Summertime

Yeah, the bit of summertime climbing we did in RR this season was nice. Just us, the burros, and native creatures pretty much. The sun-exposed hikes in were always brutal, but once we were in the shade we were golden. With bodies wet with sweat from the approach, even a gentle breeze would cool us down on any day >100 in the shade out there. Sometimes we'd even catch a pleasant chill, and forget that it's summer in the desert, and OMG, the ecstasy of ice cold beverages waiting for us at the truck for the drive back to Vegas made any suffering in the heat worthwhile. The longer days were nice too! Looking back now, I wish that I had taken better advantage of the summer climbing in RR, as we have past seasons, but was distracted with other activities; paddling on the Colorado River, and at Lake Mead (on 108-122 degree days-ugh) and off roading throughout the remote areas of the desert to visit cool historic sites. We also canyoneered some in Zion this season, amongst other pastimes of ours; we never stay home on our weekends with our short attention spans, and all. : )

That being said, we did manage to escape to some higher and/or cooler places such as Tahquitz/Suicide Rock, Boulder Canyon, and Lumpy Ridge in CO (for a quicky trip) and the Aquarius Plateau for more climbing this summer. We also spent some time mid-July exploring the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, hiking ,and some mountain biking near Point Sublime. We also managed to paddle at sea, and even experienced launching and docking in the surf- kinda like kayak surfing, I suppose. Pretty intense for us rookie sea kayak surfers. ; ) I sprained my thumb pretty bad in one of my bigger wipe-outs. Damn huge ass wave came outta nowhere. That shit is scary in an inflatable kayak!

Great thread for the Nevada Forum, Rob! Nice to hear about some of your summer adventures , you fellow locals! Hope to catch you at the beer nights, or on the rock.

EDIT to add: Damn that Clayton (just noticed your post squeezed in on our beloved Nevada Forum), capping on our lazy volunteer, and perma-drama efforts we've had. ; ) What the hell have you been up to, stranger? It was nice sending you off to Yosemite on your last MP beer night you had with us desert rats. Hope all is well.

We had a lot of rain this summer. I have taken up waterfall spotting as a new pastime.

Nice Cassondra!

The best thing about summertime in Red Rock is that you can proudly wear your world's largest hat.

This was taken in July of this year at the trailhead of Black Velvet Canyon. We hiked in about noon, or so, and climbed Refried Brains. I believe it was well over 108 degrees in Vegas that day. A doable summer outing if you know what to expect in the extreme desert conditions.

Rob Fielding wrote:No we didn't end up doing the gram traverse. Ahhh, good stuff! I hear the traverse is pretty physically demanding. We ended up linking OZ to Hobbit book and then did On The Lamb backwards. Had so much fun we traversed back a second time. On the Lamb, PUMPY!

Heh. I did that... almost. On the Lamb (forward - backward any different really?) to OZ to Hobbit Book. Great linkup, good job on you guys having the pep to reverse the Lamb. We left the Gram traverse where it was, we weren't in shape.

I guess the real deal is OTL->OZ->HB->Lucky Streaks. All sit starts. I'll have to work up to that one though ;).

GiGi, Johns hat is classic!!!!

I didn't get out in RR as much as some of you did this summer, but I got to admit. Once you're out there w/ the cool breeze, especially in BVC it aint that bad. Glad to hear everyones summer adventures!

I'm gonna be in vegas for an internship july and august, is icebox canyon tolerable in the summer? If not whats the closest retreat from the heat climbing wise
thanks,
Ross

Black velvet canyon would be your best bet, but I think it'll still be to hot. Check out Mt. Charleston for some limestone.

The last couple of days felt like....

youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0tTbT…

But now back to some more moderate weather.

Things have already been emptying out in the park and have hardly run into anyone else in any of my recent adventures. Awesome!

BUMP for the Summa summa summa time....

Anyone done anything particularly fun? Perhaps a mid-summer's eve beer night for the locals not on "the road" paved with gold outta this place all summer? Diggin' my first Red Rock summer, that's fo sho.