Hiking has been part of my fitness routine for some years now, but this screeched to a halt this past winter and early 2023 travel season for two reasons. First, my shoulder and neck problems and subsequent surgery recovery periods prevented me from hiking for six months. Second, once back on the road, we spent the better part of four months camped in four of the five American deserts at a time when climate change drove record temperatures. During our month in Tucson, daytime highs never dropped below 110 degrees F, and for our month in Phoenix, highs stayed above 100 degrees F. While I did do some hiking with my brother Rus, as well as on my own; in general, it was just too damned hot for being outside on a daily basis, let alone hiking.
I really needed to get back at it though. So beginning in Vegas, I’ve been doing morning stretches and hiking on a routine basis. Because we change locations frequently, my hikes have varied from those along streets and sidewalks to actually getting into the mountains. When we stop at a new campground, one of the first things I do is check on availble trails according to my AllTrails app. I take pictures on every hike, so rather than blog about each one (boring), I thought I’d simply identify the trail name with basic data points and insert a few of the best representative pictures taken. My hiking restart happened while camped at Desert Eagle RV Park at Nellis AFB, NV. But after hiking the park three days in a row, I definitely needed a change of terrain and scenery.
Sunrise Mountain Trail A: 2.6 mi., 433′ Elevation gain. This trail was rocky and rugged. Recent heavy rains had severely damaged parts of the trail and completely washed out others. I struggled to remain on the trail even using AllTrails navigation. And then there was my trouble with staying upright.
Nellis Dunes Trail: 2.2 mi., 121′ Elevation gain. Pretty scenery, but I was disturbed by the widespread damage caused by commercial four-wheel-off-road rental operations. Glad I hiked in the morning, because I saw only two 4-wheel ATVs.
Hereafter, when I encounter great hiking trails, I’ll be blogging about them as done here. The titles will include “Take A Hike” with the town/location identified by name. Here’s wishing you happy hiking wherever you may be.
