Beyond Bootleg Canyon

We explored one of  the many tails in the mountains behind us on this beautiful day.  Flowers everywhere!  Spring in the desert with a bonus.... a rattlesnake!  Have not seen one of those in a while.  This guy was young, about 15 inches:

view of the Las Vegas strip and down town with Mt. Charleston in the background

this area is one large lave field and it is evident in the rock formations

the trail you see takes one over to the Black Mountain lookout where we hiked a couple of weeks ago

Still Here

Still in Vegas or rather Boulder City.  Spending a little more time with family.  Here are a few misc pics from various morning walks:

Singing his heart out

Spring blooms, this one with spider

the desert is just carpeted with billions of tiny flowers in places

colorful rock

parachutes every day

local resident

River Mountain Trail, Boulder City

I have done this trail several times over the years but this is the first time I've seen a herd of Bighorn up there. Very exciting!  This trail is an out and back and the reward, if you fork right at the saddle and head over to the top of Black Mountain, is a 360 view of the area.  This includes Lake Mead, Las Vegas and Boulder City:

this trail starts off through some pretty little arroyos

blooming cactus first week in March!

the trail takes us right up between Red and Black Mountains

spots of yellow in between rugged lava formations

I could see at least 10 Bighorn in this herd up on the ridge

up at the viewpoint you can see Lake Mead......

Boulder City.....

and Las Vegas!

a close up view of the lake and the bypass Hover Dam Bridge on the right

Desert Mallow

this guy was really close  to us and seemed content to watch the hikers go by

looking down towards Boulder City from the saddle on the way back

Bootleg Canyon

The Canyon Trail RV Park where we are staying here in Boulder City is right at the bottom of Bootleg Canyon.  Bootleg Canyon is a haven for mountain bikers and has a system of zip lines over a mile long as well.  Hiking trails in these hills are mostly on the other side but Mike and I went for a walk up the canyon right out of our park:

an old metal chimney pipe coming out of the cave....hmmmm, good location for a bootleg operation

very pretty and lots of places to hide a still!