Veni, Vidi, Vegas...I came, I saw, I lost some money and saw some great shows.

After nearly three weeks, I am nearing the end of the trip. On the way back to Vegas after leaving Zion, I stopped by Hoover Dam, though I had been here once before since I was already nearby. I just walked around a bit before heading to Henderson so I could do some laundry and catch up on messages. After finishing errands I headed into Las Vegas to spend my last days. I spent the day walking around the strip around MGM Grand, Luxor, etc just taking in the sites. I was walking around Mandalay Bay in the even as I heard there was a 'Tear for Fears' concert. I was just hanging outside when I was approach by the very lovely lady named Rebecca that explained that her friends could not make it to the show, so she offered me a ticket before she left for home. I accepted and was able to convince her to stay as well and spent the concert in the outside area by the pool listening to the music and chatting for a long time as I was still pumped about the trip and wanted to share stories. After the concert was over, which was quite enjoyable in itself, we chatted for a while before she headed home while I explored some of the hotels before heading over to my friend's place to crash for the evening. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with her the next evening and had a very memorable time hanging out. The next morning I drove over to Red Rock Canyon to do some exploring, climbing, and hiking. The first time I was here I was with someone that wasn't into hiking, so I really didn't have a chance to explore. I spent a few hours here crawling around the rocks and checking out the different crevices and alcoves before heading back into town. I made it out to the Las Vegas H3 run, however I was only able to do part of the trail before I had to rush back into town to MGM to see the Cirque du Soleil show 'Ka'. I absolutely loved this show and was really impressed and have it as my favorite so far. The whole theater was used for the show, however the most impressive part was the stage. I was impressed when the whole thing lifted up, kind of amazed when it tilted at incredibly sharp angles, and was simply astounded when it started spinning.

The next morning I first visited the 'Star Trek Experience' at the Las Vegas Hilton. It was not quite what I had expected in that one purchased two tickets that gave access to two different live action shows. though they were small in scale, it was fairly interesting enough. I really wasn;t that interested in the memorbelia, but overall it was entertaining. After leaving the Hilton, I did a little geocaching on the way to the Pinball Hall of Fame. One of the really neat caches was true Vegas style as it was in a drive-thru wedding chapel. One just had to drive to the window, ask for the cache, and sign the log. After a few hours of gaming, spending much more time there than I had expected, I explored more of the Bellagio, Circus Circus, Cesar's Palace, Paris, and the Venetian along the strip and watched the Treasure Island pirate show. After a few hours of walking around I headed inside to take my seat for the Cirque show 'O'. This would now be my second favorite show just behind 'Ka'. The scenes and acrobatics were very impressive and I again thoroughly enjoyed myself. I walked around more and enjoyed a couple of the fountain shows before having to finally head back to my friend's place as I had to get all my stuff together. I had to wash the car to get ride of all the grime that had built up over the weeks of dusty driving before heading to the airport. The rental attendant was somewhat shocked when they checked the records and realized that I had put on 4200 miles on the vehicle in the three weeks I was gone. I hit 8 different states (Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico), met a few really nice people, slept in a hotel 0 nights, almost ran out of gas twice, showered in countless truck stops, and had some very amazing experiences.

Drive slower than your guardian angel can fly.

Today saw an early start to do another well known hike in Zion National Park, Angel's Landing. this is a fairly tough hike that takes much of the day to do and has a few precarious spots. On knife edge, the path is about 4 feet wide and has a 800 foot drop on one side with a 1200 foot drop on the other. At least once every few years someone takes a fatal trip with another person (the 6th since 1983) having died there in June of this year. It was a tough walk up, but the views once reaching the end were spectacular. After finishing the hike, I headed up to the Virgin Narrows. I was originally scheduled to hike from the top of the narrows downriver over a couple of days, however my plans had to be changed when the area was shut down due to a forest fire. So all I could do at this point was hike up-river and back, which still ended up being a lot of fun. Hiking poles and wet-wear shoes made all the difference. It was all slow going since the water was absolutely opaque due to runoff from the scorched areas. I just went a couple of miles up before I decided to turn around and come back. Overall, it was a great day and I was quite fortunate to see such beautiful things.

Dope on a rope.

Today I did some more canyoning by doing a well known hike in Zion National Park called The Subway. When I was picking up my permit, which I had to reserve three months prior, at the office, I started talking to a few others that were getting their paperwork, including a scouting group. I was able to convince them to give me a ride from the parking are at the exit to the entrance trail and I would then help them after the hike was over. Apparently this scout group, as I would find out later, really had no idea what to expect. The top-down approach to the Subway is a technical approach such that it requires the use of ropes and a harness. I had already purchased rope earlier in the trip and had borrowed other gear from my local friend Jon, so I was ready. There are three main spots where rope is needed which are also places where people have attempted to manually down-climb without any support whom subsequently fell, got severely injured, and had to be evacuated. Something as simple as an ankle sprain would require one to be carried out through some tough terrain and uphill at the end. I knew there were anchors there and were able to use them to easily repel myself wherever needed.

It was a great hike and somewhat fun talking to the scouts about hiking and camping, but at the first technical spot it was obvious how they had nothing. I ended up having to spend most of my time at each spot helping them by belaying everyone as they climbed down each spot. Outside of that, the experience was great. The water was cold, but it was fun to do the trail and experience these slot canyons. At the parking lot, once finished, there were park rangers waiting checking permits. I gave them mine and even though the group was quite a ways behind me, they waited. apparently the scout leader had taken an additional person than the permit allowed and ended up getting a citation for over a hundred dollars. I gave them my contact info and was promised they wound forward some pictures, but I never heard anything. After the hike I spent the rest of the daylight hours walking some of the highlights around the park that are relatively close to the shuttle buses. I attended one of the evening ranger presentations before parking in Springfield overnight just outside the park. After these experiences, I'd someday like to come back to the area just to do some canyoneering.

Love is grand ... Divorce is twenty grand.

I hit the north rim of the Grand Canyon early this morning to take advantage of some of the light as well as do a few more trails and some of the overlooks away from the lodge. It drizzled just a little bit, however the weather in all was really nice. This side of the canyon is considerably busy than the lower south rim. I had an inkling of hiking from rim-to-rim just to be able to say I did it, but it would take three days of hiking and two nights to safely do it, so I figured it was best to enjoy the views I had, especially considering what the heat would have been in July. I instead headed out once again towards the Glen Canyon Dam. I made a quick stop near the Navajo Bridge for a few pictures and again along the highway on the way up to watch a passing storm for a while. The tour for the dam was only operating on the top (nothing was going inside that day), so it didn't take long to see everything. While in the visitor center, a torrential downpour started. The canyon walls nearby suddenly turned into numerous waterfalls that were all high, and powerful. Had they been active during other times of the year they would be among the highest in the US I would guess.