Calico Tank Peak 04.20.2011

Calico Tank Peak. It is located before going into the visitor center entrance of Red Rock Canyon. This is the very first hiking with Meetup that includes some SCRAMBLING AND EXPOSURE that we had never experienced before! On this day, my husband and I also joined the hiking club called "52 Peak Club". It is a club to achieve all 52 peaks in Las Vegas, mainly located around at Red Rock, Lake Mead and Mt. Charleston. There are some very competitive hikers among the group. And I am so excited to get to hike with them. Anyways, this hike was about 4 hours round trip, requires class 3 scrambling.

Starting at the foot of the peak, already the ground is not flat

Gets steeper, good shoes are really important

Within 1/2 hour, we were already on the bare wall of the mountain. The incline is steep that good hiking shoes with solid grip really come in handy. On this particular wall of mountain, we still did not need to use hands much. Our body keeps the balance against the steep footing.

Already good view from mid point to the peak

 Every once in a while, after steep scrambling, we got to the flatter ground and took break. Then off to more scrambling on vertical wall and edge of the mountain....

Just have to hold on to tiny edges where shoe can fit in...

Trying to find every little crevasses...

Nice pic! We look like rock climber without rope! Wow!

 I had this cheap winter gloves I got from Target. It doesn't work for this kind of hiking! My hands were slipping and couldn't get good grip. So I took them off. The bare hands seemed to work better. But I need to invest on hiking gloves. Even some type of gardening gloves can give you good grips, so I was told. So I'm gonna have to check it out in the store one of these days. My husband seemed to be nervous for me. He always thinks I am clumsy. He knows that I can't be clumsy on the edge of the mountain. No mistake allowed. Because of that reason, he looks nervous when we do this kind of hike (the kind with potential danger). I don't blame him. He loves me!

Anyhow, we are almost to the top. Do you see the red rock changes to the white rock at the top? That's the peak!

almost there.....

 Wah Laahh~!! The PEAK! The feeling of accomplishment is greater this time because of the facts that this was a challenging hike for both of us and that we kept up with some experienced hikers! The advantage I have is that I don't weigh much so it was easier to use my upper body strength to life myself up. My disadvantage is that I have shorter legs which can make thing tougher on some parts of the trail, jumping on big gaps and/or taking big steps on the vertical wall.

All in all, with the help of others, We did it!!

from the left, my hub, me, Marisa,Ted, Gary, Skip, Jack, Patrick and Mj!

 This hike gave us more confidence in our skills on hiking experiences!!

 

Arizona Hot Springs 02.21.2009

This is a Hot Spring hike! This time, we dragged my husband's brother to hike together. February in Las Vegas is still cold enough that hot spring is a nice treat at the end of long hike.

Arizona Hot Spring is located off of the I-95 coming from NV, passing the Hoover Dam and going into AZ. It's about 4hr, 6miles round trip hike. I recommend doing this during fall and winter. Summer can be tough. Plus who wants to dip in HOT spring during our scorching hot summer here??

Beginning of hiking

The hike started out shallow, and gradually we were walking into bigger and deeper canyon wash. It's a wash so lots of loose rock, from big boulders to tiny rocks.. They all look like volcano rocks and not river rocks.

 Walking to the hot spring is easier because the wash is about 2hr long of gradual down hill. Walking down , down , down, all the way to the side of Colorado river! The sight of water was so refreshing to see. If our ground wasn't too high, we were so tempted to jump in the water!

Now we have to turn around and keep hiking to inland back to get to the spring.  From this point on, we had to go up and down on small hills. The footing gets narrower and steeper. After we got through those section, there goes the hot spring water running down. Just hike up along the stream of water (good idea to have water shoes on because it gets really slippery), we get to the first platform. This site is right below where the hot spring is located. People change clothes here, have lunch, and/or take a rest.

Don't be afraid of height now. HERE, we have to climb up pretty much VERTICAL ladder. Don't look down !

This case, my husband's brother said he had tender feet and those radder steps were just hurting his feet big time,, well,,, so he says!?  (my husband and I don't have "tender" feet, so it was no problem!).

Talah~! We are here!!!! It kinda looks like public bath!?

1st pool

3rd pool

There are total of 3 pools. The first one is the largest but the least hottest. The second one, which I didn't post picture, is small. The third one is the hottest one because it is where the spring is coming out of the ground. The rule #1 and the most important thing when you are in natural spring is that not to dip your head in the water. Parasites can go into your body through ear, nose and mouth. It is the common knowledge everyone!

 

Anniversary Narrow and Peak 2.9.2010

All around the Lake Mead, there are full of hiking trails in Las Vegas. This one we went is called Anniversary Narrow and Anniversary Peak. Not sure where the names were derived from. This is one of the most PICTURE BEAUTIFUL place we've ever been. It is about 1 1/2 hr from Las Vegas.

Once we got off the Northshore road, we drove his 4x4 truck on the dirt and gravel road. We were glad that we did not take my sedan. It would have been too rough a drive, plus the car might have gotten injured :-o

Actual hike starts in the middle of the wash. We walked wide, gravel wash for 1/2 hr. This area was used for mining long ago. We saw tunnels, mining holes, left over cables, small dams and many other debris and tools to confirm those mining days.

All of a sudden, is the entrance of the Narrows! 

The narrow is a present distance. It is simply amazing how the force of water had created the shape and this narrow. We just wanted to keep taking pictures.

Through the narrow, back into the wide wash. We walked another mile or so. Here, we had to get out of the wash by taking narrower side wash as a passage that lead to another mountain edge. From here on, we had to go across the foot of mountain to get to the top. The climbing to the saddle was very steep with loose rock. All of a sudden we realized that we were in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Ok, back to the quest. keep moving our butt to the top!

Anyways, once we got to the top, the saddle, we saw "BOWL OF FIRE". It was such a WOW factor view!! Unfortunately the picture doesn't give the view justice.

Get back down is easy, just go back where you came from HA'!  This whole hike may be harder if it is in summer. Pretty much whole way is in the wash, so the hike will be directly under the full sun, except the Narrows. 

Thank you for taking a journey with me today!

Sunrise Mountain 3.06.2011

Today we had Nascar race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Since it didn't start till this afternoon, we went to Sunrise Mountain, which is also known as Frenchman Mountain, located in the east side of Las Vegas, for a morning hike.

Getting started

getting steeper

This hiking trail has no tree, no brushes, nothing. It starts steep right from the beginning and goes for about 20min. Then the path gets flat for a second. Right there, we are already looking down the road and the view is nice. Motorcycles and off-road vehicle were allowed on this tail once before, but now they are prohibited. I see why. It's very steep, narrow and loose rock everywhere. Anyways, once you get to the flat part, there goes steeper path and switchback up to the hill top.

Once switchbacks is over, by then, we had been climbing uphill about 40min. Remember, loose rocks make your feet and legs extra tired, so we were already huffing and puffing at this point. The view is really nice from that point.

WHOORAY! Oh that was steep but short hike!  WRROOONG! My husband and I saw the big drop and up some more. This time the steep hiking path seems to be more vertical.

descend

 ascend back to the top

And yes, the trail gets a lot steeper and bigger loose rocks. We had to use our hands on the ground sometimes just so that we could keep our balance without sliding back down. After all it took us about 1 1/2 hr to get to the top. The view is spectacular. We could see entire Las Vegas below us and Mt. Charleston in a distance. LVMS was also visible from the top. 

Top!! las vegas strip on the left, Mt.charleston on the right

 On the way back down can be more dangerous than coming up. We had to use our leg breaks pretty much the whole time descending. My husband slipped a couple of times but nothing major. It took us 45 minutes to get back down, but I don't think this is average. I think it is better to take time, one step at a time for descending. You really don't want to fall in the rock face down!!

Good cardio exercise for sure!