Joshua Tree National Park, California - Hiking

Katy and John invited me to join them for a quick weekend trip to Joshua Tree National Park.  Being one of my favorite places, I quickly accepted the invitation.  I flew down to Las Vegas on Friday afternoon and met  up with Katy, who had been in Las Vegas for work, and John, who flew down from Seattle.  In the pouring rain, we headed south for the three hour drive to Joshua Tree.  It was late by the time we arrived, so we ate a quick dinner at the delicious Pie for the People before checking in to our funky AirBnB home for the weekend. 

Despite a stormy forecast, the sun was shining on Saturday morning.  We headed over to Indian Cove to begin our first hike for the day, the Boy Scout Trail, heading into the Wonderland of Rocks.

Blue sky and sunshine for our hike

Katy and John on the Boy Scout Trail

We hiked the Boy Scout Trail for about an hour and a half, eventually climbing up out of the canyon and into a rocky landscape dotted by yucca.  Noticeably missing from this part of the park, however, was the Joshua Tree, so we decided to climb around the rocks for a bit before returning to the trailhead. 

Yucca

Katy and John in the Wonderland of Rocks

John climbing the rocks

Boy Scout Trail in Joshua Tree National Park

We headed into the main part of the park after our hike on the Boy Scout Trail to check of some of the top attractions.  Our first stop was a quick hike on the Hidden Valley loop trail, followed by a drive up to Keys View.

Joshua Tree in Hidden Valley

Joshua Tree

Keys View

From Keys View, we drove to Pinto Basin to check out the ocotillo patch and the cholla cactus garden.  Pinto Basin is an incredibly large, open  region of the park surrounded by beautiful, barren mountains.  The Colorado Desert meets the Mojave Desert in Pinto Basin, making the area even more unique.

Ocotillo in Pinto Basin

Cholla cactus garden

Cholla cactus garden in Pinto Basin

Cholla cactus

Our final stop of the day was the Hall of Horrors, a popular rock climbing area in the park.  We decided it would be a good location to watch the sun set, and we were correct.  As the sun dropped low in the sky, the granite rocks and Joshua Trees little up with a beautiful warm glow.

Joshua Tree at Hall of Horrors

Sunset at Hall of Horrors

Joshua Tree at sunset

Joshua Trees at sunset

Sunset at Hall of Horrors

Sunset at Hall of Horrors

After watching the sun set, we headed back to town for dinner.  We ended up at Crossroads Cafe, another great choice with vegan options for me.

Katy and John

John enjoying the sunset

Sunset in Joshua Tree National Park

Sunset from Hall of Horrors in Joshua Tree National Park

On Sunday, John and I hiked the short trail to Fortynine Palms Oasis, enjoying some breaks of sunshine between the building storm clouds.  The oasis was filled with beautiful palm trees of various sizes, and a substantial amount of water was flowing nearby.  We finished our brief weekend trip with a delicious lunch at the Natural Sisters Cafe in Joshua Tree, followed by even more delicious coffee from the famous Joshua Tree Coffee Company.

Fortynine Palms Oasis in Joshua Tree National Park

Fortynine Palms Oasis

Fortynine Palms Oasis

Fortynine Palms Oasis

Fortynine Palms Oasis

A rainbow followed us on our way out of town, but the breaks of sunshine were quickly replaced by darkening storm clouds and rain.  By the time we reached Mojave National Preserve, the rain was falling hard and low clouds obscured any views of the surrounding landscape.  We were thankful to have had such a beautiful day of hiking in Joshua Tree on Saturday, making the quick trip absolutely worth it.  A big thanks to Katy and John for inviting me along!

Rainbow in Joshua Tree

Las Vegas, Nevada - Marathon

I ran the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon this weekend with Jake. I did the 26.2 miles in just over four hours, a time I'm happy with considering I hadn't run for several weeks prior to the marathon. I was worried about some pain in my leg near the site of last year's fracture, so I decided if I wanted to run I'd be better off undertrained than totally injured. Things worked out and my leg felt great. I even felt great, but probably more out of shape than I would have been if I had trained properly.

The course was fantastic! The first 10 miles took us up and down the Las Vegas Strip, and then out into more residential areas before returning to the Strip for the big finish. The volunteers were awesome, and the crowd support was great. It was by far the most fun marathon I've run so far. There were even running Santas, Elvi (plural for Elvis), the yip-yip-yip-awwww aliens from Sesame Street, and a banana.

I've never known sore like not running for a month, and then running a marathon. Ouch!


The Vegas Strip (courtesy of Jake's mom)

Loving life around mile 22 (courtesy of Jake's mom)

No one from "Thunder from Down Under" was available

#4 for me and #5 for Jake

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada - Camping and Hiking

Rob's sister Rachel came out to Salt Lake for a visit at the end of February. We had originally planned to head down to northwest New Mexico to check out some Ancestral Puebloan (aka Anasazi) ruins around Chaco Canyon. The weather, however, was not ideal for any outdoor adventures in the places we had planned to visit. We decided that the area around Las Vegas would have the best weather for camping and Rob got some tips from a former REI coworker about places to visit in that area. I had just been to Las Vegas and Snow Canyon with Jake the weekend before so I wasn't totally thrilled about the idea of more Las Vegas (see previous blog) but I was definitely up for more camping. I knew any Las Vegas time would be limited.

We left early Friday morning and headed towards Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The ride down was interesting as the storm made for some unusual cloud formations along with bursts of rain and snow.

stormy weather along I-15

into the Virgin River Gorge, Arizona

Valley of Fire State Park was beautiful but a little too tourist friendly. Many of the sights were within short hiking distance of a parking lot. It seemed like the park caters to people from Las Vegas who want to enjoy the outdoors without having to do any work. In any case, it was still worth the visit and the scenery was amazing. There was a lot of red rock that looked similar to Entrada sandstone Moab but there was a greater mix of other colors as well. The texture of the rock was also different from Southern Utah. It had a more fragile, eroded texture. We set up camp for two nights which gave us plenty of time to explore the area. The weather was OK but not as nice as the weekend before with Jake. It rained both nights but the days were dry and mild. It was so nice to read my book inside the tent at night and listen to the rain.

at the entrance

me setting up our tent

check out the rainbow near our campsite

valley of fire

the movie Star Trek Generations was filmed nearby!

Elephant Rock

me hanging out near the campsite

i love sun

morning view from our campsite

another storm approaching

On Saturday we took a brief drive through Las Vegas since Rachel had never been there. I didn't get out of the car. Too soon.

Luxor Hotel - Las Vegas

After the drive through the Strip (which, by the way, did not make me want to kill myself .. everyone is still passed out in Las Vegas at 8am) we headed to Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area. It's just west of Las Vegas - the houses practically go up to the park boundary. It's a popular place for rock climbing and there are a ton of great hikes. Unfortunately there were also a ton of cars and people, but it seemed like the hiking trails were fairly quiet.

Rachel and Rob in Red Rock Canyon

me at La Madre Spring in Red Rock Canyon

On Sunday we had planned to do some small hikes in the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park but the storm had washed out part of the road. Since we had some extra time I decided to take Rob and Rachel to the Petroglyphs at Parowan Gap that Tim showed John and me last year.

Parowan Gap Petroglyphs