Vegas, Day 3: Climbing Spirit Mountain
Today the group split into twos, and each pair went in two very different directions. My partner in crime and I decided on another day hiking, while the other two spent their time relaxing at a spa.
For our weekend hiking finale, we decided to challenge ourselves a little, with the main focus of the day being to climb Spirit Mountain.
Spirit Mountain
Spirit Mountain was a very significant spiritual site for the Native American Yuman tribes, as it was considered the site of creation. The steep six mile hike up the mountain has an elevation change of around 2,800 feet, but the tricky part is the footing. The sloops are either large, steep boulders or covered in loose gravel. It wasn’t ideal, but that’s the fun of it. There isn’t a mark path, you just have to keep your eye on the prize and head upward. Fortunately the area is so bare, it’s easy to not only the car at the base, but the peak.
Starting out extremely motivated, we hiked almost straight up. Looking back, it probably would have been better to take a cross-back pattern, but, hey, it worked for us.
The way down was the fun part. Realizing following our climb was not the best idea because we’d probably end up just sliding on the loose ground, we had to forge around path. Sadly, while trying to attempt a more gradual decent, we ended up getting pushed further away from the car. In fact, even though it was always in sight during our ascent, we were blocked from the car most of our way down! Not that it matter, we didn’t get too far away, and once at the bottom, it was easy to spot in the open desert.
On our way down, we ran into one major annoyance: some small thorned trees!! Those things can be viscous. You think you’re around it, but it still grabs your pants and won’t let go!! Oh, and it’s painful. The fun part was really just the trial and error part of the hike down. We stop after one hurdle, evaluate the path choices ahead and go for it. A few times, our choices turned into dead ends, but they were still enjoyable to try.
After a few hours, we made it and felt good. We both had huge smiles on our faces.
This morning’s Flickr set: mountain photos
Grapevine Canyon
After tackling the peak, we decided to stop at a near-by petroglyph mecca, Grapevine Canyon.
Before reaching the actual Grapevine Canyon, we took a small detour. We mistakenly though some random granite formation along Christmas Tree Pass was the intended site. We saw a small sign warning against messing with the historic petroglyphs, and since the Spirit Mountain “trail” wasn’t marked, we assumed this might be it for his spot as well. We walked all through the area, desparetely scouring the rock walls for historic cravings, but there were none to be found. We walked out feeling a little jipped, because all our hiking litarate clearly stated the canyon was filled with petroglyphs.
Yeah, and all we could do is smile as we drove passed a well-marked, medium-sized parking lot for the actual Grapevine Canyon. Good job.
The actual location is covered with Native American petroglyphs. Most of them were concentrated at the canyon opening, which was covered! It was pretty neat. We only hike a small part of the trail, because we were both starving, but it was nice to actually see. We decided to go so we didn’t regret it later and feel we’d missed something, which was a good call.
This afternoon’s Flickr set: canyon pics
After we finished our short hike, we headed into Laughlin for lunch. Right on the border of Arizona, it was little a baby Vegas. Not wanting to get into too much there, we just stopped at a In-and-Out Burger and it worked. I’m not a big hamburger consumer, but I’ll admit, it was good.
The evening was pretty low key. We stayed around the house, reminiscing. Eventually we did go out for dinner at The Sushi. It was pretty good. The chef signature rolls all had interesting names, almost to the point it was awkward. I ended up getting the “Holy Cow,” but some of the other choices included “Who’s Your Ex-Wife,” “Smells Like Your Girlfriend.” Weird.
With all said and done, it was good vacation. The final leg, traveling home, went smoothly. I actually feel revitalized. I think I’ve been too bogged down in my current activities, including the horses, and lost touch with other parts of my life I enjoy. I love my horse and all I do with that part of my life, but I miss my photo trips and hiking. I’m going to have to put more effort into re-introducing that tradition back into my routine. (Although, I might wait until it’s a little warmer here on the East Coast).
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