Summer hiking in Las Vegas

Now that high temperatures are here to stay for awhile, I've relocated my hikes to higher elevations. The Mount Charleston area offers countless hikes and is located just minutes north of Las Vegas. In preparation for my Nepal trek, I've been focusing on the higher elevation hikes. In early June, I hiked Griffith Peak and later in the month summitted Mount Charleston (11,918 feet) from the South Loop trail as an up and back. During the earlier part of June, I encountered quite a bit of snow and got lost a few times, but the hot sun has baked away most of it and the trails are now easy to follow. My plan is to hike Griffith at least once a week and possibly Charleston again once the memory of my sore feet fades. (It's about 18 miles and over 4000 vertical foot climb). Charleston is a great hike, just very VERY long.

Please enjoy my pictures and video from the recent hikes.



When I saw this, at the beginning of the South Loop Trail, I should have turned around! Instead I kept going and had a very lengthy hike to to the top of Grffith. I missed the trail countless times due to snow covering the way. Eventually, I hiked up a non-trail on the backside of the mountain and laughed at myself when I saw how obvious the trail was from the top.



Griffith Peak with part of the trail still covered in snow. (6/1/08)



Essentials for snow hiking: gaiters and snow baskets for your trekking poles.



Detail of tree bark at the top of Griffith.



View of Mount Charleston from Griffith Peak



Sweet!! The top of Charleston...



This video features prayer flags hung from the tower at the top of Mount Charleston. The flags give a great illustration of the wind up there!
Through another hiker, I learned that a man who recently attempted Mount Everest brought them back from Nepal. Please excuse the silly finish, I would have edited it out if I knew how to edit video! It's on my list...


This is part of the wreckage of a C54 plane from a crash on November 17th, 1955. For more information, please click on this link:
http://communitylink.reviewjournal.com/servlet/lvrj_ProcServ/dbpage=page&GID=01207001050986256098866016&PG=01207001050986267721405191
(Or google the crash site on Mount Charleston for endless, informative websites. One sad note about this crash: A mere 500 foot climb would have saved all 14 people who died.

Snowstorms, life and some other stuff

Hello everybody and thanks for being patient about my next post. My sister-in-law's illness has turned everything upside down and I am slowly trying to get back into a normal routine. Please check out trekkingfordebbie.blogspot.com, it's my other blog, dedicated to Debbie. When I started this blog, I never knew that I would be dedicating my Mount Everest Base Camp trek to my sister-in-law. Life changes in the blink of an eye! And sometimes, in that split second, lives can be affected far more than you could ever imagine.
Moving on... the weather in Las Vegas has been amazing lately! We've experienced 105°F temperatures in the LV Valley to snowstorms in the mountains within a week of each other. I had the pleasure of taking several hikes in the Mount Charleston (and Red Rock) area in the past few days, getting caught last Friday (5/16), in a pretty nasty snowstorm. The higher peaks, in the 1o,000 + foot-range, will have to wait even longer because the snow is now pretty deep up there. The day I got caught in the snowstorm, I was planning to attempt Griffith Peak. Luckily for me, I accidentally took the wrong trail, so hadn't gotten very far into the wilderness when the storm hit. I've always considered myself a slow descender, but that day, I practically ran down the slope. It was thundering and nearly white-out conditions. When I finally reached my car, about a half of foot of snow had to be cleared before I could see out the windshield!

Here's some pictures from my latest adventures:
I'm including a couple my first video attempts for the blog, hope you like them!




Big Falls in the distance




Big Falls




Roaring Big Falls




Griffith Peak--NOT



Thunderstorms threaten Turtlehead Peak



Griffith in the distance from Trail Canyon

Nature is everywhere

While visiting my parents in suburban Boynton Beach, FL, I had the pleasure of observing these birds. The Mourning Doves built their nest on my parent's hurricane shutters. Apparently, these birds mate for life and sit on their eggs in shifts. The Burrowing Owl perched opposite the Mourning Doves and watched them for about an hour before flying away. I was very glad the Owl didn't attack the nest!

Life

This is my first non-photo post. My family has suffered a terrible blow and I'm now working on a new blog in hopes that I can help. I'm still planning on posting my photos here, but wanted to post the address of my latest, evolving project. Please check it out: trekkingfordebbie.blogspot.com
Stay tuned...

Thanks, Jill

Nesting Hummingbird Calico Hills

Recently I came across this hummingbird in the Calico Hills area of Red Rock Canyon. We spent about 15 minutes watching each other. She circled cautiously around the area and stayed very close to the nest. The experience was amazing!

Snowboarding rocks!!

I used to ski. I tried snowboarding last year and haven't looked back. We've had great amounts of snow this year and I had the pleasure of meeting my brother in Tahoe for a week of spring snowplay. Day one: Heavenly. Great views, horrible conditions. Windy and slushy with most of the mountain shut down. Day two: Northstar, great place, totally protected from the predicted windstorms. Day three: Squaw Valley was perfect! Day four: Stopped at June Mountain on the way back to Vegas. WOW! I love that place!



Wow, Lake Tahoe!



I can't believe how beautiful this place is!



The views were heavenly, the boarding was NOT!



Squaw was perfect!



One day I'll be really good. Today I was happy to have some nice runs and not fall down while getting off the lifts..



Is this place great or what?! (Squaw)



Making a plan of attack on June Mountain.



It snowed most of the day, perfect spring boarding conditions!



Goodbye for now California mountains...



...back to the desert.

Maui Vacation

Hello, I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Life gets in the way and all of a sudden three months have passed! This post features my Maui vacation photos.

In February, I had the pleasure of spending two weeks in Maui. During my time there I swam with turtles, did some great hikes (in the rain), saw countless whales, met new (and old) friends and celebrated my partner's 50th birthday. It was awesome. I hope you enjoy my photos!



Big Beach



Great light on Haleakala



The Maui Ocean Center is an amazing place. This is the coolest fish I've ever seen!



Eel at Maui Ocean Center



Swinging Bridges Hike. If you get to Maui, I highly recommend this hike!!



Waihe'e Ridge Hike



Great views from Waihe'e Ridge!



Little Beach, our favorite place.



Green sea turtle off Little Beach. (Underwater photography with a point & shoot from the drug store... my friends at the Sun Sentinel would be laughing : )



Years ago, I lived in South Florida and was a sea turtle volunteer. Our 'job' was essentially guarding the sea turtle nests until hatching time. This special experience left me forever in awe of the sea turtles. They will always have a special place in my heart.



Whales off Little Beach (my humbling adventure in broken camera equipment). I shot an entire series of giant breaches right off the coast with a broken camera. Consequently I have no pictures of the breaches (except in my mind). Considering how many whales we spotted, I am heartbroken this is all I have to show you.




I had to end with a cliche... No Hawaii vacation is complete without at least one sunset photo.

Bouldering at Calico Basin

Yesterday I spent 5 hours exploring higher elevations of the Calico Basin area. I was hoping to find Bighorn sheep, but instead found brilliant colors, endless caves and challenging scrambles. I don't recommend doing this hike alone, it can be a bit dangerous.

If you look carefully, you can see the famous Las Vegas strip at the top of the picture.

Partially frozen watering hole.

Fungus among us.

Calico Basin

Great place to climb!

There are petroglyphs throughout the area

The Calico Basin/Red Springs area is one of my favorite places to hike in Red Rock Canyon.  With its endless trails, giant boulders and gorgeous variation of color, it offers something for everyone.