With a short one hour drive from Las Vegas, you can be skiing, snowboarding, or just playing in the snow! The turnoff to Mt. Charleston is only 35 miles Northwest on a nice four lane highway. Another 25 minutes up the mountain, you are romping in knee deep snow.
This scenic overlook gives a great view of the valley floor below. To the left of the small brown peak is Creech Air Force Base where Predator remote piloted vehicle operations are conducted.
This shot is from the trail head leading to the overlook just mentioned.
The views from the mountain were spectacular whether looking up or down the mountain.
This campsite had quite a few campers just playing in the snow!
The top of the road was at the parking lot for the ski area.
This person is downhill skiing but it seemed a lot of the activity was on snowboards.
Valley of Fire
Leaving the mountain, we drove back into Las Vegas, across the loop at the North end, and then Northeast 25 miles to the Moapa River Indian Reservation and the Valley of Fire.
This valley is loaded with rock formations rich in iron and consequently extremely red.
Other areas show the variety of chemicals (and colors) in the rocks in the area.
Cliff dwellers left these petroglyphs describing hunting with the atlatl - an instrument used to launch a spear.
The area has many formations such as this loop formed by wind erosion.
And of course, there is a lot of wildlife.
Lake Meade
A short drive out the East entrance of Valley of Fire is Lake Meade - or what's left of it!
This panoramic view shows the lake - imagine a lake 25% longer and much wider. We were shocked at how low the water is!
We drove to Overton Beach only to find no water at all! This boat had been abandoned and vandalized. The lake will have to rise 20 feet or more to float this boat.
This is the boat ramp! It is probably 200 yards long and ends well short of the trickle that is the Colorado River!
Driving down the lake a few miles, we found an overlook where we could see how bad the situation is. You can see island at the right near shore that should be 25 feet under water!
As we drove South, we encountered dozens of work sites where they are widening and repaving the road. In the meantime, several areas require driving through stretches of gravel.
That, along with our travels in the desert meant a trip to the car wash!
Tomorrow, we "do the strip!"
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