family 2 departs at 1430. That is the last shared moment of the trip.
After SaturdayNothing. Family 2 is in Utah Sunday and Monday and flies out Monday night.
Fri 21 does not workTheir Valley of Fire run is a 55 minute drive and a four hour block. That costs Family 1's rest day the day before their young competitor competes.
Read this before trusting a number. Everything below is graded. Green is pulled from a primary source and quoted. Amber is from a secondary source or sources disagree. Red is an estimate that was never sourced. The whole file was re-checked on 17 Aug and four things were corrected. What changed is listed at the bottom.
Valley of Fire $15 non-NV vehicle, sunrise to sunsetparks.nv.gov
Hoover Dam $25 adult / $15 ages 4-16, age 4 min, Guided Dam Tour age 8 min on-site onlytravelnevada.com
North Rim reopened 15 May 2026, lodge gone, no water or foodnps.gov
All 19 map coordinatesGoogle Places
Odin's Halls 1600 wrestling, 1700 no-gi, 1800 gi, $20Confirmed first hand. Overrides an earlier bad read.
Sources disagree, verify before relying on it
Youth age floorSources read it two ways, 8U through 17U or ages 8 to 17 by birth year. Treated as settled since the entered competitors are registered and training. Logged only because the published wording is genuinely ambiguous.
Grand Canyon West hoursTheir FAQ says last entry 1730, close 1900. Google says 0800 to 1700.
Grand Canyon West pricingThird party sites quote $42.99, $49.92, $67, $70.95, $79, $82.37 and $99 for overlapping packages. Book direct only.
Dinosaur Outpost hoursTheir own site lists three different sets on one page.
Schedule release dateSmoothcomp says 14 Aug. One secondary writeup says 19 and 20 Aug. Smoothcomp was used.
Estimates, never sourced
Every drive time and mileageNot routed. Reasoned from distance and road type. Check each in a maps app the night before.
Spectator admission $10 per dayCould not be re-verified. Budget for more.
One free parent pass per youth athleteCould not be re-verified. Do not count on it.
One coach per athlete, Welcome Table check-inCould not be re-verified.
Weigh-in is 1 hour before the first matchCould not be re-verified. The weigh-in calculator is built on this assumption, so confirm it on Smoothcomp or by email before relying on the times it gives.
Youth weight classes 55 / 65 / 75 / 85 / 95Only "Youth 55 up through Heavyweight 206+" is sourced. The intermediate steps are inferred.
All August temperature figuresSeasonal norms, not a forecast.
Corrected on 17 Aug
Odin's Halls class scheduleEarlier version had 1600 kids no-gi, 1700 fundamentals, 1800 adults, 1900 open mat. Wrong. Corrected first hand.
Schedule and bracket releaseEarlier version had 10 and 11 Aug. Smoothcomp says 14 Aug.
Hoover Dam priceEarlier version had "$25 to $30 adult". Actual is $25 adult, $15 ages 4 to 16.
Valley of FireEarlier version listed Fire Wave as a highlight. It closes 15 May each year for heat. West entrance is also shut Mon to Thu through 2026 for construction.
Photo credits
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