Ubehebe Peak, Kolob Canyon, Death Valley & Zion, January 2006
December 31, 2005 through January 6, 2006
This was a solo trip for myself with a little bit of peak bagging, an early morning stroll to an amazing arch as well as a few days in my favorite town, Las
Vegas.
As is my routine I will break this trip report up into its various components.
*The flight
*The car
*The hotels
*The Death Valley hike
*The Kolob Arch hike
*The gambling
The Flight
I once again flew on US Airways through Pittsburgh to Vegas leaving at 6 AM and arriving on time at 10:28 AM. I have made a decision to us US Airways
every time I fly to Vegas. The price for the most part is just about the same for any airline if you buy early. I find no real difference in service from airline to
airline. However, two things had led to my decision. The first reason is frequent flyer miles. I find myself flying out west at least three to four times per year
yet I haven’t received a free ticket in years. Some of this is the airline’s fault because they’re so restrictive but also it’s my fault for spreading all these miles
out over 4-5 airlines. The second reason is I like connecting through Pittsburgh or Charlotte. Both of them are good, modern medium/large airports with not
a lot of congestion so the changes for delays are much smaller than at Chicago, Newark or Philadelphia. And I just thought of another reason, the US
Airways flights now land at the America West gates which don’t require a shuttle bus to the main terminal and whose security check in lines are invariably
less than the other gates. So there you are. I had no delays either way.
The Car
As has been the case the last several years I rented from Dollar. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they are normally the cheapest at the Vegas airport
and with their Dollar Express program means that you can often arrive at the lot and be out the gate within 5-10 minutes. Why go anywhere else? For this
trip I, once again, rented a Jeep Cherokee. I know, I know, for someone who is so environmentally conscious how can I rent an SUV every time? Well, first
of all on this trip I am going on dirt/gravel roads in the back roads of Death Valley and I truly need a high clearance 4 WD. And second, I’m on vacation and
I want to be comfortable. So even if I do spend as much in gas as the vehicle cost me to rent that’s a cost of the vacation. I’ll send another $100 to the
Sierra Club to make up for it.
The Hotels
I stayed at three hotels this trip, my tried and true home base of the Fiesta Henderson, a pre-hike delight, the El Portal Motel in Beatty, NV and the “go jump
into a lake” Eureka Hotel and Casino.
My stay at the Fiesta was normal which means check in was easy, the room was clean and all my charges were comped by my casino host, Jane Quine. It
also meant that the shower heads were set so low that I at 6 ft. 1 inch had to bend down to wash the top of my bald head. I know I have whined about this in
previous trip reports but what idiot designs a hotel with shower heads set at 5 feet? In any case the Fiesta was and is very comfortable for myself and my
family and I/we will continue to go back.
I loved my stay at the El Portal motel in Beatty, NV. I was looking for a place to stay the night as close as possible to my planned hike at Ubehebe Peak in
Death Valley. The El Portal motel fit the bill perfectly. It was cheap ($35), clean, staffed by very friendly people (owners I assume), hadn’t been remodeled
since the last Democratic president to get us into a war and had “character”. As I told my son when we stayed one time at a motel (Historic Rt. 66 Motel in
Seligman, AZ) that you never remember the Hampton Inns of the world but you do remember hotels like that one. I will always fondly remember the El Portal
motel and will stay there again if circumstance finds me in the area.
The Eureka Hotel and Casino in Mesquite, NV was another story. This hotel is located in Mesquite, Nevada which is right on the Nevada/Utah border as you
travel up I-15 into Utah. I wanted to stay at a hotel as possible to my next day hike in Zion that frankly had good video poker gambling and after some
research the Eureka seemed to be a good match. As far as gambling is concerned it did as I will relate later. As far as a hotel it did not. The hotel facility
itself was fine. It isn’t attached to the hotel but is accessed by a short walk across the parking lot. The rooms though not new, were clean and quiet. The
staff is another matter. They just act like they don’t care one bit whether you like the hotel, them or ever stay there again. I hate employees like that and
judging on the face of the fat guy (boss) in the back he shared that attitude. Take my advice and stay some where else but gamble at their casino. I won
some cash there.
The Death Valley Hike-Ubehebe Peak
Death Valley is the almost the perfect place for winter hiking. With the exception of some of its highest peaks (Telescope Peak, Wild Rose Peak), which I’ve
already hiked, the temperatures are moderate and the peaks are almost snow free. As you might guess summer hiking except in the high elevations is
difficult if not impossible and perhaps stupid. So I did my usual trip planning thing. I checked my books, searched on websites and just checked my map for
a likely target for this trip. I settled on Ubehebe Peak because it was a challenging but not crazy hike and it was located directly beside a feature call The
Racetrack which is famous for the “moving rocks”.
So as I related earlier I stayed the night before at the El Portal motel in Beatty, NV and left early in the morning (5 AM) for my hike. Beatty is located close to
the one of the western entrances to Death Valley. While you can go directly into Death Valley by taking Rt. 374 west the road is narrow with a lot of turns
and would take a while so after a conversation with my host at the El Portal I decided to continue north on Rt. 95 and then turn west on Rt. 267 at Scotty’s
Junction. Take a look at Scotty’s Castle, it’s a must see if you come to Death Valley. I have been there twice before so I wasn’t stopping today even if it was
open at 6:30 AM.
I continued down Rt. 267 into Death Valley and made a right turn towards Ubehebe Crater. This is a paved road for about 3 miles until you hit the crater
and then the road turns to a graded gravel road. I’ve read other trip reports that said you needed a high clearance four wheel drive. You really don’t need
a 4 wheel drive at all but high clearance would speed up the drive. I had my aforementioned Jeep Cherokee and made the 27 miles in about 50 minutes.
After passing Teakettle Junction (photo link) you soon are sitting immediately beside both Ubehebe Peak and The Racetrack. I wanted to walk on the floor
of The Racetrack to check out the moving rocks at the southern end but unfortunately it was pretty muddy and I didn’t want to leave footprints that might last
100 years.
The trail up to the peaks is pretty obvious because it follows the route of a road miners built 100 years or so ago even though I doubt it gets much trail
maintenance. I didn’t see anyone on this trail during my entire hike though it was still pretty early in the day. In fact I only saw two vehicles while I was on the
mountain speeding down the road. On the drive back however I saw perhaps five or six vehicles.
The trail wanders up the side of the mountain until it hits the saddle. There is still a faint trail at this point that I followed coming down but I missed it going
up. I then took a short across the rocks route until I met the trail again and continued to the summit. Very cool 360 degree views and a nice view at how far
you’ve come by looking at your vehicle, way, way below you. Pictures.
I started at about 7:30 AM and was back at the car by 11 AM.
Kolob Arch trail, Zion National Park
This hike is located in the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park which is a much less visited area of the park. Its entrance is located off I-15 at exit 40. I
left early in the morning because I always want an early start on any hike. As I got to the park I looked at my cell phone and the time was 8:30 AM I had
forgotten about the time zone change. Just as a reminder, to me also, Nevada is in the Pacific Time zone and Utah is in the Mountain Time zone (1 hour
less). The small visitor’s center was closed when I got there but the trail head was only a few miles up the paved road into that section of the park and was
easy to find and very well marked.
The trail descends down into a valley which always makes me wonder how hard it is going to be hiking out of this valley at the end of a 14 mile hike when
you’re tired. Well, that’s why hiking is so fun for me. It’s a challenge and when you challenge yourself you always feel better about yourself.
It was a beautiful day, sunny like it almost always is in Southern Utah and a perfect crisp, clear day. The temperature was probably about 25 or so when I
hiked but I was prepared with the proper layers and gloves so I didn’t have a problem. The cold actually helped me on the way in because the ground was
frozen and made easy hiking without any mud. That wasn’t the case later in the early afternoon as I returned. The hike loops around towards the left and
then starts to follow the La Verkin Creek. The “creek” seems more substantial than creek would indicate. The hike here is a bit more difficult because you
are hiking much of the way through river sand at the edges. Along this 3-4 mile section of the trail there are several excellent camp grounds including one
right at the trail turn into the actual Kolob Arch canyon. That one has sites across the creek. After my hike I was talking to a range who told me that the
creek often floods and most recently hikers were trapped on the other side and in at least one case had to be rescued by boats. But today that wasn’t the
case. You could have probably walked across it if you wanted to.
At about 6.5 miles into the 7 mile one way hike you turn off the main trail into a canyon to hike/crawl/climb the final .5 miles to the arch. The reason I say this
is that the trail quickly pretty much disappears as you move up through this canyon following and hiking through a stream and up and over the expected
rocks and boulders in it. Remember, this is January but it seems very much alive here with all kinds of trees, plants and wildlife to look at as I went along. It
was only ½ mile but it took almost 30 minutes to hike this because of all the obstacles. Then you reach the end and look up and boom, the Arch is there. I
took the required pictures and ate something and then was on my way back. On these hikes I never stay at the end goal that long because as many of
people have said, it’s not the destination but the journey that’s important.
The trip back was a little more difficult mostly because of the mud which as I related earlier was frozen on the inbound trip. And of course the hike back up
the hill was as fun as it always was but when you are almost to the end that is a motivation to keep moving. When you are in the midst of one of these up hill
climbs you think to yourself, “Boy this is hard”, but then after you do it and look back you almost always think, “That wasn’t so hard.” I didn’t pass anyone on
the trip in and I guessed I passed perhaps 10 people on the way out. They were all friendly people as almost all the people I meet on any trail are.
I started the hike around 9 AM and was finished by 1:30 PM. So I did 14 miles in about 4 ½ hours so I was pleased with my time. As the ranger I talked to
said, “You didn’t dawdle.” Pictures.
The Gambling
This section will be short. It wasn’t great. I lost at the Fiesta Henderson and I lost when I stopped at the Golden Nugget in Pahrump on my way up to
Beatty. I did win at the Eureka in Mesquite but not enough to compensate for the losses at the other two casinos. But as we all know that’s why they call it
gambling.
To give the casual reader a little background on my gambling strategy here it is. I play video poker exclusively. I usually play a version called NSUD (Not So
Ugly Deuces) which is a version of deuces wild which returns 99.7% with perfect play. And I pretty much play perfectly a product of umpteen zillions hours of
practice on Bob Dancer’s Winpoker software. I like the Fiesta Henderson because they have 3 play 25 cent video poker with a progressive Royal Flush
which means it hits a positive (+100%) at about $1,150 which occurs about 50% of the time or more. I liked the Eureka because they had 50 and 100 play
NSUD games, which is rare and had double cash back on the day I played which brought the return to 99.9%. Not positive but still a lot of fun though you
can burn through some cash playing 100 play 5 cent machines ($25 per bet).
December 31, 2005 through January 6, 2006
This was a solo trip for myself with a little bit of peak bagging, an early morning stroll to an amazing arch as well as a few days in my favorite town, Las
Vegas.
As is my routine I will break this trip report up into its various components.
*The flight
*The car
*The hotels
*The Death Valley hike
*The Kolob Arch hike
*The gambling
The Flight
I once again flew on US Airways through Pittsburgh to Vegas leaving at 6 AM and arriving on time at 10:28 AM. I have made a decision to us US Airways
every time I fly to Vegas. The price for the most part is just about the same for any airline if you buy early. I find no real difference in service from airline to
airline. However, two things had led to my decision. The first reason is frequent flyer miles. I find myself flying out west at least three to four times per year
yet I haven’t received a free ticket in years. Some of this is the airline’s fault because they’re so restrictive but also it’s my fault for spreading all these miles
out over 4-5 airlines. The second reason is I like connecting through Pittsburgh or Charlotte. Both of them are good, modern medium/large airports with not
a lot of congestion so the changes for delays are much smaller than at Chicago, Newark or Philadelphia. And I just thought of another reason, the US
Airways flights now land at the America West gates which don’t require a shuttle bus to the main terminal and whose security check in lines are invariably
less than the other gates. So there you are. I had no delays either way.
The Car
As has been the case the last several years I rented from Dollar. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they are normally the cheapest at the Vegas airport
and with their Dollar Express program means that you can often arrive at the lot and be out the gate within 5-10 minutes. Why go anywhere else? For this
trip I, once again, rented a Jeep Cherokee. I know, I know, for someone who is so environmentally conscious how can I rent an SUV every time? Well, first
of all on this trip I am going on dirt/gravel roads in the back roads of Death Valley and I truly need a high clearance 4 WD. And second, I’m on vacation and
I want to be comfortable. So even if I do spend as much in gas as the vehicle cost me to rent that’s a cost of the vacation. I’ll send another $100 to the
Sierra Club to make up for it.
The Hotels
I stayed at three hotels this trip, my tried and true home base of the Fiesta Henderson, a pre-hike delight, the El Portal Motel in Beatty, NV and the “go jump
into a lake” Eureka Hotel and Casino.
My stay at the Fiesta was normal which means check in was easy, the room was clean and all my charges were comped by my casino host, Jane Quine. It
also meant that the shower heads were set so low that I at 6 ft. 1 inch had to bend down to wash the top of my bald head. I know I have whined about this in
previous trip reports but what idiot designs a hotel with shower heads set at 5 feet? In any case the Fiesta was and is very comfortable for myself and my
family and I/we will continue to go back.
I loved my stay at the El Portal motel in Beatty, NV. I was looking for a place to stay the night as close as possible to my planned hike at Ubehebe Peak in
Death Valley. The El Portal motel fit the bill perfectly. It was cheap ($35), clean, staffed by very friendly people (owners I assume), hadn’t been remodeled
since the last Democratic president to get us into a war and had “character”. As I told my son when we stayed one time at a motel (Historic Rt. 66 Motel in
Seligman, AZ) that you never remember the Hampton Inns of the world but you do remember hotels like that one. I will always fondly remember the El Portal
motel and will stay there again if circumstance finds me in the area.
The Eureka Hotel and Casino in Mesquite, NV was another story. This hotel is located in Mesquite, Nevada which is right on the Nevada/Utah border as you
travel up I-15 into Utah. I wanted to stay at a hotel as possible to my next day hike in Zion that frankly had good video poker gambling and after some
research the Eureka seemed to be a good match. As far as gambling is concerned it did as I will relate later. As far as a hotel it did not. The hotel facility
itself was fine. It isn’t attached to the hotel but is accessed by a short walk across the parking lot. The rooms though not new, were clean and quiet. The
staff is another matter. They just act like they don’t care one bit whether you like the hotel, them or ever stay there again. I hate employees like that and
judging on the face of the fat guy (boss) in the back he shared that attitude. Take my advice and stay some where else but gamble at their casino. I won
some cash there.
The Death Valley Hike-Ubehebe Peak
Death Valley is the almost the perfect place for winter hiking. With the exception of some of its highest peaks (Telescope Peak, Wild Rose Peak), which I’ve
already hiked, the temperatures are moderate and the peaks are almost snow free. As you might guess summer hiking except in the high elevations is
difficult if not impossible and perhaps stupid. So I did my usual trip planning thing. I checked my books, searched on websites and just checked my map for
a likely target for this trip. I settled on Ubehebe Peak because it was a challenging but not crazy hike and it was located directly beside a feature call The
Racetrack which is famous for the “moving rocks”.
So as I related earlier I stayed the night before at the El Portal motel in Beatty, NV and left early in the morning (5 AM) for my hike. Beatty is located close to
the one of the western entrances to Death Valley. While you can go directly into Death Valley by taking Rt. 374 west the road is narrow with a lot of turns
and would take a while so after a conversation with my host at the El Portal I decided to continue north on Rt. 95 and then turn west on Rt. 267 at Scotty’s
Junction. Take a look at Scotty’s Castle, it’s a must see if you come to Death Valley. I have been there twice before so I wasn’t stopping today even if it was
open at 6:30 AM.
I continued down Rt. 267 into Death Valley and made a right turn towards Ubehebe Crater. This is a paved road for about 3 miles until you hit the crater
and then the road turns to a graded gravel road. I’ve read other trip reports that said you needed a high clearance four wheel drive. You really don’t need
a 4 wheel drive at all but high clearance would speed up the drive. I had my aforementioned Jeep Cherokee and made the 27 miles in about 50 minutes.
After passing Teakettle Junction (photo link) you soon are sitting immediately beside both Ubehebe Peak and The Racetrack. I wanted to walk on the floor
of The Racetrack to check out the moving rocks at the southern end but unfortunately it was pretty muddy and I didn’t want to leave footprints that might last
100 years.
The trail up to the peaks is pretty obvious because it follows the route of a road miners built 100 years or so ago even though I doubt it gets much trail
maintenance. I didn’t see anyone on this trail during my entire hike though it was still pretty early in the day. In fact I only saw two vehicles while I was on the
mountain speeding down the road. On the drive back however I saw perhaps five or six vehicles.
The trail wanders up the side of the mountain until it hits the saddle. There is still a faint trail at this point that I followed coming down but I missed it going
up. I then took a short across the rocks route until I met the trail again and continued to the summit. Very cool 360 degree views and a nice view at how far
you’ve come by looking at your vehicle, way, way below you. Pictures.
I started at about 7:30 AM and was back at the car by 11 AM.
Kolob Arch trail, Zion National Park
This hike is located in the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park which is a much less visited area of the park. Its entrance is located off I-15 at exit 40. I
left early in the morning because I always want an early start on any hike. As I got to the park I looked at my cell phone and the time was 8:30 AM I had
forgotten about the time zone change. Just as a reminder, to me also, Nevada is in the Pacific Time zone and Utah is in the Mountain Time zone (1 hour
less). The small visitor’s center was closed when I got there but the trail head was only a few miles up the paved road into that section of the park and was
easy to find and very well marked.
The trail descends down into a valley which always makes me wonder how hard it is going to be hiking out of this valley at the end of a 14 mile hike when
you’re tired. Well, that’s why hiking is so fun for me. It’s a challenge and when you challenge yourself you always feel better about yourself.
It was a beautiful day, sunny like it almost always is in Southern Utah and a perfect crisp, clear day. The temperature was probably about 25 or so when I
hiked but I was prepared with the proper layers and gloves so I didn’t have a problem. The cold actually helped me on the way in because the ground was
frozen and made easy hiking without any mud. That wasn’t the case later in the early afternoon as I returned. The hike loops around towards the left and
then starts to follow the La Verkin Creek. The “creek” seems more substantial than creek would indicate. The hike here is a bit more difficult because you
are hiking much of the way through river sand at the edges. Along this 3-4 mile section of the trail there are several excellent camp grounds including one
right at the trail turn into the actual Kolob Arch canyon. That one has sites across the creek. After my hike I was talking to a range who told me that the
creek often floods and most recently hikers were trapped on the other side and in at least one case had to be rescued by boats. But today that wasn’t the
case. You could have probably walked across it if you wanted to.
At about 6.5 miles into the 7 mile one way hike you turn off the main trail into a canyon to hike/crawl/climb the final .5 miles to the arch. The reason I say this
is that the trail quickly pretty much disappears as you move up through this canyon following and hiking through a stream and up and over the expected
rocks and boulders in it. Remember, this is January but it seems very much alive here with all kinds of trees, plants and wildlife to look at as I went along. It
was only ½ mile but it took almost 30 minutes to hike this because of all the obstacles. Then you reach the end and look up and boom, the Arch is there. I
took the required pictures and ate something and then was on my way back. On these hikes I never stay at the end goal that long because as many of
people have said, it’s not the destination but the journey that’s important.
The trip back was a little more difficult mostly because of the mud which as I related earlier was frozen on the inbound trip. And of course the hike back up
the hill was as fun as it always was but when you are almost to the end that is a motivation to keep moving. When you are in the midst of one of these up hill
climbs you think to yourself, “Boy this is hard”, but then after you do it and look back you almost always think, “That wasn’t so hard.” I didn’t pass anyone on
the trip in and I guessed I passed perhaps 10 people on the way out. They were all friendly people as almost all the people I meet on any trail are.
I started the hike around 9 AM and was finished by 1:30 PM. So I did 14 miles in about 4 ½ hours so I was pleased with my time. As the ranger I talked to
said, “You didn’t dawdle.” Pictures.
The Gambling
This section will be short. It wasn’t great. I lost at the Fiesta Henderson and I lost when I stopped at the Golden Nugget in Pahrump on my way up to
Beatty. I did win at the Eureka in Mesquite but not enough to compensate for the losses at the other two casinos. But as we all know that’s why they call it
gambling.
To give the casual reader a little background on my gambling strategy here it is. I play video poker exclusively. I usually play a version called NSUD (Not So
Ugly Deuces) which is a version of deuces wild which returns 99.7% with perfect play. And I pretty much play perfectly a product of umpteen zillions hours of
practice on Bob Dancer’s Winpoker software. I like the Fiesta Henderson because they have 3 play 25 cent video poker with a progressive Royal Flush
which means it hits a positive (+100%) at about $1,150 which occurs about 50% of the time or more. I liked the Eureka because they had 50 and 100 play
NSUD games, which is rare and had double cash back on the day I played which brought the return to 99.9%. Not positive but still a lot of fun though you
can burn through some cash playing 100 play 5 cent machines ($25 per bet).
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