Red Rocks Conservation Area Horseback Ride May 10, 2022

On May 28, 2022 By Mark KarlIn Outdoor Activities, TravelLeave a comment

On Tuesday May10th I scheduled a horseback ride with Cowboy Trail Rides in the Red Rocks Canyon Conservation Area.

Cowboy Trail Rides is located on Rt. 159 near Cowboy Canyon with views of Calico Basic and Red Rocks Canyon to the north and Rainbow Mountain Wilderness to the west.

The ride started by taking the trail behind the stable to the top of the hill that formed one side of Cowboy Canyon.

We stopped at the top of the ridge to take photos, which I thought was great!

The mule that I was riding was named Liberty. He was one of the best behaved animals in the whole group.

I found out that the mountains in the distance are called the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness. The Friends of Nevada Wilderness website says,

Rainbow Mountain and the adjoining Red Rock Canyon have served as an important cross-roads and desert oasis for humans for at least 11,000 years. Today this area is recognized as an area of cultural importance for Newe (Western Shoshone), Southern Paiute, Hualapai, Chemehuevi, and Mojave people.
https://www.nevadawilderness.org/rainbow_mountain_wilderness_whats_out_there

I really enjoyed the views during the ride. Walking on a horse was the just the right pace to enjoy and appreciate the scenery.

I switched my phone camera over from photos to video for a short clip.

The view below is looking towards Calico Basin.

I would definitely do this trip again if I am ever back in the Las Vegas area!

Grand Canyon West Rim on May 9, 2022

On May 28, 2022 By Mark KarlIn History, Outdoor Activities, Photography, TravelLeave a comment

On Monday May 9th I took a bus tour from Las Vegas to the west rim of the Grand Canyon. The two major stops on the trip were Eagle Point, home of the Grand Canyon Skywalk, and Guano Point.

I brought my Pentax Kx Camera with a variety of lenses. My plan was to make a series of Panorama photos using Adobe Lightroom.

The Grand Canyon West Rim is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. They also operate the Skywalk observation platform at Eagle Point. I chose not to go on the Skywalk since you are not allowed to go on the Skywalk with your cell phone or camera. Instead I took photos from Eagle Point and Guano Point.

The views from Eagle Point are pretty good with views looking to the east.

Skywalk at Eagle Point West Rim of the Grand Canyon

The best views are from Guano Point. Guano Point has an interesting history. As the website says,

In the 1930s, a passing boater discovered a guano cave, and for 20 years after, unsuccessful attempts were made to mine the nitrogen-rich guano for fertilizer. After hearing there was more than 100,000 tons of guano in the cave, the U.S. Guano Corporation bought the property and constructed a $3.5 million tramway system to extract it. The aerial tramway was built from the mine to what is now known as Guano Point, with the cable head-house built on land leased by the Hualapai Tribe. The cableway crossed the river, with a main span of 7,500 feet and a vertical lift of 2,500 feet.
In 1959, all the cave’s resources were exhausted because the predicted 100,000 tons was actually closer to 1,000 tons. Shortly after this, a U.S. Air Force fighter jet crashed into the overhead cable system and permanently disabled it. The remaining structures were left intact as a monument to man’s attempt to mine the canyon.
https://grandcanyonwest.com/explore/west-rim/guano-point/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvqeUBhCBARIsAOdt45YKFbgczswm0cGvkObM2XKI7PnZ5ugIurQ26TEIb_RBOxkPCbUI5TAaAsOzEALw_wcB

Grand Canyon West and the Colorado River from Guano Point

This is a great way to see the part of the Grand Canyon if you find it challenging to put together a trip to the South Rim of the canyon.

Killington Ski Trip February 2022

On May 22, 2022 By Mark KarlIn Outdoor Activities, Skiing, TravelLeave a comment

As part of my February 2022 vacation I spent a few days at Killington for some mid-week skiing. I was able to get a room at the Mountain Inn, which is near the top of the access road right next to the ski resort. I had wanted to stay there for years. Killington Distillery is in the same building as the hotel. The hotel has a ski locker room and a free shuttle to the Killington base lodge. The also have an outdoor heated pool!

They also have a nice patio with picnic tables and a fire pit plus a great view of the ski resort.

Since I did not have to drive I was looking forward to relaxing at the bar. As I mentioned, there is a distillery onsite.

They have some fantastic craft cocktails made from the Killington Distillery products.

I tried the Blackberry Bourbon Sour and loved it!

I loved that they had a fire pit outside. The weather and temperature was pretty good for winter and I had a fire nearby. It was nice watching the lights from the grooming machines going up and down the trails at Killington.

The Mountain Inn also has an outdoor heated pool. I did not use it during the first night of my stay on Sunday but I sure did Monday evening after skiing.

This was my first ski trip of the season so I was happy to take a couple warm up runs on the Snowshead trail.

My sister and nephew joined me for the day. We had some great runs on Ramshead, Snowdon, Killington Peak, Sky Peak and even a run down the Great Eastern to the Skyship Base. We had lunch at the summit lodge, which was nice. The place has lots of windows and some great views.

The weather on Tuesday was strange. It warmed up over night and the whole mountain was covered in snow fog. Since the visibility was so bad I did several runs on Showshead, which was fogged in but it was good enough to ski.

It cleared up first around the top of the Snowshead trail but rest of the ski area was fogged in. Once the fog burned off some snow flurries came through, which made visibility better but not perfect.

I eventually went back over to Ramshead mountain and did a bunch of runs on Easy Street and Caper.

Wednesday morning was beautiful and sunny. Before leaving I was able to get some beautiful photos of the mountain with my Pentax Kx camera. Below is Killinton peak and the K1 summit lodge.