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!

Historic Railroad Trl, Boulder City, NV

We must get out for exercise, of course, and here is one of the trails we have done while in the Vegas area.  It is must see as far as trails go.  I have had it on the blog before but never get tired of it as it is scenic as well as historic and I love Hoover Dam.  It is a primarily flat so easy walking and we walked it from the trailhead in Boulder City to and across Hoover Dam for a total roundtrip of 91/2 miles. But like I said easy going.

The trail follows the old rail road track that was used in the building of the dam. It has only been open all the way to the dam for a few years.  In addition to the scenery, story boards have gone up a various points giving some history and exhibits are in the process of being erected closer to the dam.  The next time we are in this area there should be even more to see on this trail!

When we arrived at the dam we were fortunate enough to see a turbine being hoisted up from one of the generators down in the canyon.  They pulled it up and moved it over to a roadside docking area.  Just wish we knew why....for repairs, replacement, what??  Really neat to see the cable crane in action.

Lake Mead

There are 5 tunnels on the trail

the trail take you past the bone yard where turbines and lots of other old, rusty equipment from the dam is now resting

walking by the switch yard you can hear the crackling of the electricity overhead....thats a lot of voltage!!

the trail ends at the top of the dam 4 story parking lot,  off to the right of center is the new dam bypass bridge

from the top of the parking area we could see the turbine being raised....

here you can see it on the right in relation to the dam

always impressive

we watched as they moved the turbine over to the road side and set it down in a special trough

we are standing on the AZ side in this pic looking across to the NV side

the AZ intake towers and great shot of the bathtub ring due  to low water level....

on the right, the spillway has been high and dry for many years with the drought 

wonderful statue commemorating the dam workers

the turbine that was brought up for whatever reason