Nature Freak

So I have been becoming a little bit of a fanatic lately. I love to hike. It keeps me busy and it is fun to out and see the birds. This time I went out to Mt. Charleston on a Sunday when it was nice and populated so my mother and sister would feel safe. The hike was called Bristlecone Loop. It starts in the parking lot of Lee Canyon's ski slopes and ends in a lower lot in which to complete the circle you have to walk a mile up the road back to your car. it was a fairly beautiful hike. However I think that next time I will try to loop in the opposite direction. I went from the upper lot to the lower lot. The way I went started out amazing through forests and greenery.



the other half of the trail was a gravel road downhill the whole way.



I think I would have preferred to do the gravel stuff first and then get to the prettier stuff last. though since the pretty part was uphill I did tend to take a little bit more time whereas the downhill section i plowed right through. It was a 6 mile trail which was supposed to be 4 hours. I did it in 2. My legs hurt a lot. In fact so much that I put a hot water bottle on them last night. No pain no gain right? Anyway, the hike was awesome. I am glad that I did it.

Getting out

I have been living in Vegas for two months now and haven't had time to leave town. We had a forced week vacation last week in which I finally achieved freedom. My mother came out to visit and we drove my new car out of town. We went on a small adventure. Not really knowing our plan or final destination we headed out north on 15. We went through one hour of complete boredom which was Nevada and as we crossed the border into Arizona the atmosphere improved. We drove in a goregous canyon where the road was flanked by cliffs and some red rock mountains. We then headed out of Arizona and landed in St. George Utah. My new friend from my show in Vegas was lighting a production of Cats in an amphitheater there. The amphitheater was beautiful with amazing views of the red rock mountains behind the stage. I can see easily how Cats could fit into this lovely place. (peter pan-the production previous to Cats would be a little harder to convince). My mom and Joe got along and we all had some dinner. My mom and I decided at this point to head to Zion National Park and camp there for the night. We ended up going on 3 short hikes during the next day. I am soo glad that I live only 2 hours from this canyon. I can't wait to go back and hike some more. It was an amazing place where hikes range from easy to very difficult.



One hike includes treading through water for two days in which reguires special equipment to achieve! So cool! I can't wait to go on that one. i am sad that Winter is aproaching quickly and I don't have a lot of time to get on all the hikes before the cold sets in. Both my mother and I were sad to leave this park but we had other things to see. Next we decided, after a long deliberation, on heading out to Bryce Canyon where the rock formations were too tempting to pass up. I must say that the Canyon was beautiful but not as exciting as Zion. All of Bryce's hikes consisted on climping down into the canyon exploring down there and then having to climb up. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing. The formations were incredible and red rock was a definate see.




The tempature didn't help however. It was 47 degrees and rainy. of course I didn't plan since I have been in temperatures of over 100 for the last two moths! Both my mother and I had to buy sweatshirts from the gift store to keep warm!!! Funny.




After we went on a very cold and short hike to see the rock shaped like the Queen, we drank some hot coffee and headed home. What a great adventure! It was so nice to get away from the buzz of Vegas and to spend some good time out in nature visiting some of the amazing parks surrounding the area. I now have knowledge of where some great hiking adventures lie.