Red Rocks post

Well, we're back in Utah, and finally have pictures uploaded from red rocks. Our trip was a lot of fun. We ended up just hiking on Sunday instead of climbing because my finger still hurt and I didn't want to injure it more. We ended on doing a 5 mile hike to a peak called Turtle Head Peak. It was a great hike that started by the red sandstone and worked it's way up a wash through lots of flowering yuccas and wildflowers.

As we hiked higher the rock started turning to limestone. Near the summit in the shade of a small tree we found this cool vegetation. The hike was labeled "difficult" in the guide, but we found it to be only a moderate hike. Mostly the hard part was coming back down and trying not to slip and fall with all the loose rock around. The summit was a beautiful view of the red rock valley and the las vegas valley as well.

After we finished that hike we took a 2 mile hike to a watering hole that was in the sandstone. The hike was really pretty. It followed a little wash with cool sandstone features and little slots in some places (the slots often had tp in them, yes that's toilet paper Gross!) On the way we saw this super cool lizard (Great Basin Collared Lizard) that let us take some really close up pictures of it. The water hole itself was fantastic.

The water was very still with reeds growing in it. There were textured sandstone walls all around and even a toad (Red Spotted Toad) that was quite noisy. For those who think that deserts only support jack rabbits and snakes think again. Deserts can have an amazing oases in the most unusual places. Cassie and I agree that this is our favorite part of the desert. It's not like a rain forest where you see green everywhere. You have to search for the little treasures and when you find them they are more amazing because of their rareness. Another example of this was our hike in the Paria when we would come upon springs flowing out of sandstone. These unique little springs contained some of the most beautiful water I have ever seen.

Check out our flickr pictures to see a lot more pics from our trip.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewandcassie


To finish off the trip we decided to have dinner at a very nice French restaurant on the strip since our favorite sushi restaurant (really the only sushi restaurant we've eaten at in vegas, but who's counting?) was closed on Sunday. We were practically falling asleep on our plates after a long day of hiking in the sun. The food was excellent with champagne, duck, lamb and exquisite deserts. We fell asleep with very full bellies. The next morning I dropped Cassie off at the airport and went to work.

So what's new for this week? Well, I just started my Chemistry class (i'm a perpetual college student) and Cassie heads to Vernal for a day or two (yes the name pretty much says what the place is like). This weekend, we're going to just hike, go to an aquarium and maybe climb on sunday. My finger feels much better so it's time to get back at it.