"If you go to Las Vegas, you HAVE to go to Red Rock Canyon!" We heard this ever and over when we told people about our trip itinerary. After being there, I have to say that I agree with everyone that said that. The conservation area is well worth a visit and getting your boots in the dirt. Since we were headed that way in July, we decided to use only the mornings to hike and be out in the desert heat. However, we arrived in the city before noon and knew we couldn't check into our hotel, so we decided to head out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area after we got our luggage and grabbed a quick bite to eat. As you can see in the video, we asked about hiking for sunrise when we were at the visitor's center. We did just that on July 4th. We drove out to the overlook early that morning and enjoyed the sunrise almost all by ourselves. See the time-lapse of the sunrise below! The video from our hike is coming soon. It was an interesting one where we didn't quite do what we intended. Stay tuned for that! Until next time, keep on trekking! If you have been following us for a while, you know we love sunrises and sunsets. It's the time we see the Earth in its best light. When we knew we were headed to Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim, we decided to try to see both sunrise and sunset each day we were there. Being monsoon season for the area, we had our fingers crossed for a great show. The first night we were there, it rained with no rainbow. The second night was prettier, but the 3rd night was amazing! We spent over an hour walking from Bright Angel Point, to the lodge porches, and then out to the lookout point in front of the lodge. It was a great evening! Please enjoy the video of what we saw that night. If you like what we saw, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Until next time, keep on trekking! Extreme Heat (100+ degrees) and 80% humidity means we need to find a cooler way to see awesome vistas. So we decided to tour Onondaga Cave. The cave is beautiful and a wonder to see. It was a great day trip! The cost of the tour is $15 for adults. Please enjoy touring the cave with us. Until next time, keep on trekking! When we started planning our vacation to Nevada, we started asking questions of our hiking friends on Facebook. And one of the people we had met along our journeys lives in NV and suggested that we drive up from Las Vegas to Valley of Fire State Park. (parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire) We had driven through on 2013, but not really stopped to do anything. (It was afternoon and REALLY hot.) This time, we planned to see the sunrise and get an early start on the Fire Wave. (Thanks to 2beagles.1jeep on Instagram for the suggestion.) We got to the park just as the sun was peeking over the hills. It was beautiful! We stopped in at the visitor's center hoping for a park map, but all we found was a couple of big-horned sheep. They were very fun to watch. After they got out of the road, we headed up to the trailhead for the Fire Wave. All of the rocks were amazing in the morning light and the hike was a wonderful start to our day! After the Fire Wave, we knew the visitor's center would be open, so we headed back there. The rangers there were trying to keep people away from a group of big-horned sheep that had gathered at a water source in front of the visitor's center. They suggested that we hike Mouse's Tank Trail before we headed back to the city to see the petroglyphs. We are always up for finding some cool historic things on our trips, so this sounded perfect. All in all, our first hikes in Valley of Fire State Park were VERY awesome! We intend to return for more hikes in the future! Please watch our video to see the whole adventure! Until next time, keep on Trekking! HOLY COW (or CONDOR)! When we set out on our hike up to Widforss Point on the North Rim in Grand Canyon National Park, we hoped for some solitude and some great views of the canyon. We got more than we hoped for with our lunch stop at Widforss Point. The picture taking at 11:00-noon is not the best because of the harsh sunlight, so we were hoping for a few good shots. I enjoy watching birds. I love watching them fly, but enjoy watching them sitting too. I saw a HUGE bird flying over the canyon to our right and started filming. I am SO glad I did! We later confirmed with a ranger that what we had seen was a California Condor. The view finders on our cameras are very little and we didn't want to get this wrong (and look stupid on the Internet). It was AMAZING and awe inspiring to watch this majestic animal fly across such a majestic space. I felt small and insignificant in these moments, but special at the same time. Please enjoy and share the video and know that you are part of something special now too. Keep on trekking! |
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