Leaving Las Vegas? Keeping our fingers crossed that today will be the day!

As of yesterday the a/c units for the RV have not yet arrived.  It's a possibility they will show up around 10am today and then hopefully be installed by end of day.  If that's the case we'll be on the road to St. George, UT by early evening!

We've been keeping busy (and training for Mt. Hood) with lots of hikes at elevation.  Mt. Charleston area is just a 45 minute drive from our campground and it takes us to hiking elevations of 10,000ft +.   On one of our hikes we met Max and Bob.  Max is quite the inspiration to keep active!  At age 77 (hope you don't mind us telling everyone, Max!), he and his friend/relative, Bob, were out hiking to get ready for hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim in a day.  They were scheduled to do that earlier this week so please check in with us and let us know how it went!  By the way, Max & Bob,...you didn't miss a thing further on that trail!  It just got VERY steep and we didn't make it to the top.

Max (age 77 and going strong!) and Bob

Griffith Peak - 11,064ft.  - While not the highest peak in the state, this peak is another one we "bagged" to add to our list.  It was a strenuous 11 mile hike but so worth it and great training for Hood.  The first 2 miles were a gradual uphill on an old mtn. road.  Although, I should first add we had to take a CRAZY 5 mile drive back a ROUGH and scary road to get to this trailhead (good thing we have a Jeep)!  Anyway...the rest of the hike was pretty steep up the side of a rock face (yet a very manageable trail) and then through the pines and some snow (a nice cold squall breezed through during our hike) to the top of the mountain.  Awesome climb!  If we had time (and energy) we could have continued another 4 miles (8 miles round-trip and 19 miles for the day - no way!) to reach the summit of Mt. Charleston at 11,916 ft.  Perhaps another day if we don't get our a/c fixed today.

75 in Vegas...snowing in the mountains!  Another beautiful hike to approx. 10,000ft. elevation.

We took a break from hiking the other day and drove to Dolan Springs, AZ to see Joshua Tree Forest (more Joshua Trees here than in Joshua Tree National Park!) and then continued on to Grand Canyon West (which is not owned by the NPS but part of the Hualapia Reservation) and home of the Grand Canyon Sky Walk.

Joshua Tree Forest and Grand Wash Cliffs

Grand Canyon West

Grand Canyon Skywalk (pics could not be taken from the Skywalk but only from this angle)

We enjoyed some family time the other night.  Tom's cousin, Mark-from Ohio, was in town for business so he, Tom and cousin "Joey Vegas" all had dinner together (male bonding time) while I had dinner with my brother (also in town for business) and a few other business acquaintances.

Hopefully the next blog will be from St. George, UT or Oregon!

Til next time...Happy Trails!