Sunday morning we headed out to climb. The forecast was for rain but supposedly not till the afternoon. We climbed Man's Best Friend at Sandstone Quarry as a warm up, planning to head to Ragged Edges afterwards, but it was already starting to rain so we bailed.
Monday morning we awoke to snow on the ground! Snow in Vegas, who'd a thunk it! We decided to visit Clark County Wetlands Park. Unfortunately, it's on the opposite side of town from Red Rocks so it was a bit of a drive. It was cold and windy, but we had a nice walk and enjoyed seeing rabbits and various birds. The nature center was nice as well.
Since we were over on the west side of town we decided to continue on to Valley of Fire State Park. It was getting later in the afternoon so we just did the short hike into Mouses Tank (and a bit beyond). Unfortunately, with the cold weather there weren't any lizards or even insects around. The rain will likely trigger some good wildflowers but not till after we're gone.
Tuesday was sunny and a bit warmer, but we still couldn't climb because we had to wait for the snow to melt and the rock to dry out (the sandstone gets soft when wet). We decided to do the hike around the Calico Hills, starting at Red Springs. There was a bit of easy scrambling to keep it interesting. When we got around to Sandstone Quarry we were amazed to find the parking lot empty. We later find out they had closed the road for the morning. Not sure why, but probably related to the snow and rain causing problems. I didn't take too many photos on the first half of the hike. That may have had something to do with stupidly whacking my knee on a rock hard enough to trigger an instant of nausea and a limp for the rest of the day. Luckily I don't seem to have done any lasting damage! It was a change to find so much water in the desert.
We finished the hike by early afternoon so afterwards we wandered around the Downtown Summerlin mall. The only place of much interest was the Apple Store, but since there are no new products even that wasn't too exciting. I did manage to find a few things to take photos of, including a few reflections :-)
Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get back to climbing.
See all 31 photos as a slideshow or overview
Monday morning we awoke to snow on the ground! Snow in Vegas, who'd a thunk it! We decided to visit Clark County Wetlands Park. Unfortunately, it's on the opposite side of town from Red Rocks so it was a bit of a drive. It was cold and windy, but we had a nice walk and enjoyed seeing rabbits and various birds. The nature center was nice as well.
Since we were over on the west side of town we decided to continue on to Valley of Fire State Park. It was getting later in the afternoon so we just did the short hike into Mouses Tank (and a bit beyond). Unfortunately, with the cold weather there weren't any lizards or even insects around. The rain will likely trigger some good wildflowers but not till after we're gone.
Tuesday was sunny and a bit warmer, but we still couldn't climb because we had to wait for the snow to melt and the rock to dry out (the sandstone gets soft when wet). We decided to do the hike around the Calico Hills, starting at Red Springs. There was a bit of easy scrambling to keep it interesting. When we got around to Sandstone Quarry we were amazed to find the parking lot empty. We later find out they had closed the road for the morning. Not sure why, but probably related to the snow and rain causing problems. I didn't take too many photos on the first half of the hike. That may have had something to do with stupidly whacking my knee on a rock hard enough to trigger an instant of nausea and a limp for the rest of the day. Luckily I don't seem to have done any lasting damage! It was a change to find so much water in the desert.
We finished the hike by early afternoon so afterwards we wandered around the Downtown Summerlin mall. The only place of much interest was the Apple Store, but since there are no new products even that wasn't too exciting. I did manage to find a few things to take photos of, including a few reflections :-)
Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get back to climbing.
See all 31 photos as a slideshow or overview
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