Sin City Hiker

Enjoying the mountains

Hello everybody. Sorry for the long silence!

I've been doing some great hikes lately and getting ready for my upcoming Nepal trek. (trekkingfordebbie.blogspot.com) I've been gear testing, creating gear I can't find and ordering the last few things I need for the big trip.

I had the recent pleasure of traveling to Colorado for some altitude training. I summited my first-ever 14er, ie, a peak over 14,000 feet. It was so great to be in a cool climate and escape the late summer heat of Las Vegas! The colors were unbelievable! Hopefully my pictures will give you a glimpse of my experiences there. I'm also including a few from the Las Vegas area. Cheers!

Echo Cliff, on the South Loop Trail at Mount Charleston, outside of Las Vegas, NV.

Griffith Peak!

Most peaks have a sign-in book of at the top. Here's my signature.

Nothing like the Aspens in Colorado!

Ice Lake, just outside of Silverton, CO.

One of the bluest lakes I've ever seen!

On the way to Handies Peak, near Silverton, CO.

Makes you think of Julie Andrews...

Hikers in the distance, headed for Handies Peak.

Glacial lake in late August.

Headed for the top!

Whatever this creature is, it has the best backyard view I've ever seen!

When I finally reached the top of Handies, and the lightning show began, I was really scared. Still, it was worth every palpitation. A thrilling view from 14,048 feet that I'll never forget!!

Leaving in a hurry, those clouds are coming my way!

I didn't spend much time above 14,000, maybe 5 minutes at the most. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Escaping the Heat/Monsoon!!

Summertime in Las Vegas is accompanied by the monsoon season. On a recent hike to Mount Charleston, we encountered some very tough weather. The rain was no big deal, out came the ponchos and rain gear. When it started hailing, we were very close to the final switchbacks below the top so pressed on. When the lightning started we were even closer to the summit but had nowhere to go for shelter. A couple of the strikes were so close our hair practically stood on edge. We proceeded to head down in sort of a half run/half walk until it subsided. Definitely scary!! About a half mile from where we turned back, the storm had let up quite a bit so we turned around once again and headed back up for the summit. (With encouragement from a new friend, Pepe, the notorious hike leader from Las Vegas! Pepe was doing 5 summits in one day with a couple of friends. He said only the crazy people do that kind of a hike lol)
The day turned out well and we had a wonderful hike. The weather was a little chiller than expected at about 46 degrees F. Hard to believe for late July in Las Vegas!! Thanks Pepe!!

Ominous clouds rolling in...

Drenched and chilly, but in good spirits at the top. (11,918 feet)

Pepe convinced us the worst was over and we might as well go to the top. Thanks Pepe!!

Volcano Hiking

Hello, so sorry it's been so long since my last post!

I recently had the opportunity to attempt the top of Mount St. Helens. Unfortunately, the snow this past winter was very heavy, lingering longer than usual. The conditions made the hike longer and greatly hindered our efforts. Circumstances beyond my control had us starting the long hike about 9:30 in the morning instead of first light. After hiking all day, sometimes in slippery snow and tough conditions, we had to turn back about a mile from the top. If we kept going, we would have run out of light making our descent very dangerous. Still, it was a beautiful day and very inspiring to be so close to an active volcano.

11:00 AM: still a long way from the top...

The vast terrain of Mount St. Helens

1:00 PM: Mid-hike mini siesta.

View of Mt. Adams near the top of Mt. St. Helens.

Approximately 5 PM: My closest view of the top, so close yet so far!!
(Note the steam rising from the top)

Turning around to go back. A great day of hiking with a bittersweet ending... There's always next time.. (Sigh)

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!