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| Hiking | 4.69 Miles |
2,021 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.69 Miles | 2 Hrs 35 Mns | | 2.01 mph |
| 2,021 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This week was my annual trip to Vegas for the annual Western Petroleum Marketers Association conference, which is a big deal in the oil industry. Basically all I have to do is make my nightly Trophy Wife appearances at the dinners, and my days are free to do whatever I want. Since I don't play well with the other oil industry wives (spas and extravagant shopping trips aren't my thing), I chose to hike both days.
I headed out to Red Rock Canyon first thing Monday morning. I'd been out here before, but had never really hiked any of the trails, so Turtlehead Peak was first on my list. I parked at the Sandstone Quarry parking lot and got started. The first mile or so was pretty easy with a steady, but fairly gradual incline. I saw some burros, and a lot of jackrabbits. After about a mile, the trail starts to get steeper and rockier. Trail signs gave way to green dots spray painted on the rocks. Close to the saddle, it appeared that I had two choices to reach the saddle--continue straight up while climbing over some rocks, or head up some switchbacks that approached the saddle from the left. Neither option looked more difficult than the other, so I chose the switchbacks. Once at the saddle, the trail continued up the backside of the peak. At this point, it was pretty much just choose whichever trail you wanted to follow to the top. Everything led to the same place, so it didn't matter. I stayed on the trails mostly to the left (east) as the looked a little smoother. This ended up bringing me to the summit slightly from the east, so I had to head west a couple hundred feet to get to the very top.
Just as I had reached the cairn at the summit, I said Hi to another woman who was standing next to it, and I started to look at the rocks out over the edge. There's a small outcropping about 20' below the summit that stuck out about 20', with some little paths that led down there. I had decided to climb down there, and was still chatting with the woman, when suddenly from the west an old (WWII era?) plane started flying towards us. Before either of us could really react, the plane flew RIGHT BY us, so close I could clearly see the pilot in the cockpit as if he had been standing right next to me. The other woman said "He was 10 feet away!!!" I replied, "Maybe more like 30 feet." Her answer was "He was closer than that. If you had already climbed down to those rocks, his wing would have hit you." And she was right. Suddenly I didn't feel like climbing down there anymore, so I took some pictures and headed back.
The hike back down was a little slippery below the saddle--lots of sand and loose gravel, but uneventful. By then, there were a lot of people headed up and I was glad to have beat the crowd. Fun little hike, and a good workout for only four and a half miles. |
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| Stop crying and just go do the hike. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. There is a fee to enter this area, but my National Park Pass got me in for no charge.
). There are four official trails that begin and/or intersect with this TH, one of them being Turtlehead. The trail is fairly easy to follow and well marked for most of the duration. A couple of hundred yards in the trail splits at a marker - to the right Calico Tanks to the left Turtlehead. The first half mile of the trail is probably some of the prettiest you’ll hike…and some of the easiest. The trail weaves between large, colorful monolithic rocks and then has a short gradual climb to where the hike really begins. The track for this first climb was well defined. It gained elevation fairly aggressively and there were multiple rocky step like sections. I was thinking that when I hit the saddle the hard part would be over was somewhat misguided. The saddle was pretty cool with the rock formations but I discovered that there was still quite a bit of elevation to be gained. The trail markings from this point to the top are not quite as solid. I hung more to the left, taking a more gradual approach to the top and I felt like I was on a trail most of the time. However, there is good chance I was on several different threads that intertwined on their way to the top. The foliage up top is quite a bit sparser, so one can take any route they desire. That being said, they all lead to the same spot and they got me to the top. Views from the top were nice. Las Vegas being the the biggest eye catcher. I’m sure it would be a very cool view at night. Took the same route down. No wildlife and only encountered three hikers on the trail.
. We thankfully made it off the steepest part just before full darkness arrived. Pulled out the headlamps, hiked out in the dark. We were amazed to find the car waiting for us in the lot without a ticket. 
