- Southern Africa
The first day of a new year is upon us and this calls for my annual ring in the new year hike. Okay this is the inaugural ring in the new year hike, but eventually my kids will be doing it, their kids will do it, their kids kids will be doing it and the day will spread across the world until today will no longer be called New Year’s Day, but Hikers Day.
There is a popular hike during the summer time in Red Rock Canyon here on the west side of the Las Vegas valley. It is popular because most of the hike is in the shade and hence its name, Ice Box Canyon. In my infinite wisdom I decided the middle of winter was the perfect time to tackle this trundle through the jungle for the first time.
Well it certainly wasn’t as busy as it is in summer. There were two other cars in the car park. Turns out there was far more ice and snow along the route than I had ever imagined there would be, which probably explained why the hike was so deserted. Following the trail became rather tricky when it turned out that a significant portion of the trail was walking up a creek. Now in summer this probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but in mid-winter with water streaming down and ice and snow on the rocks it was a very different proposition. At one point I took a wrong turn and climbed up the side of the canyon. Was not pleasant at all and it was somewhere around the this time as I was struggling back through the snow on the steep slope of the canyon trying to come back down to the creek ,after hitting a dead end, that I realised in hindsight I maybe should have told someone where I had gone.
Actually all the boulder hopping and avoiding sliding on the ice into the stream was kind of fun and made the hike a bit more interesting. Finally made it to the top after a number of wrong turns and resulting u-turns taking place. It was worth the effort as the rock structures at the entrance to the canyon were worth seeing and it was nice and quiet up there.
I thought the photo above was pretty cool as the canyon walls framed the red rocks in the distance with the shape of Southern Africa. Click the photo to see the rest of the photos from my hike.
Pooparder… nice photographs of the old town… very “Western” movie style!
Pity about the epic car journey to get there….
I’m surprised your legs weren’t freezing with it being in cold water during the winter. The link works! I see pictures! Yaayy~ Love the picture of the leaf surrounded by snow. Very artistic.
wow, very pretty pics !