bjregan

We were big-time winners on our weekend trip to Las Vegas. We hit the jackpot at the Taco Bell Cantina on the Strip where we participated in the fun-filled wedding ceremony for our granddaughter and her fiancee. The happy couple will have many good memories of their special day to share with children and grandchildren.

Before and after the wedding there was lots of time to take advantage of all that Las Vegas has to offer. We gambled on the weather, looked at descriptions of hikes in the area and made a couple of bets on two National Conservation Areas: Red Rock Canyon on the west edge of the Las Vegas Valley and Sloan Canyon on the south edge.

We had been to Red Rock Canyon on other visits and looked forward to revisiting the scenic red rocks. We wanted to do one of the hikes that we hadn’t done before and I threw my money on the square for Turtlehead Peak. Two and a half miles up to the summit and then back down sounded doable in the time that we had. We needed to get back to town with enough time to get dressed and ready for the wedding.

After the first mile or so of hiking the odds of making our goal were not looking good. The trail started to get very steep and rough, wandering through the rocky side of the gulch with no markers in sight and multiple paths winding through the rocks. We weren’t sure we were on the right trail and we weren’t sure how much further it was to the top. At a couple of points we almost threw in our chips and turned around. But we finally hit the mark and saw red dots on the rocks, our sign that we were back on the right trail. We pushed through the next steep mile uphill and were rewarded with lunch and the awesome views at the summit. On the way down we were confident that we could stay on the right trail but once again found ourselves navigating the off-trail slippery slopes, this time with knees aching on the downhill instead of lungs panting on the uphill. It was a tough game but we won the bet and got back to town with time to spare.

After a tough rock scramble on the wrong side of the gulch we were finally on the right trail, looking back the way we had come.

Walking got easier once we found the right trail, but there was still a mile of steep uphill to round the peak and climb up the backside to the summit.

From the backside of the peak, nice view of Las Vegas. Still some climbing left.

Enjoying lunch break at Turtlehead Peak summit.

The day after the wedding we appointed Lee as the dealer. He dealt us a much better hand. The hike he turned up was three and a half miles up to the summit of Black Mountain and back down. That meant the total hiking miles were 7, instead of 5, like we did the day before. But measuring difficulty on that hike I would say that it won hands down for being a trail that was easy to follow and one where you knew you were going to make the summit. Turtlehead Peak summit is reached by going around the back side of the ridge and you lose sight of the goal for much of the hike. At Black Mountain there is a flag at the summit that is visible for most the hike, letting you see clearly how close you are getting.

Our goal is a flag 3 miles in the distance on the top of the peak.

Nice to see some Joshua Trees along the way.

Some tough climbing but at least we were on a decent trail.

Black Mountain Summit reached with our favorite hiking partners.

Visible goals provide the motivation that I need for pushing through the tough spots. I could never motivate myself to waste money on a card game because I lack the necessary imagination for seeing an invisible goal of piles of money waiting on the next draw. Reaching the top of a mountain after a hard hike is the type of reward I aim for. And Las Vegas delivered in spades.

Last spring I discovered a free phone app that has the capability to not only create GPS tracks but to also pre-load a GPS track that can then be followed while hiking. This feature is helpful when we want to hike one of the many desolate areas of New Mexico that are public lands but don’t have any established hiking trails. A local hiking group maintains a website with information on hundreds of such hikes. Each hike has a description, driving directions and a downloadable GPS file. For today’s hike we chose one on BLM land north of Tohajiilee.

I printed the description and driving directions and loaded the GPS file on my phone. We were sure we’d get to explore this new area. What we didn’t count on was the rough roads we’d have to drive on. We have been on some of those roads before but never as far out on the unmaintained section that we had to traverse today. The road got worse and worse until finally, with only a couple of miles left to the parking spot, we reached a washout that we knew our car couldn’t get past. We might have parked there and walked in, but a few miles back we had passed through a gate warning us that this section of roadway was going through private land. We’d be trespassing if we pulled off the road to park and we couldn’t park in the middle of the road either. We were forced to turn around and go back the way we had come.

Fortunately, while deciding this morning where to hike, Lee had read a description in our 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Albuquerque book that wasn’t too far back towards Tohajiilee. He remembered enough about the description that we were able to figure out where it was. So no map or description or GPS track to follow, but with wide open spaces and interesting rock formations to head towards, we made it an enjoyable excursion, anyway. I’ve decided, too, that all those cows that wander the open rangelands can be useful. Lots of times when you encounter an arroyo that looks too deep to cross or come to a ledge with no apparent way down you will see a cowpath that you can follow to get around the obstacle.

Our reward today for heading across the open range was an area of those wonderful rock formations we call hoodoos. Heavenly!