Seeing how Jari was out of town, and I did not have to work this Saturday, I decided to go spend some time with Mother Nature. She is always so kind to teach me things when I pay her a visit. This time I went to Red Rock National Conservation Area. They provide a free yearly pass to military members so I was happy I chose this as my location - and happy I brought my military ID with me.
Known as Red Rock, many of the hills are oddly not as red as I expected. The park consists of a large open valley with limestone and sandstone mountains on three sides of the valley (more lime and sand). There is a one-way road about 12 miles long that loops around the valley to give you access to the hiking areas. This is the first area on the East side of the valley and the reason for the name of the Park.
I am not sure if it was the light or if I really am this white and pasty, but here is a self-mug shot before starting the hike. It was 55-60 degrees, quiet, and I was so excited to go hike.
My planned hike was a ~7-mile loop around La Madre. However, as I headed north on the trail I saw this canyon to my left. I thought to myself, "Self, you should hike that as well." I remembered the map at the trailhead had called it something along the lines of Seasonal Falls. I also remembered that we had had a large rainstorm just a day or two previous, so I ventured it was worth the effort. - And it was only an extra 2 miles on the loop so why not?
The weather was so nice and I was so excited that I could not help but jog parts of the trail. Along the way were signs posted on gaits sectioning off sections of rock overhang where archaeological sites had been found. This brought back memories of going on trips with Dad and other friends from church to Southern Utah for the annual tour of tales sponsored by my Dad as a fundraising effort for the Boy Scouts. The trail was a narrow, winding one with natural steps as pictured above and below.
Another shot of this fun trail...
And this is what I found at the end: water in the desert! Indeed there was a small waterfall with a nice little pond.
Here is the waterfall, undoubtedly larger during the rainy season, but still very small. Still, it was fun to be there and enjoy the crisp cool air.
The reflection of the waterfall and the stone that towers over it.
Back to the main trail... and on to La Madre. I hiked fast at this point because there was a large group of 20-25-year-old looking people that were noisy, and I was hoping to get far enough ahead of them that I could not hear them.
After heading north, the trail loops around to the East and runs through a valley. La Madre is then on your right.
All along the way are small canyons up La Madre. I don't know if people are allowed to hike them. I followed the general advice to stay on the path. I know people have hiked these peaks several times, and I would like to do the same, but today was not the day.
Most of this section of the trail looked like this, a winding trail with ups and downs. 20-30 minutes into it I was passed by a group of Koreans going the other direction. They were all wearing nice LL Bean and Eddie Bauer hiking clothes. One of them had a small radio and was playing what I assume to be some classic folk music. All the women hiked in the front of the group and chatted together while the men hiked in their small group, either in silence or singing along with the music. Kind of funny.
From the other end of the valley pointing back to where I took the picture of the sign.
This is the ridge that looks down back into the valley. I thought of doing a panoramic picture but had taken what seemed like 50 pictures already, so I decided against it.
About 2/3 the way through the hike (or so I thought) I found another trail labeled "Keystone Thrush, 1 mile." Because I do not have lots of time to hike, I figured I should take advantage of the moment and go. Carpe Diem :)
I try not to complain, but I am pretty sure the BLM had the 1-mile thing wrong. I feel really confident that it was more like 2-3 miles. And what reward awaited me? What is the Keystone? Turns out it was nothing more than a pile of rocks in a clearing. Lame! Oh well, at least it had a sliver of a view of the Vegas Valley.
I ate a granola bar (homemade, thanks for the recipe, Jari) and an apple and then headed down. I was feeling pretty tired but knew I only had a mile or two to go. But then I found out that it was a mile or two to the trailhead that was then 3.2 miles back to the car. I was kind of disappointed in that but what choice was there but to keep walking? Here are some pictures of the trail from that point on the White Rock trail.
Oh, somewhere in here I stopped because I could hear some faint voices. As I strained to listen, I finally picked up on the conversation "Yes, but the constitution was not written to guarantee that at all. Our founding fathers did not consider...." I could not help but laugh. Here I was trying to leave everything behind for a few hours and found myself in the thick of the political debate. More pictures:
Near the end of the hike, I was super tired. I took two additional trails that I had not originally planned for and despite my running and bike riding over the previous weeks, my muscles were not quite ready for all that at once. Originally I had hoped to hike Mt Charleston which is an 18 mile hike peaking at 12,000 feet. Now I see that would have been silly. So when I saw what is in the next picture you can imagine how happy I was. Oh, sweet vehicle! Oh, joy of joys!
As I trudged back to the car I had a thought (like I always do when hiking). This entire trip was very symbolic of life. When I started out, I was overwhelmed by the temperature, sites, sounds, and smells around me. I was so excited to be out and hiking. I was full of energy and wanted to explore every trail before me. Once I was on my path, I had the energy to jog at times. As time went on, I started to feel the fatigue but still had enough of a sense of adventure to take an additional path. Near the end, I was tired, not as impressed with the sites, sounds, or smells. I was still enjoying the hike but I was ready for a rest. Arriving at the end was now a matter of simply picking up my feet and putting one in front of the other.
So it is with life, starting new with excitement and energy. As we grow we become tired but are willing to take new paths. As we age, we feel we don't have time to mess around. We stay on our path as we know it is sure and we hold out till the end. It was amazing that in 8-14 miles (I don't really know how far I hiked in the end) I experienced the mental and physical nature of childhood, adolescence, middle age, and senior years (there are more stages in there but let's keep it simple). It made me wonder where I am mentally right now. Surely we all progress, regress, progress, and regress again through these stages. Maybe there is not much we can do about the physical nature of aging, but I cannot help but wonder that if we can keep our imagination flowing, our curiosity expanding, our gratitude for new sites and sounds ever-present, that our ability to enjoy life will be made more perfect and life all the more worth living. Instead of focusing on how tired we are, if we can simply remember how wondrous this world is and all the creations the Lord has placed on it, life will be all the more sweet and precious.
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