| | -
-
-
-
-
-
-
| |  |
|
1 |
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 4.45 Miles |
2,258 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.45 Miles | 2 Hrs 24 Mns | | 2.05 mph |
| 2,258 ft AEG | 14 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Second hike of the day for me. Still really windy, but the skies had mostly cleared up. This one was recommended to me by an employee. I wasn't sure about it at first since it was a lot of things I wasn't thrilled about: short, fairly popular, dirt road the entire way; but I had time to kill so I headed out there. As soon as I parked, I was feeling a little better about the hike, the mountain looked pretty cool, and the road I wasn't happy about looked steep. And it was. From the parking area, the road immediately started climbing. And climbing. After a short distance, the road curves to the left around the mountain, and you get a good view of the climb awaiting you. The road heads pretty much straight up for a while, the switchbacks up to a saddle. The only drawback was the amount of graffiti on the rocks.
I was enjoying the almost sheer lack of vegetation on the entire mountain. With a little imagination, it really felt like walking in tundra. I had been somewhat shielded from the wind through this part, but when I reached the saddle, it started back up again with a vengeance. Over the saddle, I lost a lot of the elevation I had just gained, but could now see the summit, and the very steep road that went up to it. Again, steeply straight up for a while, then switchbacking near the top. At the top, I decided to head for the south summit first; the road ends at the fence, then a quick & easy scramble up the rocks. Be careful when you reach the top of the rocks, because it drops straight down on the other side. With the wind gusts, I decided to sit and take pictures rather than stand on the rocks. After the pictures, I headed back north to the north summit, found a place sheltered from the wind, had a quick lunch, took some pictures, then headed back down.
The hike back down was fairly easy but a little rough on the knees. I had trekking poles, but my knees were still hurting by the time I was less than halfway down. If the hike up was a calf burner, the descent was a quad killer. Luckily the stark scenery was a nice distraction. If I ever had the misfortune of living in Vegas, this would be a good workout hike. |
| _____________________
| Stop crying and just go do the hike. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
