Today we are off to see Hoover Dam. We walk, gawk, take photos, and learn lots.
We are disappointed to learn that our Colorado Float trip for tomorrow is cancelled because of a high wind advisory in the river canyon. New plan, off to Red rock Canyon tomorrow.
This is Johnna’s first trip to Vegas so that is the destination for day I. We stroll the casinos, the kids do some modest gambling, we watch the Bellagio fountains and the cheesy statue show at Caesar’s. Along the strip there are MANY showgirl photo ops for the guys and even a few chances for pics with some of the showguys. No one partakes…except Johnna with a quick pic with Elvis.
We lunch in Paris with delicious food and a great sidewalk table for people watching and resting our weary feet. There is a bit more walking and sampling of street fare like Gordon Ramsey Fish and Chip chips and Ben and Jerrys ice cream.
Now it is time for the show: Cirque so Del Mystere. Kent gets to be part of the preshow entertainment and some popcorn antics….he loved that of course. The rest of us certainly did. The next 90 minutes are filled with fantastic acrobatics of every imaginable kind. Some are graceful and fluid like dancers in the air. Some are feats of brute strength still others of unbelievable flexibility and uncanny balance. It was pretty amazing.
We catch the monorail back to the car but we can’t be done yet. One more stop, the Fremont Experience in old downtown. It is chilly and spitting rain and we have walked about 7 miles already but we just have to check it out. The overhead light display is pretty cool. There are three live stages within the two blocks creating a nearly overwhelming cacophony near the center.
We stroll through The Golden Nugget where we are greeted by the clatter of real coin slots and a bit thicker smell of smoke in the air. We have dinner at their Claim Jumper restaurant to round out the experience.
We roll back into camp well after 1AM; way past our pumpkin hour but it has been a great day.
It is 7:05 AM and we are anxiously awaiting Brian and Johnna at baggage claim. The flight is right on time, even with the Boeing 737 Max8 groundings…..
We head to Homies for some much-acclaimed cinnamon rolls and we are not disappointed. They are fresh, hot and delicious. We have eggs and bacon and great hash browns but the rolls are the stars of the show. Home for the week is at Willow Beach Campground on the Colorado river so we gather up, break camp, and head on down the road. We set up camp and spend a quiet evening before early to bed; it has been a long day for everyone
By mid-day we are settled into Kings Row Trailer Park. We ARE in Vegas; the trailer park has a neon sign. The place is about as classy as it sounds but it is safe, clean, has a laundry and is close to grocery shopping so just about perfect for our prep day before Brain and Johnna join us.
We grab dinner at Tommy’s, a Burger chain that is spilling over from California. The Caliente burger certainly lived up to its name. I have heartburn before I swallow the last bite. It is delicious though.
It is all about the view. We wander through an amazing stand of Joshua Trees on Teutonia Peak trail. The trees are huge and beautifully branched more like a maple or an oak than a yucca plant. It seems that Cima Dome, a smooth even bulge in the desert that is about 10 miles across, provides the perfect habitat for these odd plants. From our perch on rocks near Teutonia Peak, we gaze at rugged mountain ranges in the distance with the carpet of Joshua trees at our feet. It is worth the walk, even at a chilly 45F and strong winds.
Since we are out, we head for Rock Spring Trail where a natural spring provides year-round water, a very rare thing in the desert and a great place to look for wild life. It means more rough dirt road but we get there fine and I love the rock house at the trailhead. Check it out….it needs a bit of work but would be a pretty cool place to chill out. It is a nice walk out to the spring, more of a seep right now, but no critters to be found. Perhaps it would be better near evening but this place is a little to difficult to get around in to be out wandering after dark.
It is a short drive to our next stop, Hole in The wall Campground in the southern section of the preserve. Rugged mountain ranges cut through the long stretches of creosote dominated desert. We settle in then head for the visitor center since they are closed Tues and Wed and I always like to check in with them to see if there is anything special going on during our stay. It is a bit of an adventure since we set out on the shorter path; 38 miles rather than 60 miles. The catch, 16 of those 38 are on dirt road. There is a lot of pot hole dodging and washboard rattling and we are grateful we were not here a couple weeks ago when they got all the big rain. The road must have been impassable then. I enjoy the views as Kent endures the drive. We make our stop then come home via the paved roads. It wasn’t a mistake but it is a decision we probably won’t make again! Back home we are entertained by the many black tailed jackrabbits that scurry around the wash just outside our window.
There is no power in or even near the campground so it is a great night sky park – once the neighbors put out their huge bonfire. We even got up in the middle of the night. We are “only” 70 miles from Vegas so that light dome is visible but Kent still captures some pretty amazing views. I just stand in the stillness and soak it all in. The only interruption is the low call of great horned owls.
The trailhead for our day 1 trail, Barber Peak, is right here in camp. We dawdle a bit ‘til the temperature gets into the 50s then head out. Much of the trail crosses open range where favorite shaded areas are noticeably dotted with cow flops. Lots of flops but no cows so far. We travel washes and cross low rocky ridges as we circle along magnificent cliffs. Erosion patterns are amazing. In just 6 miles we cross desolate desert and comparatively lush mountainside slopes. We are on the lookout for big horn sheep (again) but find only two cows and an adorable calf. We know where at least some of the freshest flops have come from.
Our trail intersects The Ring Loop Trail. It is sort of the name sake of the area as it winds through narrow slots (holes in the wall) in the eroded cliffs. We spot a high eroded recess that is filled with honeycomb – so that is where they live out here! Two of the canyon slots are steep walled and high enough to warrant climbing rings to assist the ascent. It is a fun trail….as long as you approach it clockwise so it is up the rings not down them.
We laze around camp waiting for it to cool off then head for the trailhead about 4PM. Oops, it is a 2 ½ mile trail, if you go down into the crater and who wouldn’t, and it gets dark here by 6PM. We know that it is a rocky uneven climb so not something we want to finish in the dark. New plan, we will hike it tomorrow morning then head on to Mojave Preserve. The overflow lot is a perfect place to boondock. We do a lot of train watching. This big valley seems to be a staging area for the many east-west trains that move through this part of the country. They were lined up like huge caterpillars as we came into the valley and I am sure that one moved through here every half hour all evening and most of the night. We got in some great dark sky star viewing.
Monday morning the temperature is about right and the sun beautiful but the wind is going to make an exposed hike on the cinder cone rim an interesting event. We are up for it. Up close, even the lava flow area doesn’t seem quite so barren. There are wildflowers, lizards including chuckwalla and a beautifully colored green -blue lizard plus more of our usual desert birds. The ascent up the one trail is loose rock and steep…I regret wearing shorts. Fractured and wind eroded lava and pumice make for pretty abrasive stuff that will create some pretty severe trail rash. We climb up, down through the crater, back up a really awful trail to the rim, walk about half the rim with only a few stops when the wind threatened to blow us off, back into the crater – another trail that is steep and loose rock- then back to the lava field. I can’t help but imagine the power involved when this erupted. It must have been amazing and they claim it was only 500 years ago.
Not quite THE definition of middle of nowhere but pretty darn close! We reach the top of a drive up a steep mountain ridge on Amboy Road and began the slow long descent into a huge valley. The floor is stark creosote studded Mojave Desert with vast swatches of dry lakebed, barren salt flats. Still some 15 miles out, we see the black, symmetric silhouette of the Amboy cinder cone rising up from the desert flats. Closer, we begin to see the lava fields that stretch out from the cone. A few wildflowers dot the desert areas but the cone and lava field look absolutely lifeless from here. On our right we pass one of the dry lakebeds is actively being mined. Equipment dots the horizon and soil is piled seemingly randomly for as far as one can see. Between the piles are trenches or patches of parched bare dirt all cracked and curled up. Signs claim the mine produces sodium chloride and calcium chloride… it is not a pretty sight. It is a good thing someone thought to protect this cool cinder cone and crater from the advancing mine. I doubt that progress would have halted itself. It is a little too hot, bright sun and 83, to head out right now but we plan to hike the cone and crater a bit later this afternoon
Yikes. This is not the best weather for hiking the ridges on the north side of Joshua Tree at Black Rock but we head off that way hoping things will settle a little or will be protected somewhat over there. No such luck! By the time we get to Black Rock the wind is still howling, it is in the 50s, and it is spitting rain. We wait a while at the trailhead hoping things will blow through but it just isn’t going to happen. Neither of us is fond of being cold and damp so we scrap the idea of a hike and take one last scenic drive through the park.
We stopped at the Joshua Tree (town) farmers market while we were on the north side. The wind was nearly carrying the venders away but they had some great stuff. We left with beautiful (and deliciously sweet) strawberries, field ripe oranges, locally roasted organic coffee beans, a loaf of rye/pumpernickel swirl bread and a couple yummy muffins. That stop would have made the trip worthwhile all by itself.
Joshua Tree campgrounds are full for the weekend so we are moving out to the BLM land just outside of the park on the south side. There is some traffic noise as it is not far off I10 but it is tolerable, especially we have our windows closed for these cool nights. It will give us one more day to explore.