Vegas: Escaping the heat and depressing casinos at Mt Charleston

To escape the ridiculous heat (104°F, 40°C) and the noxious casinos, I hired a car and headed up Mt. Charleston.


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The drive is fast, (less than an hour from the strip!) and straight. In fact it barely feels like you're climbing until you notice that the barren desert got populated first with Joshua Trees, then with real, needing-actual-water large pine trees. At about 8,000 ft (2,438 m), the area I was hiking in was significantly cooler, about 80°F (27°C), although the top of Mt. Charleston is still higher at 11,916 feet (3,632 m).

My hastily conceived-that-morning-in-the-hotel-room plan was to hike the summit via the South Loop.  But I was up way too late to actually get to the summit and still make my flight home, so I thought I'd just do some of it.  But when I got to the Cathedral rocks picnic area it was closed, and so was the whole south loop due to some just-barely-burning spot fires remaining from a larger fire they'd had.  

Instead I did the Trail Canyon trail up to the saddle for some spectacular views of limestoney Mt. Charleston and surrounds.  The trail guide said four hours, I only took two with plenty of photo stops and a detour to watch some rock climbing.  On the way back down I passed a few guys pushing MTBs up, it would have been amazing ride down.

Not Mt. Charleston, it's the baldy one below

The bare rocky top of Mt. Charleston

On the way back down I took a detour into the climbing area known as the Hood.  This photo is of Compton cave, a huuuuge cave with fixed bolts all over the massively overhung limestone.  This guy led a very impressive, super-powerful 12d "Straight Outta Compton" while I was watching, and continued on, joining it onto another climb at 13a.

Straight Outta Compton 12a lead

I guess in Nevada a "No Shooting" sign that actually says "OK go ahead and shoot but try not to hit anyone" is par for the course.

Next I headed to Fletcher Canyon, which follows a creek into what eventually turns into a very narrow and steep-sided canyon rock scramble. Great walk.

It's no antelope canyon, but it's still pretty impressive

Can't decide if this is completely natural water wear.  All of the rocks are covered in dead dried-out algae from the spring, pretty slippery.

The Mt. Charleston area is great, there's still a bunch of interesting day hikes I didn't get to do, and the summit itself which I'd like to do one day.  I'm jealous that there is amazing year-round climbing to be had < 1 hr from Vegas (this plus Red Rock).  I'd love to come back in winter for some XC skiing and snow shoeing.

Vegas

Not a bad spot for a nightclub.  @Hyde, The Bellagio.

The best steak in Vegas, on good authority.  Doesn't look like much from the outside.

Inside is 1950s steakhouse chic.

But, yep, that was a great steak.

@Light, Mandalay bay

Yep, that's someone running up the wall

Vancouver Island: Englishman River Falls, Qualicum Cheeseworks, Parksville Beach Sand Sculpting, Rathtrevor beach

Vancouver Island cont...

The surprisingly awesome falls at Englishman river falls provincial park

Methinks it is often a lot more humid here than when we visited

Stunningly clear water

A bridge asking to be jumped off.  This pool would make a great swimming spot on a summer afternoon with an air-mattress or two.

Qualicum beach, not the most amazing ever, but E had a good time here.

The Little Qualicum Cheeseworks.  E had an awesome time here.  Rabbits, cows, pigs.  Great for kids - they have a scavenger hunt.  Not bad for adults either: we bought some nice cheese and some fruit wine.

Awesome sand sculptures at the parksville sand sculpting competition.  Cheesy promo video here.

Parksville beach water park

Rathtrevor beach.  Definitely one of the weirdest beaches we've ever been to.  At low tide the water is about 1km out!  We walked about 100m out and let E play in one of the pools.

Ate at the Black Goose Inn, IMHO one of the best pubs in the world.  They have an amazing patio with picnic tables set out on the grass looking over the water.  On a summer afternoon it was just about perfect.  Good food and a ton of beers on top.

With some time to kill in Vancouver before our flight home we hit up Granville island.  Parking and traffic was horrible, but the markets and art galleries are pretty nice (super crowded on the weekend).

Vancouver Island: Victoria to Nanoose Bay

Driving day: north to Nanoose Bay.

 
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What maps thinks is a 1hr 44 min drive took us about 3 hours with stops for wailing kids. Including some very enjoyable time in dirty roadside parking lots feeding/changing/cajoling one or both of them.

The views were great!  Lets pretend we had a leisurely drive and enjoyed them.

Cowichan bay.  A little touristy, but not a bad spot for a coffee.

Our fancy digs for the next few nights, overlooking a beautiful estuary.  We even had an outdoor bath tub (I think we appreciated it a lot more than the kids).

Vancouver Island: Whale watching! No whales :( Beacon Hill Park, Victoria Busker's Festival

We jumped on a Prince of Whales whale watching tour out of Victoria, but didn't see any whales :(  There are a ton of companies operating out of Victoria, some out of Vancouver, and some out of Seattle.  They all coordinate and report sightings to maximise the chances of finding whales.  Unfortunately the day we went out there was heavy fog (only on the water, Victoria was really hot), which makes them hard to find.  They claim about 95% success rate, so we were fairly unlucky.

Lighthouse.  Whale watching tour kinda boring without whales.

Two bald eagles in this tree (trust me)

Really cold in the fog bank

Sea lions

A 'bait ball' (bunch of little fish being a meal for birds).  Sometimes these attract whales.  Not for us.

We saw a bald eagle and two sea lions.  Not exactly $210 worth, but we can come back for free if we ever happen to be in Victoria again...hmm....I'd suggest calling in the morning and asking if they have seen whales and getting on an afternoon tour if they have - once they have found them that day you are basically guaranteed to see them.

We took our 5-month-old on the larger (ocean magic) boat with no problems.  It was a little bumpy, but just enough to send him to sleep, not a problem otherwise.  Definitely dress warmly: it was super-hot in Victoria, but *really* cold on the water.

After whale watching we spent some time in Beacon Hill park so E could run around.

Peacocks at Beacon Hill Park

World's tallest totem pole @ Beacon Hill Park

Victoria busker's festival.  These guys claimed to be ex cirque du soleil, and I believe it.  They put on an amazing acrobatics and contortionist show.

Great food trucks at the busker's festival