Red Rock Canyon - Spring Break 2015

After Valley of Fire and visiting friends at Lake Mead, we headed to the Red Rock Rendezvous, a climbing-oriented weekend at Red Rock Canyon sponsored by Mountain Gear. The event sold out, so we were expecting a big crowd at the campground at Spring Mountain State Park, and we found it. Someone commented on how many of the tents looked the same, and it's true, they were remarkably similar! I guess climbers think alike.

My friend Randi joined us, and the next day we headed off early for a climbing clinic while my brother Ed watched the kids (thanks, Ed!). It's been awhile since I've climbed, so I felt really rusty. Nevertheless, I was ready to get on rope and climb some rock! I really appreciated Randi for talking me into attending.

Climbing instilled some fear in me, but also reminded me why I like. It feels really good to conquer a slab of rock.

Next it was Randi's turn, and she did a fine job of getting reacquainted. She's done some cool climbs, including a 16-pitch one in Yosemite that I'd love to do someday. It took her and her climbing partner 15 hours to do it. It turned out that one of our instructors held the speed record for that climb: 52 minutes. Whoa!

Here's Randi before she disappears around the corner.

It seemed like the right spot for a selfie!

We did a couple more climbs and then headed back to the parking lot. It took awhile to get back to camp, and when we did we found Ed relaxing in the shade by himself near the tent.

"Where are the kids?" I asked.

"Oh, they're playing in the creek." He pointed in the general direction, and I couldn't see them at all.

Um, should I be worried? Was I a helicopter mom or just reasonably cautious? I eventually went over to take a look.

Sure, enough, they were down in the ravine, happy as could be, playing in the creek that was at most a couple inches deep. They had had a great time with their uncle.

It was getting hotter, so we decided to take a walk and see if we couldn't find a swimming hole. Google maps showed a nice body of water nearby. Soon we found it.

 But we also found out no swimming is allowed, as it's the home to the endangered Pahrump Poolfish (which used to live near Pahrump, but all the springs there went dry).

So we went back to the creek, where we had a good time.

The next morning we went climbing with the kids (something I managed not to get any photos of!), and that was fun until it got hot. So we wrapped it up and Randi headed home. We let the kids choose where to go for a late lunch, and they chose Indian food. I think I've trained my kids right! It was delicious.

Then it was one more activity before heading towards home: bowling.

Wow, it's been awhile since I've bowled. And bowling after rock climbing isn't exactly the best idea. But the kids had a fantastic time and it was air-conditioned, so it was good all around.

(The kids have decided it's really fun to stick out their tongues for photos.)

Then it was time to head home. Except I got tired, so we spent one more night out...

Valley of Fire State Park

For spring break I had a bad travel itch, so we headed south and after dentist visits went to Valley of Fire State Park.

  Our friends had saved us a campsite that was super awesome (thank you so much!), and after visiting and catching up a bit, we decided to go tackle a hike at Mouse's Tank. 

It's a popular trail, but late in the afternoon there weren't so many people on it and it was cooler.

It didn't take long to get to Mouse's Tank, and we went and got a close look at a pool.

Then we began a really fun game of hide'n seek. We found all sorts of little alcoves.

I had to scramble into some little caves to check them out too.

We found a cool ramp that ascended between two cliffs.

We started to get hungry and headed back to the campsite in the evening glow.

The night was gorgeous, and we went for a little hike around the campground. Then we settled in for an evening under the stars, the rainfly off.

We had a leisurely morning (meaning the kids slept in until 6:30!), then got ready to go hiking. Arch Rock was backlit nicely with the morning light.

Then it was time to run up to the petroglyphs. The kids charged off.

And I got distracted by this bird.

When I turned around, they had already made it to the platform. It's a good leg burner if you run up all the steps!

Across the road we took the trail to the petrified wood.

The mineralization is so beautiful. And it's kind of neat to think about how a forest used to be in this area. Nowadays you have to look far to find a tree!

The color of the rocks was breathtaking, and I took way too many photos. (As you can tell by this rather longish post!)

Next we went to the nice visitor center and then up the road to Rainbow Point, where the scenery again was breathtaking.

I wanted to go see The Wave, which is featured on the cover of the Valley of Fire brochure and has been widely photographed. Along the way the beautiful cacti caught our attention, and the kids literally stopped to smell the flowers.

The way to the Wave was gorgeous. The rock layers undulate and the colors change.

Before long we were approaching The Wave. Or what I guessed was the Wave, since there were a lot of people taking photos.

It looks something like this. It's cool, but I saw many rocks that I thought were more beautiful! I guess it just goes to show that what one person likes isn't necessarily going to be everyone else's favorite.

The kids thought the Wave was kind of boring and they were hot, so they found a cool place to rest.

Eventually I convinced them we should return, and we found some other pretty things along the way.

When we got back to the vehicle, the kids declared they were done with hiking. So we went back to the campsite and had a picnic lunch. The pavilions over the picnic tables were wonderful for providing shade. Before long, the kids wanted to go scamper around the rocks by the campsite. We found a cool cave at the very top and took some entertainment to enjoy there.

The views were great. Then the kids spotted other kids and the next couple hours were spent playing and exploring.


After a trip to Overton to see the Lost City Museum and get some firewood and marshmallows, we returned for a spaghetti dinner. But I had to stop on the way back in the park and enjoy the golden hour. These globemallow were gorgeous.

This little rodent really wanted a handout.

A photographer pointed out a helicopter that had landed on top of the rocks. He said a bride and groom had hopped out.

The light was fading when we got back to the campsite, but it was still beautiful.

After dinner we took a walk across the road and watched the stars come out and the campfires light up the rocks.

The next morning we packed up and I took a few more photos.

Then it was time for one more hike, the White Rocks loop.


Guess what? The rocks were white. Ha, ha.

The kids were a bit grumpy, so I challenged them to not touch the ground. They liked that.

 And before long we were leaving Nevada's oldest and largest state park and heading on to our next adventure of spring break.

To be continued...

A "Glowing" Review of the Nevada Test Site (aka Where They Blew up Huge Atomic Bombs)

Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Field Office

About a year or so ago, I heard about the free public tours of the Nevada National Security Site (better known as the Nevada Test Site), the place where they did a huge amount of nuclear bomb testing. With my husband's father being a downwinder (someone who got sick from that testing), I thought it would be a good place for us to visit to learn more about an interesting era in our country's history. The only problem: the tours fill up fast, and there is often a wait of many months to take the tour. (All the tours for 2015 are already full.)

Last October, my friend Matt let me know that the Department of Energy had opened up its 2015 dates. My husband and I filled out a form and applied for the February trip. We had to get a background check, and about a month after we applied we received word we were approved to go on the trip.

About a month before the trip we received a packet in the mail. It contained a page of prohibited items (cell phones, cameras, binoculars, recording devices, incendiary devices, etc.). If any of those items were found on anyone during the trip, the paper warned, the trip could be cancelled. We also had a minute-by-minute itinerary for the daylong tour.

The day before the tour, we went to the Atomic Testing Museum, which somehow managed to make a very interesting topic seem, well, kind of boring. The museum, part of the Smithsonian, was quite a letdown, and not something I'd recommend unless you are really interested in the topic and can go through the museum during a quiet period, when you don't have four or five different videos all running at the same time in a small space. 

Fortunately, the tour was fantastic.

The plan was to meet at the museum at 7:30, have our identification checked, receive a badge, and then board a bus and depart at 8 am for the Test Site. Our tour would include visits to Mercury, Frenchman's Flat, Yucca Flat, Sedan Crater, and more.

Our guide was Ernie Williams, an 84-year old veteran who had worked at the Nevada Test Site beginning in the 1950s. After he retired, a contractor who does work at the NTS hired him and he continues to work part-time. Because he had been there during the tests, he had great stories to tell. And a wonderful memory.

After going through the guard station (run by contract guards), we stopped at the cafeteria in Mercury, NV. At one time this was a huge town, complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a bowling alley. Nowadays the Test Site employs many fewer people, and most commute every day. The cafeteria had bathrooms and vending machines.

Then it was onto Frenchman's Flat. Ernie had us get out of the bus to look at some elevated tracks that had been part of one test. The pressure wave had bent them. We then drove around some of the other buildings that had been tested to see how they would withstand the impact of a nuclear bomb.

What surprised me most during the day was just how many tests had been done at the Nevada Test Site: 100 atmospheric tests and 828 underground tests. These were done between 1951 and 1992. This fact sheet gives a great overview of the history of the NTS.

A total of 928 tests is a lot of tests. Couldn't they have combined a few? (I never did find out the answer to that!)

Some of those tests left nuclear waste behind, and part of the Nevada Test Site is a low-level radioactive disposal area, where they dig pits, put in the garbage (some of it from other Department of Energy sites), and then bury it. We visited the site and saw some of the places where they bury the garbage.

After that we headed north towards Yucca Flat. Before we got there, Ernie pointed out the DAF, or Device Assembly Facility. We couldn't even get close, there was a big guard station on the road there, plus two gun turrets on the building. And the building has a double fence and most of it is underground. This is top secret stuff. The fact sheet gives a hint of what is there: 

"The DAF is a collection of more than 30 individual steel-reinforced concrete buildings connected by a rectangular common corridor. The entire complex, covered by compacted earth, spans an area of 100,000 square feet.

Currently the United States is not conducting nuclear tests. However, the President pledged to maintain an underground test readiness program in the event that nuclear testing resumes. The DAF plays a crucial role in achieving test readiness capability." 

We went over the pass and descended into Yucca Flat. Soon we were driving with big craters on either side of the bus. We even drove down into one, Bilby Crater, and back out again. The craters formed when the nuclear explosions basically melted the rock. Different sized craters reflected the different sizes of the weapons and the different depths at which they were deployed.

We got out of the bus at a huge white building, about six stories tall. This was the site where they were going to do the 829th underground test. They had the hole drilled, the equipment in place, the trailers with the sensing equipment ready, and then George Bush declared a moratorium on nuclear testing. Ernie was not at all happy about that. He said $66 million had been put into this test. I asked if that was the average cost for each test, and he said no, the average was $25-$30 million per nuclear test. Wow again.

They had all sorts of reasons for doing tests. One was to see how much earth could be moved, say in case they wanted to make another Panama Canal using nuclear bombs. (Never mind the ramifications of highly radioactive ground potentially being flooded.) The result was Sedan Crater, the biggest crater. We had a nice stop at it. It reminded me of Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley or Lunar Crater along Highway 6 in Nevada. Except this one was manmade.

Ernie took a group photo of us (no horizon allowed in the photo--it said so on our itinerary, which we were now way behind, but that was okay with all of us because it was so interesting. We also had to make sure we put our temporary badges away. That was very important for some reason.).

Not far from Sedan Crater is Groom Lake, home to Area 51 (and perhaps the reason no horizon was allowed in the photo above?). Ernie helped develop that, but he couldn't tell us much about it. The Google Earth image of it reveals a huge installation, and I wouldn't be surprised if much of it is underground so pesky satellites can't see what's going on. You can see in the Google Earth image below runways and hangars--lots and lots of hangars.


After visiting Sedan Crater, we took a different road and passed by some trenches where troops had witnessed nuclear explosions and had been part of an experiment to see what would happen to them. There were also experiments to see what would happen to animals, houses, and equipment.

We made a stop at the Mercury cafeteria on the way out, then drove the hour back to Las Vegas.

It was a fascinating trip, and I highly recommend it. My husband was impressed with the amount of electrical material left behind. So many electrical boxes, wires, and more. I'm sure everyone who goes on the trip leaves with different things sticking with them. There is so much to absorb. (Here are articles about the tour from The Atlantic, Religionandpolitics.org, the New York Times, and the LA Times.)

To learn more, you can find many fact sheets here. And here's a specific one just about the tour.

Finally, thanks so much to all those who helped watch and shuttle our kids so that we could go: my mother-in-law Sylvia and her husband David; our babysitter, Carmela; and the great carpool friends, Jenny, Jess, and Stephanie.