Heading to Vegas for New Year's!!

[Roddy]

Well, as a present to my son and myself, I have decided to head to Vegas for New Year's! I've been out there for the fireworks something like 10 times, seen many great shows on Fremont Street (was there for the Millenium and watched as no disaster came about LMAO) and know all the best spots to view the fireworks from...but I think this year, we're gonna watch them from a mountain top in Red Rock Canyon!

Our plans are to drive out starting the day after Christmas, we'll stay at hotels or camp a few nights so as to get the best views of the mountains (no, we won't be in any hurry at all), we'll be in Vegas on the 29th and will stay in the desert camping a few nights before heading to the Strip for a night and some sightseeing (my son hasn't ever been to Vegas)...and no, no gambling save with our lives (climbing). Of course, caching is heavy on the agenda with a few mountain, desert and of course, STRIP caches in the GPS!

The countdown is on, the excitement is rising! Haven't been out to the mountains in a couple years, this will be great for my son as well as myself!

 

[Roddy]

We're looking for a horseback ride and climb guide for Bridge Mountain in the Red Rock Canyon, I have sent out a few emails and am hoping to come upon someone who can be of service! I've climbed Bridge, but years ago and when I was in much better condition, having a guide along to assure a safer climb would be wise, methinks!

I'm also looking into several BLM roads which will offer us hours of fun in the Libby! The Libby was there when I first bought her (blew 2 tires on a back road and was very lucky to get tow service, let alone find a tire shop open at 8pm on a Friday night in Pahrump). Rocky Gap Road will be an exciting adventure, no doubt!

 

[4u2sm0ke]

Have a great trip Roddy...be sure to share what ya can....Happy Thanksgiving

:48:

 

[tcbud]

Dang Roddy, sounds way exciting....

Our New Years Eve will see us asleep before Midnight. Too much good reefer consumed through out the day tends to do that to us. I always call it a New Years Eve Party though.

Have fun, and enjoy the countdown, I love counting down to a planned trip. Alot of the fun, the countdown. We are heading to Reno for the 16th through 20th, lots of gambling and playing in a slot tournament. I love the countdown, then there is the lousy weather in December, makes for excitement on the drive over. Took us 8 hours once in a snow storm to drive 250 miles. OH that was fun that year. We go every year for our anniversary. Some of the nastiest weather of the year in December.

Las Vegas sounds like so much fun on top of Mountains and 4 wheeling. Dang, Im excited and not even going.

Happy Thanksgiving Ya all!

 

[Roddy]

Hey 4U, TC...THANKS! Yes, will definitely get a lot of good pictures to share! I am excited about something again for the first time in awhile, and planning is really a lifting chore which helps to keep my mind busy!

Roddy's one black friday buy will be from hikinglasvegasdotcom, a year's membership! For those who enjoy hiking, scrambling and mountaineering, check that site out for hundreds of hikes in and around Vegas and other areas! This place is where I bought the routes for my original climb up Bridge and Wilson about 10 years ago, the instructions have been updated now with GPS coords to help in guiding instead of mere "landmark" features such as "go to the burnt ponderosa and look to the north for the..." type instructions (which worked well, just made for time consuming n a few mistakes lol).

We've decided to bunk a few nights on the strip, the deals on the hotels are good...some as low as $18/night (downtown/Fremont Street area), just don't think about booking for New Year's ($200 night or more at most places...for same rooms that are $39 the next day LMAO). We're still going to camp out, camping a few miles from Red Rock is something like $10/night!

Oh, and while looking for an exciting yet cheap side-trip I could give for a gift to my son while out there, I came across BC Flightlines...a zipline course that looks pretty interesting! It's down to that or a 2 hour razr rental/tour, white water rafting is out due to winter (we're crazy, but not insane). :rofl: Decisions decisions...

 

[Roddy]

Am back, WHAT A TRIP!!! We managed to climb a few mountains, find a few caches, smoke a TON of good dope and all around enjoy ourselves!! I even jumped from the Stratosphere Tower...yep, right over the side! So fun, I did it twice, even!!

One problem came up the last day of our stay at the Stratosphere Tower, I was at the buffet eating brunch, bit into a rather large and jagged piece of glass (they say acrylic glass), spent the last day trying to find out if I swallowed any. Sad day indeed, especially when I was told by STRATOSPHERE management that I was on my own as far as any medical bills etc. Last time i ever stay there, or any of the properties owned by them...they never even inquired as to my health upon check-out!!

Pics will be coming up soon, I think there were something like 560...WOW!!

 

[Roddy]

Various pictures, mostly of our scrambling adventures. Those scrambles were in search of a cache that was just out of our reach...literally! The compact picture is a panorama shot, pretty cool! The picture of the tower shows where I jumped from.

More coming soon, I have some of petroglyphs and pictographs from both Red Rock Canyon and Valley Of Fire!!

 

[Roddy]

These pictures are from our climb up Turtlehead Peak! That's the peak in the background, this is the route we took!
Yep, we're on the right track, cairn stones marked the way fairly well. I've been up this peak several times, even ran down it one time...oh, to be younger again! Wasn't sure of my ability due to the recent health issues, glad we could make it!
This route consists of scrambling up various washes and chutes, a bit of hand over scrambling may be needed depending on the route chosen!
Jumping ahead now, we're at the peak and finally relaxing a bit! Here's a view of the trail from the top...see anyone on it??
There they are, waaaay down there. That's a much easier route up than we took, but it basically leads to the same saddle bringing you to the top! Later, on a different adventure, we end up climbing the back side of this peak to the saddle as part of 3 peaks we went up (and down...ouch). The way we took that trip was a serious class 4 (of 5) scramble which tested my ability big time!
The peak's registry was marked with this festive "Christmas tree". Beyond that is Vegas in the far distant!
Couldn't make much out?? Here's a zoomed shot from same spot!
Watch your step, beyond that cropping of rocks is a 400' or so cliff...then another couple thousand feet to the desert floor! Parking for this adventure is way back beyond and to the left of those sandstone bluffs at the very back of this picture!
As we were getting our stuff back in the pack so we could start back down, this little guy strolled up to us!
He was quite happy to stick around for pictures, but we had to get on down again, took us 3 hours to get up and would take us nearly 2 hours to get back down!!

This was one of our main goals, to make the climb. Would rather have picked a less visited peak such as Wilson, but wasn't sure of my ability...glad we didn't do anything more strenuous as this was rough enough for now. Planning to get back, bringing a few more abled bodies...Wilson might be in the future for us! Wilson is the tallest peak in Red Rock Canyon, was a great adventure about 10 years ago!

I'll upload some petro and pitco's next!!

 

[7greeneyes]

That's an awesome set of pics, sounds like u had a great time. Right on. Have a good one, bud. HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEARS!

eace:,

7greeneyes

 

[Roddy]

THANKS 7GE....and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you as well!! We had a blast alright, am already wishing we were in the mountains right now!! I'll post more pics soon!

 

[bigsmokie]

Hey pal I'm glad you had the chance to visit Red Rock many visitors here think the Strip encompasses the entire city. It couldn't be further from the truth, you leave lv blvd and we're a bustling metropolis. Next time I suggest going to Mt. Charleston. Climbing Charleston Peak is an experience like no other!

 

[Roddy]

Hey Bigsmoke, how's it going?

We did visit Mt Charleston, but knew we couldn't climb there due to the snow. I've been to Vegas dozens of times, never gamble a penny, always spend my time in the desert or mountains!! I've hiked many of the trails in Charleston, but that was during warmer weather. Would love to get the caches up there (nose, toe, tummy, etc etc), so much to see!!

Charleston was bustling with sledders and skiers, nary an animal to be seen. Not many in Red Rock this visit, not a single burro or wild horse...odd! We did see a beautiful golden eagle, a few coyote and some lizards...about it! The Jeep was making funky noises, so we didn't do a lot of driving, so we didn't hit the desert roads like planned. Might have seen more animal life out there. Always next time!!

 

[bigsmokie]

I've summited Charleston once and nearly got stranded a 2nd time due to injury (had to hobble down on two sprained calves in pitch black with a tiny flashlight).

Can't even describe how breathtaking the view is up there. Went one June I had to turn around due to snow (it was 100+ on the valley floor!). August and September offers the best window for climbing the mountain.

Winter sports are always a good bet up there, but many of us Las Vegans make the drive to Brianhead, Utah.

 

[Roddy]

Yeah, I've been halfway up Charleston and ran into snow, she's a tall one!! The people out there sledding looked like many had never even seen snow. I commented to my son that most looked like they were fresh from Wal-Mart buying snow clothes and sleds LOL! Some were doing less than safe stuff.

Here's a few more pics...

This is some of the best pictographs in the Red Rock Canyon area, these are also a virtual cache which we set out after....what an adventure that turned out to be. Long story short, we went fully around and even climbed the saddle of Turtlehead before the day was out...and went down the base of Turtlehead on a route I'd not traveled before...class 4 scrambles mixed with a couple that could have been class 5 (ropes are advised lol)

Now, what do you suppose this one is?? I've seen this more than once here and in the Valley of Fire.

More from same area, these series of pictos were covering a long cliffside, about 100' of drawings. These have been protected from the sun and weather because of the overhangs, protected from humans due to the hike to get there! If it's not easy, most tourists will never see it!

I was telling of our adventure to get here...well, after getting here (which took 4 hours), we were left with a nice 1.5 hours of actual daylight before the sun settled behind the mountains we just crossed. This meant temps and visibility dropping, we were in short sleeved shirts. Our first thought was to follow the HUGE trail we dropped down onto when we came out of the scramble (who put this trail here??)...but after a half mile, I gave into common sense...we were looking at Vegas and nowhere on our hike could we see that view...we were going the wrong way. At that point we ran into these tracks at this waterhole:

The waterhole is largish, the biggest out here I've seen this far away from a source....it's about the size of a coffin or so. Fresh ice meant the kitty hadn't been there this afternoon, but the tracks were fairly fresh in the wet sand! Great, something else to watch for during the exhausting scramble back to our Jeep!!

 

[dman1234]

Great pics Roddy, sounds like a great trip.

 

[Roddy]

THANKS Dman, yes we did have a great time! So much to see and do outside Vegas, it's amazing so many never see it! We did hit the strip the last night, found several caches and I showed my son all the fun strip sights (volcano, pirate show, fountain show etc).