Rinse and repeat! Just like school, Saturday was cleaning, shopping and tidying.
Winds energetic overnight, something kept banging and kept me awake for quite awhile. TG for those silicone earplugs, which had their inaguaral run and were very effective…
Sunday morning I headed out to Mt. Charleston, half an hour north of Las Vegas, thinking there was a downhill ski area there for some reason. Never found that, but had looked up some trails and picked one fairly low (I thought) to avoid icy trails described in “All trails” posts for the upper ones, with recommendations not to traverse without poles as we’d already had the first snowfall of the year.
A lone cyclist noted toiling up the hill to the park – nice wide shoulders, roads nearly empty of traffic and a mild grade – not a bad looking training ride. (Saw another at the park gate on the way home, but there was a lot of traffic by then, not so enticing at all).
I was surprised to pass the 5000′ elevation mark, and then passed the 6000′ sign. Hmm. Really did not realize there were such sizeable mountains in this ‘hood. Trail was easy to find and lovely to start with; again, hardly anyone on the trail though a couple of families in the parking lot enjoying the snow.
So off I trot in some lovely terrain:
Happily there was a side spur to another trail, Eagle’s Nest, and as it was south facing it was almost completely clear and lovely to walk on with some nice views of the snow on the north slopes across the valley.
It was warm and pleasant, and I enjoyed some suntime and complete peace and quiet at a rest stop, a real brain cleaner. Not another soul on that trail, though I’d met a few (and some nice dogs!) on the Fletcher canyon trail.
Back to the trailhead, it was time to find that supposed ski area, so I drove up and up and up – eventually reaching the high point at 8437′. More surprise at the elevation, but a lovely view across the valley. No ski area here.
Down below again and going further on the first road past the original trailhead, I found a substantial town called Mt. Charleston that was reminiscent of Whistler, with an old town part (smaller log houses closer together vs. the Whistler types, huge structures perched on cliffs). There was roadside snow and many more hiking trails (now busy with people) but I guess the only skiing one does in the area is cross country. It must be lovely in the summertime up in the mountains, several degrees cooler than down below – the ambient temp out of the direct sun today was 8C up there, and 16C in the valley when I got back to town.
A lovely interlude!