Sunday, March 20, 2005

All dressed up and nowhere to go on Saturday at 7 a.m. Heh-heh-heh! Hiking! One of my favorite things in all the world to do, was on my agenda. Wayne, God bless his heart and every move he makes through life for agreeing to go with me at that hour, showed up right on time and we headed off to Red Rock Canyon. We stopped at Lost Creek and trekked in to see the waterfall – short hike, anyone can do it so get up, get moving, and visit the place before the waterfall disappears.

Our next stop was The Pine Creek Overlook and what the locals call Fern Canyon. You can view our hike here: http://hikevegas.com/redrock/ferncanyon/ferncaynon.3.20.05.htm

The sky had decided to sift an off and on, delicate soft rain across us going up and coming back.

I was in awe that the Sony DSC-F717 I carry could take such closeups. SWEET! Coupled with the fact that it was overcast and my glasses kept fogging up when I was trying to zoom and focus on the subjects at a distance. You’ll see what I mean when you visit the pictures of the climbers going up Black Velvet Wall.

When we hit the first pool in Fern Canyon, the climbers had left their backpacks and some gear on a big, flat rock – that would normally be the picnic area if we’d remembered to bring our sandwich. They also left a small, shivering dog sitting on one of the packs.

Wayne started to approach it, with hand out, “Hey, puppy!”

The dog went into the rip, shred, and tear mode; teeth bared and snarling. WOW! What a transformation. Reminds me of a poker player when they go on a losing streak! J-U-S-T K-I-D-D-I-N-G!

We went further up into Fern Canyon, more pools of water, soft rain coming down steadily when we turned around to leave.

The climbers were nestled under a shelf, still high up on the wall…waiting for WHAT? I don’t know but I almost died of a coronary at the thought of even having to be where they were. They had a couple of spotters down below and the Spotters picked out moving Big Horn Sheep on the other side of the canyon. More great pictures from the Sony.

Wayne referred to the shivering dog, turned meat eater, as “Kujo”. Hysterical…I laugh every time I think of it.

On the ‘all dressed up and nowhere to go’…I looked like I was ready to sweep chimneys, or paint the garage, or something that required no fuss no muss and no living human was supposed to see me that way (except for good friends and hiking buddies). Wayne suggested California Pizza at The Mirage for lunch. We went. That in itself was hysterical…not that he was dressed to ‘the nines’ but I was about 25 below him on a scale of 1-10.

March Madness was raging in the Sport’s Book and we had a table right on the edge of both – The Sport’s Book and California Pizza. Didn’t see a soul I knew. Phew!

The food was great, the hike was extraordinaire, the company was top of the line, and I even got a three hour nap in before the Pan Game.

Life in the desert is good.