Turtlehead Peak, part 2

Some more rocks on the way up, and some more peeks at the peak:

I thought this one looked a bit like an elephant:

At around the halfway point, the landscape became more like this:

Looking back.  That's another gravel wash coming down off the mountain.

This below is a little before the spot where we lost the trail and had to turn around.  We met some other hikers coming down off the peak, and they said we'd make it (we had better shoes, poles etc), but the trail basically went missing, it was getting late in the day, and as you will see in later pics, the sky was getting really threatening!  Not good conditions to go scrambling over pointy rocks and have to come off the mountain in lower light.  Plus, these gravel washes in the desert are at risk of flash flooding, and I didn't know this landscape well enough to be sure we'd be OK if that sky opened up and started raining as heavily as it looked it might.

That's one thing about Red Rocks Canyon park- it's really hard to stay on their trails.  They're not well marked, sometimes not marked at all after the trailhead, and because they are so hard to find, the trails of previous hikers form a delta of tributary trails, all of which eventually come to dead ends.  We just couldn't find the trail that went for the peak, and conditions weren't good enough to scramble over cliffs and boulders.

I didn't take too many photos up around the un-summit, as it was too dark and closed in.

I liked some of the views on the way down though...

We did a little side hike too on the way down and climbed one of the rock hills.  Look at that sky... now does that look like a desert sky to you?

So, a bit of a disappointment, but we still got some amazing views, and with all the cloud, we might not have had the 360 degree view at the top of Turtlehead that we were hoping for.

Next stop... Hoover Dam!  They built a new bridge there, did you hear about it?

Turtlehead Peak, part 1

I think it was Dec. 15 when I did this hike.  I took a lot of pictures, so here are the ones I have gone through so far.

The weather was very overcast, and even spit rain earlier in the day.  I seem to hit deserts on their few rainy days.  Made for interesting photos though- you could see more detail in the rocks and mountains than you do in bright sunlight.

That's Turtlehead peak in the middle of the photo below.  That's where we're going hiking.  This is taken from the road approaching the park.  This is just a few miles from the northwestern corner of Las Vegas.

The scenic road inside the park.  Turtlehead peak is seen in the distance.

I just love the red curvy rocks of Red Rock Canyon.  I never get tired of looking at them.  The grey-blue skies contrasted nicely.

You can see the peak peeking out...

More rock photos, sorry, it can't be helped...

The tops of some mountains were in the clouds today.

Not Turtlehead peak, though, it was just underneath the cloud cover.

These are the mountains on the other side of the canyon.  Great view of them today; on a more typical sunny day they are so shadowed you can't see their colours well.

That's a gravel wash in the foreground:

There were trees here and there in sheltered areas:

A little further up the wash:

Looking back along the trail:

A yucca plant.  There were quite a few of these along the trail.

More pictures to come as I go through them.  I take so many photos, but I just love desert landscapes.

Coconut M&M's

I know I said photos of my Red Rock Canyon hike were coming up, but there are a lot of photos to go through.  So to keep you informed on other Vegas discoveries... here is something else I found there:

Coconut M&Ms!  I bought these at the big four-storey M&Ms store in Vegas.  Disappointingly, the store sells very few actual M&Ms, and I didn't even see these on first glance.  I don't know how widely they are being sold; I'm pretty sure the Vegas store is the only place I have seen them.

In a (coco-) nutshell, these are fantastic!  Colours are green, white and brown, and the occasional random M has a little picture of a palm tree, or a coconut, or a flower.  Flavour is just the right amount of subtle coconuttiness.  Another two-thumbs up for this one (both thumbs mine).

That's my last chocolate review for now... until the next chocolate holiday!  I don't know if they bring new stuff out at Valentines, but Easter stuff should be coming out after that, I'll have to see if they have any new innovations to aquire before I head back to the hinterlands of Canada.

Sin City: a wholesome look

I guess pictures of Las Vegas are pretty ubiquitous, but here are just a few for you anyway.  I was there in mid-December.  It's a great time to go- hotels are cheap, and if you like hiking (you didn't think I went there to drink and gamble, did you?), it's the perfect time of year to get outside in the desert.

Here's New York New York.  I actually went on that roller coaster last year, and will never ever go on a roller coaster again.  It doesn't look scary from the ground, but it was!

Paris in the background...

I liked this view of the strip as you can see the mountains in the distance:

The Luxor, taken from one of the free trams that run between the resorts:

Liberty in jellybeans, at New York New York:

The ceiling of the lobby at the Bellagio:

Conservatory at the Bellagio- they sure like their polar bears!

Penguins get igloos!

These next few are of the interior of the newest hotel that had it's grand opening while I was there, the Iforgetwhatitscalled.  (***update- it's called the Cosmopolitan.  How memorable!)  I like the way the older resorts in Vegas have a theme- it makes you want to go and visit, even if you're not staying there.  This new hotel has some impressive features, but the only theme seems to be "upscale", no fake cityscapes or anything.

This is the ceiling over an escalator:

This is looking down into one of their cool glass elevators:

Elevator is in this photo of their floor as well:

Beaded curtains were used as decoration.  Don't know how long some of them will last, you can reach them from the escalators if you have long arms!

Here's one photo from Caesar's palace, which is my favourite resort to walk through.  Nice ceiling!

Coming next, a hike in Red Rock Canyon, stay tuned!

Sunset over Interstate 15

After hiking in the desert, this sunset over the highway heading towards Vegas was gorgeous:

Next stop... Las Vegas!

A few plants in the Mojave desert

This below is a Joshua tree.  They grow only in the Mojave desert, although similar plants grow in other deserts:

Below are some sort of yucca:

I just thought the plant below was cool the way the clouds behind it seemed to be mirroring it's pattern:

I don't know what this cactus below is, but it's large and very cool!

Don't know what this one is either, I liked the shape and the yellow of it:

There you have them, the largely unknown (to me!) plants of the Mojave!