My Friday night sleep plans went out the window after I arrived home and found ‘call me, I need to talk’ email from people I really care about. I did. We talked until I had to go to the emergency room and have the phone surgically removed from my ear. *tiny white lie*? So a few hours later than planned, and too much on my mind, I slept like CRAP, waking up within 20 minutes of falling asleep and then dozing off and on for the next three hours. I gave up and got up at 4 a.m. Instead of planning my time, I got involved in other projects and left 20 minutes later than I should have. And I was ‘mama taxi’ for my son Dan and nephew Chad, and they were in different parts of town, and Dan insisted on Starbucks before we hit the planned meeting place with the others. Umnhhh!

Mark waited for us, with his friend Bryce and Bailey – Bryce’s dog. Greg and Amy weren’t going to make it. We made the parking area at Calico Basin by about 8 a.m. – only a half hour later than I had planned. It was an incredible day, the air was perfect – just chilly enough to want a jacket but knowing that within 10 minutes of walking the jacket would be too warm. We set off. Mark wondered what the big piles of round poop were – donkey shit of course. He didn’t believe me. “Wild donkeys?”?

There was almost a comedy act involved in the wild donkey scenario. Mark just wasn’t convinced that one could see a herd of them on occasion in the early morning. When we came across a healthy yucca with sharp tips. sticking out in all directions. and I warned them about the dangers of walking or backing into one, Mark exclaimed that it would be perfect to kill a donkey with.

“Kill a donkey?”

“Yes, I want to kill one?”

“One at the poker table or a wild one in the desert?”

I don’t even know if the answer ever came out of that strange conversation. And where was Mark with that statement?? Too much time at the poker table me thinks.

I had asked Dan Burch to join us if he could make it – saw him at Bellagio on Thursday night – and he actually showed up at the set time…we didn’t. We found him up in one of the canyons.

Clicking on the image will take you to the ‘big picture’. This is Bailey and what a little trooper. That dog was born to hike and climb.

Every year, I have to go check out a rock that stands on end, in one of the major slide areas of one of the canyons. It’s a bit of a hike and a little climbing but nothing really treacherous. The rock is kept from rolling down the slide by a few small rocks that appear to keep it stable. It will probably be standing long after I’m gone, but a tremor or two would take it down…or so I thought. The Joshua Tree Quake back a few years ago didn’t budge it. The sun spots make this picture much more difficult to decipher, but that’s Bryce standing beside the rock.

Chad is sitting on top of this rock and Dan is in the shadow of the rock, on the right.

Mark and Dan Burch? took a break and we left them behind. The first picture is a zoomed shot of them chatting it up while we are at the slide area.

This picture is the natural distance they were from us. You have to look to find them in the right hand side of the canyon.

Dan is on the left hand side of the ‘rock’ and on the left, just below the top of the canyon wall, if you look closely, there is a natural bridge. It’s hard to see from a distance because it blends into the wall, but as one climbs higher in the canyon, it’s quite a sight.

After we left that area, Dan Burch and Mark still straggled behind us, gabbing about poker would be my guess. They were quite a ways behind us because by now we’d moved out of the slide area and started to climb another section not far from the one we’d left.

Dan decided that he had to go for a jog – we weren’t putting enough physical stress on him to make him happy – so off he went as Chad, Bryce, Bailey and I made our way back towards Dan Burch and Mark…and the return to our vehicles. After we rejoined and trekked back over our trail, Mark appears to have just found some lightning bolt revelation in a small stone he’s holding. Where we had been is back behind him in the red section of the canyon.

We took another detour, into a small canyon that’s really beautiful. Chad appears to be holding this beauty up…or maybe he’s taking a break and resting on it.

Dan still hadn’t had enough exercise. He climbed. I did the ‘mama thang’ and told him to be damn careful. I think that’s something moms never outgrow.

This is what Bryce really looks like – without the sun glaring over his shoulder. He works at Wynn, poker dealer, and may go on other hikes with us. Time will tell.

This is the crew that I set out with – left to right – Dan Burch, Chad Richter (nephew), Dan Nelson (son), Bailey, Bryce, and Mark Edwards.

As beautiful as it is – and as I much as I love it – there’s always a time to end the fun and return to the city. It’s funny, but it isn’t, when the occasion arises and I talk to people that are born and raised in Las Vegas/or have lived here for years, the number that have never been to Calico Basin or to Red Rock Canyon is amazing.? They are the ones that are missing out.