Slow Start in Henderson, Out to Lake Mead
Feb. 16th, 2025 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNon-Vegas Vegas Weekend Travelog #2
Lake Mead, NV - Sat, 15 Feb 2025, 11:45am
We got off to a slow start this morning. It wasn't from sleeping in late, though. I wouldn't have minded sleeping in late. It would've been my first time in about 6 days. No, my body decided 5:45am was waking up time. Then there were a series of things I needed/wanted to do that resulted in us not getting out for over 5 hours. 😒
Where are we going out to?
It's the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We're out here for a day of hiking. The photo above is a view from the trailhead. But unfortunately it's already 11:45. The day's, like, half over. What took so long?
Beginning in Henderson, which is just southeast of Las Vegas, my first task was to get a ride back to Las Vegas Airport to rent a car. Why not do it last night when Hawk and I were literally at the airport together? Well, when we booked this trip initially there were different timings, and it made sense to get the car in the morning rather than the night before. By the time my company forced a change of plans on me, the price of the rental car had gone up over $100 for our 3-day weekend. For that kind of money Hawk and I decided we could Lyft/Uber around a few times. And walking to dinner from the hotel last night wasn't bad.
I checked the hotel's breakfast offering on the way out. Ugh, runny scrambled eggs and a room full of boisterous children. It looks like there's a U8 team staying here for a tournament. I skipped the breakfast buffet and ate a protein bar with half a bottle of Coke Zero.
Once back at the airport— actually, the rental car center, which is 2-3 miles from the terminal— I went through the hoops of picking up my car. "I"ve upgraded your car," the rental agent said cheerfully. Hooray, the benefits of elite status! "It's a Toyota Corolla!" she continued. ...Wait, what? Nobody in the history of the world has ever thought, "Oh, my, a Corolla, what an upgrade!"
Well, good news/bad news. My assigned car— my upgrade Corolla— had a cracked windshield and a busted windshield wiper hanging loose. I trudged back to the rental office— yes, it was a trudge, as they gave me what seemed like the farthest away car in the lot— and got a new assignment. This one actually was a slight upgrade. Well, an upgrade from a Corolla anyway. 😂
It's a Hyundai Elantra, and it's almost new— just 1,005 miles on the odometer. And it's not really much of an upgrade from a Corolla, though it does look sharper. And it has heated seats— which are a huge bonus for Hawk, whose back problems are flaring.
Back at the hotel we gathered our hiking gear for the day. Hawk had already packed most of mine while I was out, which was helpful. But we still needed to finalize where to go. We'd meant to do that last night, but both of us tired out quickly and went to bed early. And it took me a while this morning as I was still unpacking— mentally unpacking— from a busy week of training at work.
As we got ready to actually leave I realized I'd forgotten to pack my hiking gloves. I use them to protect my hands while boulder scrambling. And our chosen hike, Owl Canyon, would definitely have boulder-scrambling in slot canyons! Well, good news/bad news. I could buy a pair of gloves easily at a sporting goods store like Big 5, which there's one of half a mile from the hotel. But it wouldn't open for another 30 minutes.
"No problem," we figured. "We'll go out for a quick brunch first." Except the place we picked was closed. Permanently. Oops. With the drive time there and back the Big 5 was already open, so I just did my shopping. They had hiking socks on sale, so at least I made my shopping a two-fer. And they had the exact type of gloves I wanted.
We still needed brunch. We quickly agreed on another restaurant kind of on the way out of town. Then, as we pulled into the parking space in front of the door, we noticed another restaurant across the street: Del Taco! Yes, Del Taco, one of our guilty favorites. Well, not guilty, because we have no reason to feel guilty for it. We un-parked, drove across the street, and ate at Del Taco.
It was nearly 11am by the time we got rolling again, finally actually driving out to our hike for the day. We reached the trailhead for Owl Canyon at 11:30, laced up our boots, checked our packs, and got ready to hit the trail.
Whew, it's taken hours longer than it should have to get to this point, but now we're looking forward to a fun hike!
Update: Keep reading in Hiking the Owl Canyon Loop - Part 1
Lake Mead, NV - Sat, 15 Feb 2025, 11:45am
We got off to a slow start this morning. It wasn't from sleeping in late, though. I wouldn't have minded sleeping in late. It would've been my first time in about 6 days. No, my body decided 5:45am was waking up time. Then there were a series of things I needed/wanted to do that resulted in us not getting out for over 5 hours. 😒
Where are we going out to?
It's the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We're out here for a day of hiking. The photo above is a view from the trailhead. But unfortunately it's already 11:45. The day's, like, half over. What took so long?
Beginning in Henderson, which is just southeast of Las Vegas, my first task was to get a ride back to Las Vegas Airport to rent a car. Why not do it last night when Hawk and I were literally at the airport together? Well, when we booked this trip initially there were different timings, and it made sense to get the car in the morning rather than the night before. By the time my company forced a change of plans on me, the price of the rental car had gone up over $100 for our 3-day weekend. For that kind of money Hawk and I decided we could Lyft/Uber around a few times. And walking to dinner from the hotel last night wasn't bad.
I checked the hotel's breakfast offering on the way out. Ugh, runny scrambled eggs and a room full of boisterous children. It looks like there's a U8 team staying here for a tournament. I skipped the breakfast buffet and ate a protein bar with half a bottle of Coke Zero.
Once back at the airport— actually, the rental car center, which is 2-3 miles from the terminal— I went through the hoops of picking up my car. "I"ve upgraded your car," the rental agent said cheerfully. Hooray, the benefits of elite status! "It's a Toyota Corolla!" she continued. ...Wait, what? Nobody in the history of the world has ever thought, "Oh, my, a Corolla, what an upgrade!"
Well, good news/bad news. My assigned car— my upgrade Corolla— had a cracked windshield and a busted windshield wiper hanging loose. I trudged back to the rental office— yes, it was a trudge, as they gave me what seemed like the farthest away car in the lot— and got a new assignment. This one actually was a slight upgrade. Well, an upgrade from a Corolla anyway. 😂
It's a Hyundai Elantra, and it's almost new— just 1,005 miles on the odometer. And it's not really much of an upgrade from a Corolla, though it does look sharper. And it has heated seats— which are a huge bonus for Hawk, whose back problems are flaring.
Back at the hotel we gathered our hiking gear for the day. Hawk had already packed most of mine while I was out, which was helpful. But we still needed to finalize where to go. We'd meant to do that last night, but both of us tired out quickly and went to bed early. And it took me a while this morning as I was still unpacking— mentally unpacking— from a busy week of training at work.
As we got ready to actually leave I realized I'd forgotten to pack my hiking gloves. I use them to protect my hands while boulder scrambling. And our chosen hike, Owl Canyon, would definitely have boulder-scrambling in slot canyons! Well, good news/bad news. I could buy a pair of gloves easily at a sporting goods store like Big 5, which there's one of half a mile from the hotel. But it wouldn't open for another 30 minutes.
"No problem," we figured. "We'll go out for a quick brunch first." Except the place we picked was closed. Permanently. Oops. With the drive time there and back the Big 5 was already open, so I just did my shopping. They had hiking socks on sale, so at least I made my shopping a two-fer. And they had the exact type of gloves I wanted.
We still needed brunch. We quickly agreed on another restaurant kind of on the way out of town. Then, as we pulled into the parking space in front of the door, we noticed another restaurant across the street: Del Taco! Yes, Del Taco, one of our guilty favorites. Well, not guilty, because we have no reason to feel guilty for it. We un-parked, drove across the street, and ate at Del Taco.
It was nearly 11am by the time we got rolling again, finally actually driving out to our hike for the day. We reached the trailhead for Owl Canyon at 11:30, laced up our boots, checked our packs, and got ready to hit the trail.
Whew, it's taken hours longer than it should have to get to this point, but now we're looking forward to a fun hike!
Update: Keep reading in Hiking the Owl Canyon Loop - Part 1
