| Dad, Austin Out West Again This time giving something back and if we are lucky taking something home. Wednesday, July 27th through Friday, August 5th, 2005 Well this was another father and son western adventure. This time not only with a Vegas trip but also something new for both of us, a volunteer trail building vacation. As the title says we hoped to give something back which we did but as far as the second part about taking something home. Well, that will have to wait until a future trip. Click here for the photos of the volunteer vacation and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. I will break this trip report up to its various components: *The flight *The car *The hotels *The volunteer vacation *The hike *The sights we saw The Flight We left Rochester at 8:23 AM on United and flew through Chicago. We left late from Rochester and late from Chicago but still made the connection and arrived in Las Vegas on time. Go figure. On the way back we were once again delayed leaving. We left Las Vegas about an hour late and had a breathless race across the O’Hare airport to make our connection in the nick of time. I hate flying through Chicago and Newark for that matter. They are too busy and something always seems to happen. The flight was cheap ($258) but the next time I am going to pay a few extra bucks if I have to so I can go through a more sedate hub airport. Pittsburgh and Cleveland are my favorites with Charlotte on the OK list. The flights themselves were normal, that is, crowded with little amenities. However, I have found that if you lower your expectations enough you won’t be disappointed. The Car As usual I rented through Dollar. Dollar is my favorite in Vegas and in most of the places I travel. They are always the cheapest and are pretty convenient in Las Vegas. They are on the airport grounds and are about a five minute shuttle ride on one of their frequent shuttles. For this trip I used their Fast Lane program which means that once you are signed up and have a reservation all you have to do is go to the car that you reserved and show your driver’s license at the gate. However, don’t get too excited because they have now changed this to Dollar Express. It's not as good though. Now you have a special line to go through but you have to show your driver’s license and credit card at the counter. It will remain to be seen how much this slows down the process when I pick up my car the next time. I have seen some impressive lines at the Vegas location. www.dollar.com I had reserved a Jeep Cherokee but they substituted a Chrysler Pacifica, which is a couple steps up the Dollar food chain. Since I really didn't need a 4 wheel drive car this trip that was fine. The car was fine however, since the Pacifica is not exactly an economy, car coupled with several hundreds of miles of driving; I spent about $150 in gas in nine days. The Hotels During our time on this trip we spent six days in a total of three hotels and two days camping. Our first, fifth and sixth night we spent in our currently favorite hotel in Las Vegas, the Fiesta Henderson. The Fiesta Henderson is located just off I-93/95 in Henderson at the Lake Mead Blvd. exit. It is a smallish hotel by strip definitions but that is one of the reasons I like it. I probably have stayed there ten times in the past five years and have never had a bad experience. Because of its size there is rarely a wait to check in and all of the staff is invariably friendly. Because it is way off the strip the gambling (video poker) is among the best in the city. When I am at a casino I do like to gamble so therefore I have never paid (directly) for a room and now I also don’t pay (directly) for any meals. I am “comped” because of my level of gambling. However, what gets me RFB (room, food and beverage) at the Fiesta might get me just a room at a strip hotel. The only downside to the hotel is that is you aren’t gambling or eating there isn’t much else to do. They are fixing that by currently in a remodeling project to remodel all the rooms and add a movie theatre. Give them a call if you are going to be in the area, 1-702-558-7000 and ask for my casino host, Jane Quine. The second night of our visit we stayed at the Best Western Bishop Holiday Spa Lodge, 1-706-873-3543. Well, the best that I can say about this hotel is that it was close to where we were going to meeting our trail partners the next day and was relatively clean. It was also in serious need of a remodeling project and also was definitely priced for the summer tourist business at around $95 with tax. I would try another place if you are in Bishop, California. During our last three nights in Las Vegas we stayed at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, 1-702-365-7111. I have stayed here before and been reasonably happy. My wife likes it because it is a much larger casino with a movie theatre, spa, bowling center and even an events arena. On one trip to Las Vegas we caught a Las Vegas Wranglers game which is the minor league hockey team here. It was a lot of fun. It has very decent gambling with the best looking waitresses in Las Vegas. There are a total of three reasons why I didn’t like staying here this trip. First, it is very big and very busy. I am sure my 22 year old son like that atmosphere but this 48 year old father is a bit past that. Second, I lost gambling, a lot. Now I have gambled for many thousands of hours over the years and I know intellectually how you can go up and how you can go down. But I put in probably 25 hours of gambling in three days and by the “normal” odds I should have hit four deuces on my game of choice, deuces wild, at least three times. Well, I hit it only once. And if you are gambling at $1 video poker or $5 a hand for that long you can pile up some depressing numbers. And finally, the third reason I didn’t like staying here this time wasn’t apparent until later. In most casinos after gambling the length of time that I did at the Orleans you will at least get some great room/meal offers in the mail if not a phone call from a casino host. But from the Orleans nothing other than the normal level of offers. Well, their loss. The hotel and room themselves were fine with the service a little distant that sometimes occurs with large facilities. The Volunteer Vacation Since I started my mid-life crisis hiking obsession several years ago I have wanted to do a volunteer trail maintenance trip. Several organizations sponsor these types of events where you volunteer for a period of time and pay a fee to the sponsoring organization to help support the events. The problem I had with these events is that they were all one or two weeks in length. And while I wanted to give something back I didn’t want to use a third of my vacation time to do it. This dilemma was solved in January of 2005 when I came across a long weekend trip sponsored by the American Hiking Society. I immediately signed up myself and Austin and luckily we got the last two spaces. The trip would be in the Little Lakes Region of the Inyo National Forest about an hour northeast of Bishop, California. After staying in Bishop the night before we met our Trail Leader Michael in the parking lot of the White Mountain Ranger station on Main St. (Rt. 395) in Bishop. We met one other couple there, Dennis and Joyce and then all followed Michael to the work area in the Little Lakes Region on the Inyo National Forest. We were staying at Mosquito Flats campground at an altitude of 10,300 feet. This area is picture postcard absolutely beautiful. Check out my photos and see just how. A note on the campground though, it is aptly named. You would think that mosquitoes don’t survive well on nights when it got into the 40’s but noooooo, that would be incorrect. We were soon on the trail and hiked a mile or so to the area where we would be working to join the rest of our crew. We were 11 in all and were working on rebuilding a section of trail. I just want to say it was one of the most rewarding but also one of the most physically demanding two days in my recent memory. Austin and I spent most of the time making check dams where you dig holes into an old stream bed and then secure in place with rocks and dirt a log that will stick up and inch of two above the bed. What will then happen is that when it rains and silt is washing down the stream bed the water will flow over the dam but the silt will be deposited in front of it thus stopping further erosion. I don’t know if you have ever dug holes a foot or two deep and four or five feet across in the bottom of a stream but let me tell you it isn’t easy. But Austin and I did it. We were tired after each day but felt good that we had given something back. During our two full days on the trail we got to know our fellow volunteers. They all seemed like very good people with a concern about the environment and a wish to help out. I very much enjoyed their company. We were scheduled to stay two nights and leave around 2 PM on the final day Sunday, July 31st. However, we worked so well together that everything was completed by Saturday. Austin and I left very early in the morning. I had everything taken down and packed up by 4 AM. For some reason that I don’t recall my 22 year old son wanted to sleep in the car that night. He said it was comfortable but a bit on the chilly side. The Hike Well, a more accurate term for this section might be hike (s) though the first one wasn’t really a hike in my book but more of a stroll. I am always on the lookout for cool places to visit as we go on these trips and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest seemed like just the place. It sits in the White Mountains in eastern California overlooking Bishop, California. We arrived there around 6 AM and took a 4 mile loop hike through the groves of trees. At some location in here is one of the oldest living trees on the planet thought they don’t mark that particular tree because they are afraid of vandals. We had a great little walk through the sunshine and the trees and enjoyed the high mountain air (about 10,000 feet). Austin did great and it was a nice Father/Son memory. They have what looks like as a brand new visitor center but we weren’t able to go into it because of the early hour. About 20 miles up the road is the summit of White Mountain Peak which at 14,426 feet is probably the most accessible 14,000 feet peak. There is even a jeep trail up to the top but only the scientists at the research station located near it use that. Everyone else has to hike to the top but other than the altitude it’s supposed to be not too bad. On this trip however, we had a little too much physical activity and were anxious to get back to Sin City and its decadence. The next hike really was a hike, Mt. Charleston using the South Loop Trail. I had done this hike before. I asked my trip companion if he wanted to do the hike with me. I’ve heard that the shortest measure of time in the world is the time between a traffic light turning green and a New York cabbie blowing his horn but I think the time it took between my question and Austin saying no was pretty darn close to the cabbie’s time. So therefore it would only be me while Austin enjoyed the pleasures of the Orleans Hotel and Casino on his own. I left for the hike on Wednesday, August 3rd early from the Orleans around 6 AM or so and was at the trailhead by 7:30 AM. The hike took me through an area that must have been the site of an impressive avalanche the previous winter. I had read about it at that time, I believe a teenage boy was killed in the event; but I hadn’t realized exactly where it happened. I could plainly see the path of the snow/ice/rocks down the mountain and through a very pretty stand of aspen trees. Even though it was early August the ice still hadn’t melted in the area. Because of the avalanche there were many downed trees and rocks in the trail which slowed me down a bit until I got to the first of the many switchbacks leading to the saddle. Another interesting thing I came upon about ¾ of the way to the saddle was a smoking and still slightly burning tree that apparently was struck by lightening. I look at it closely wondering what I should do. Should I go down to the bottom and notify a forest official? Should I try to put it out? I decided that I would go ahead and continue to hike and notify someone when I returned. It didn’t look that bad and really wasn’t. More on this later. I continued the hike up through the switchbacks to the saddle. I hiked this particular hike before in October, 2002 and I have to admit it was and probably still is my toughest hike ever. I have hiked harder hikes since such as rim to rim at the Grand Canyon (22 miles) twice but I was in better shape and they didn’t seem as hard. This hike while not as tough as it seemed the first time is still very strenuous at 17 miles round trip with about 4,000 feet of elevation. Despite these exertions it is still one of my favorite hikes with great views, great weather and heck, even great smells as you move through the pine forests. There was one thing that came up as I crossed the meadows after the saddle on the way to the summit. The weather had started off with bright blue Nevada skies but about 6 miles in I looked up and saw thunderhead clouds forming. I pushed myself and it became darker and darker. Finally after reaching the summit I could look down in the valley and see lighting coming from the storm clouds. As I watched from the summit I saw a lone hiker about ½ mile from the summit turn around and hastily head back down after he/she heard/saw the lighting and thunder. I spent about 5 minutes at the top, if that. There are two things that scare me while hiking, grizzly bears and lightening. Now I have never yet hiked in grizzly bear country but the thought of meeting one of these on any trail terrifies me. I think I would have at least a fighting chance against a black bear but against a grizzly it would be all she wrote. The second thing that scares me is lightening when I am hiking on a ridgeline or summit. Now picture me on the highest summit in a 150 mile radius while it is raining and lightening and you see my concern. So I started hiking quickly back down the trail heading down from the summit and towards the tree line which is perhaps 2 miles away. It started raining fairly hard right before I hit the trees and then even started hailing but obviously I am writing this report so I did survive. I actually like hiking in the rain as long as it doesn’t included that pesky lightening and thundering. The trip back down was uneventful. It is easier of course because most of it is downhill but still hard on the knees as all downhill hiking is. Make sure you have the hiker’s best friend with you (good trekking poles). Again the trip back down was uneventful but long. The hike is 8 ½ miles each way and no matter who you are it takes awhile to hike 8 ½ miles. I made it down without and slips or falls. One interesting thing did happen on the way to the bottom. As I was moving through the switchbacks with about 3 ½ miles to go I passed a group of Forest Service fire fighters hiking up the trail to take care of the two trees I passed that were burning from lightning strikes. If you have ever hiked this trail you know how tough it is to hike with just normal gear. Now add chainsaws and shovels and the like and you will get a new appreciation of how hard these guys work. The Sights We Saw Manzanar Relocation Camp-an internment camp for Japanese-Americans and Japanese nationals during the 2nd World War. A blot against our history the order was signed by President Roosevelt and cleared by the Supreme Court. It teaches you that you can never take your freedoms for granted. Little Lakes Region in the Inyo National Forest in the Sierra Nevada mountains. A picture postcard beauty that looks almost too beautiful to be real. Make sure you visit the area and hike the trail we worked on. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest-It is amazing to look and touch something that was growing 2,000 years ago. Mt. Charleston-a tough alpine hike not 50 miles from the heat and glitter of Las Vegas. Even if you don’t hike Mt. Charleston just make sure that someday you get up from the video poker machine and drive up to the area. You won’t be disappointed. Atomic Testing Museum-a very cool place located in Las Vegas. Obviously sponsored and slanted by pro-nuclear power groups but still a well done and fascinating display of an important part of our history. Las Vegas 51s baseball-I love minor league baseball. There is just something very small town America about it. However, it could be done better here in Vegas. Perhaps I am spoiled coming from Rochester, NY and the Rochester Red Wings but it was really a disappointing experience. From the food to the fans to the overall experience it was mediocre at best. I won’t go back. Tropicana Comedy Stop-a lot of fun. Reasonably priced and very funny. Who can ask for more from a comedy club? |
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