Near the end of May one of my co-workers had been talking about a waterfall he had hiked out to in the nearby Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Thinking this would be a great expedition to go take Lexi on, I packed up lunch, Lexi and Sasha, and drove out to the park.
When we arrived we dropped into the visitor’s center and I asked one of the rangers if they could point me in the direction of a waterfall. I was told that I may have been a couple weeks late as many of the waterfalls that are scattered throughout the park had probably dried up, but my best chance for a waterfall would be at Lost Creek. With map in one hand and Lexi’s hand in the other we rushed back out to an awaiting Sasha still sitting patiently in the car.
Back in the car I told Lexi to climb up into the front seat with me for our little drive to the trail head. The road that circuits Red Rock Canyon is a one way 25 mph road that I thought would be ok for her to sit up front like a “big kid” for a brief stint. She got such a kick out of sitting up front and really enjoyed the view that she got from up there. I came to regret it in the weeks to months later when she would constantly ask me if she could ride up front again.
We pulled up to the parking area and piled into the trunk of my car for a quick picnic before going on our hike. It must have been a funny site to see. A then 5 year old girl sitting in the rear hatch area of a small 4-door hatchback with her 30 something year-old father along with their dog tied up to the door strike. Don’t judge us, we’re relaxing ourselves while enjoying our fine picnic cuisine.
With lunch finished we started up the short trail to go get us a waterfall. The hike wasn’t even a mile and was pretty easy, with the hardest part being some scrambling over some rocks. With our arrival I was disappointed in the pathetic sprinkle coming over the edge of the 30 cliff above us. Lexi on the other hand thought it was awesome!
After crawling all over the different rocks, we started our hike back to the car. Once we were rolling Lexi mentioned something about going up the mountain and it made me think, “Oh why not?” Instead of taking a right, I took a left and we set off to go up to the ski area up on Mt. Charleston.
Last winter the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard had a record year. They were opened longer than they have ever been before. So I wasn’t all that surprised when we got there to still see a couple of large snow piles here and there all up the slopes. Lexi took to them right away and had an absolute blast climbing all over them. It is funny to be down in the valley wearing shorts then go up the mountain to play in the snow all in the same day.
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