This place is an amazing hidden gem of Nevada. Nearly nine hours north of Las Vegas, most people haven't even heard of it. Lamoille Canyon is located in the Ruby Mountains south of Elko, Nevada. It is a long canyon with hanging valleys, lush vegetation, granite peaks, and alpine lakes. We camped in the only campground in the area, Thomas Canyon. Wildflowers were blooming everywhere and Topo discovered she absolutely loves snow.
Overlooking Liberty Lake
Those two specks in the snow at the top are mountain goats!
Topo is in the middle, loving the snow!
We spent a couple days exploring the only National Park in the state of Nevada. Known for its dark skies, Scott took some great night time pictures of the billions of stars we rarely see. We camped at nearly 10,000 feet with Wheeler Peak (the second highest peak in the state) as the backdrop to our site. The biggest attraction is the Lehman Caves; a vast cave system that visitors were once told by the original discoverer, "If you can break it, you can take it." As dogs are not allowed on trails in National Parks, we were limited in what we could do, however, we were able to explore 'off trail' some beautiful alpine lakes.
We took on the challenge of hiking to the highest summit in Southern Nevada, Charleston Peak in the Spring Mountain Range. There is a traditional North/South Loop trail that takes 18 miles to reach the nearly 12,000ft peak. We chose to hike via an unmarked route from Wallace Canyon on the west side of the mountain versus the marked trail on the east side of the mountain. Our hike was going only going to be approximately 6 miles roundtrip, however, it was going to gain all 4,000ft of elevation within the first 3 miles up.
We made it! For sections of the hike, we rock scrambled up and slid down on our bums, but we made it in 8 hours! Whew!
Marcia, Duane, Scott, the dogs, and I took the jeeps from Cold Creek to Pahrump via Wheeler Pass, up Carpenter Canyon, across and up to Wallace Canyon, and back up through Wheeler Pass. The total off road mileage for the day was over 80 miles. Whew!
We took Topo on her first road trip. Stop #1: Prescott, AZ where we enjoyed Prescott Brewing Company, camped and hiked at White Spar Campground. Stop #2: Sedona, AZ where we met Scott's mom and my parents. We hiked the gorgeous red rocks and took a day trip to an old copper mining town, Jerome. Stop #3: Flagstaff, AZ, where we enjoyed a local brewing company. Everyone had a great time, including the little one.
Topo took her first official jeep ride and it was a success! We spent a Sunday afternoon traveling through the Muddy Mountains, just West of Valley of Fire State Park. Patches showed Topo how to lead the way for the jeep, sniff bushes, swim, and scale rock formations. The dogs had just as much fun as the humans.
We took advantage of the three day weekend by spending a day hiking to another hot springs along the Colorado River. Along the way, there were remnants of cars that had fallen off the roadway above. We also brought Patches this time. Although the hike had a few rope sections, where we handed Patches off to each other, she did fantastic.
With a day off for the MLK holiday, we chose not to rest, but to hike some more. We trekked up snowed covered trails to Gass Peak, the peak that overlooks the northern part of the Las Vegas Valley. With new tires, Scott's jeep got us to the trailhead quickly. Patches led the rest of the way, for over 6 miles and 2,000 feet in elevation gain. The views from the summit were spectacular. With a pair of binoculars, you could nearly see our house.
We took the eastern route on the way up and the western route on the return.
Just south of the Hoover Dam there are quite a few hot springs. Winter is a great time to hike the area around Lake Mead. Along the way we saw Big Horn Sheep and get this....a bald eagle (Sara's first ever)!!! The springs were around 105ºF. We brought bathing suits and climbed right in...along with a few other people. On the way home, we stopped at Boulder City Brewery and enjoyed some local beer.
The plan was to go down to Wilson's Tank and then over to 99 Mile Cabin. That was until the truck battery jumped out of it's tray, landed on the master brake cylinder, arced the lines blowing out the primary brake line and starting a small fire. Don't worry, the truck will be okay, eventually :) ....and we did make it back home, just never quite to the cabin. Despite the unfortunate end to the day, we saw some beautiful scenery along the way, including amazing views of the Las Vegas Valley.
The blue wheel is where Scott's truck spent the night. You can see how close we were to our destination, 99 mine.
People talk about Times Square being cold for New Years. Well, we topped that by ringing in the New Year in Sand Hollow, UT, surviving 20° nights in the Skamper. Scott, Duane, Marcia and I rode Side by Sides around the beautiful, red dunes on New Years Day. Scott and I then headed over to Zion Canyon to see the dusting of the snow on the canyon walls. Happy New Year everyone!
The ride we took at the dunes...where both Arctic Cats happened to get stuck in the sand.
Base Camp. A brisk high of 45° and lows in the teens.
Most times of the year people can't drive their own cars up and down Zion Canyon, but this was the first time either of us were able to drive the canyon ourselves. We stopped at Weeping Rock, which 'tears' were frozen icicles. Before heading home, we stopped at Zion lodge to enjoy some good beer.
Zion Canyon, Utah
Snow in the Canyon.
If you ever want to go to a fun, small (and I mean small) town, you MUST go to Oatman, AZ. We drove down to Oatman by way of Christmas Tree Pass, where we took a slight detour to the "Graves" site. Here, we got to check out an old homestead and Patches found some Gambels Quail. Unbeknownst to us, she ate one her catch of in the backseat of the truck. Oatman has quaint shops, burros you can feed, and a great bar, wallpapered in dollar bills from the old mining days.
Christmas Tree Pass (northwest of Laughlin, Nevada)
Christmas Junipers along the way.
Thanksgiving was a great opportunity for Scott to meet my parents. We spent four days in Las Cruces, New Mexico, enjoying the rare, cloudy weather. The clouds hovered over the Organ Mountains, which is where we did two great hikes. What we didn't expect to see was the array of fall colors; all across the city, trees were turning. We also explored downtown Las Cruces, where we bought some authentic Hatch chilis at their farmer's market
Our Thanksgiving Day hike in Aguirre Springs.
Day two hike in Soledad Canyon.
The Fam :)
We, along with Scott's mom, took a day trip to the ghost town of Ryholite, Nevada, just outside of Beatty (where you can get the best chili and cold beer). The ghost town has been revitalized with some unique art.
Rhyolite, Nevada
