Thursday, April 19, 2012

TOWERING RED CLIFFS…RED ROCK CANYON

Tuesday, April 17 – After our visit to Hoover Dam, we then headed to the other side of Las Vegas to drive the beautiful Red Rock Canyon.

1-sign

The Canyon is located in the Mojave Desert. 

red-rock

colors

The area is 195,819 acres and is visited by more than one million people each year. A National Conservation Area allows free admission with the Golden Age Pass otherwise it costs $7 per vehicle.

It is a 13-mile one way drive through the Canyon. The drive circles the canyon floor at the foot of the Rainbow and La Madre Mountains.

View of the drive.
the-drive

beautiful-red-rock

beauty

so-much-color

There is a beautiful visitors center with plenty of displays and learning opportunities about the living desert. There are indoor and outdoor displays. One could spend several hours here, but we came for the drive through the canyon, so only stayed briefly.

The area is full of hiking trails. Over 19 trails ranging from Easy to Strenuous. There are even mountain climbing opportunities for those looking for that type of excitement. Unfortunately, Marsha's back pain has moved to her hip and hiking was out of the question for this trip. Maybe, next week!

Tons of opportunity to do some serious rock climbing.close-up-of-rock

light-and-dark

If you are looking for awesome scenery and fabulous hiking trails, do not miss Red Rock Canyon. Beauty all around!

us

Not far from Red Rock is Nevada's Mt. Charleston, 11,916 feet. We were really surprised to see snow on the top. We were told that the week before we arrived there was a big rain storm in Vegas and the Mountain got about six inches of snow.

Mt.-Charleston

Marsha is flying home this evening on the "red eye" out of Las Vegas. She will be in Ohio visiting our daughter, Kelly, her dad, family and friends for 8 days. Since we won't be back in Ohio until probably early fall, she wants to see our daughter and her dad.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

TAMING THE WILD RIVER…HOOVER DAM

Tuesday, April 17 - We headed to Hoover Dam this morning to checkout the new bridge from a tourist vantage point and to visit the Dam. We had previously taken the dam tour many years ago on a vacation to the area.

We started our visit by walking across the new bridge, Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

1-sign 

Mike O’Callaghan was a former Nevada Governor from 1971 to 1979 and later became an editor of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. Pat Tillman was an Arizona State University graduate who left a lucrative NFL football career to join the Army in 2002. He was killed in Afghanistan from a friendly fire incident in April of 2004 at the age of 27.

To get to the bridge there are tons of steps or a paved walkway to tackle.
stairs-to-bridge

They needed to reinforce the walls along the walkway.

The bolts are 20 ft. into the side of the mountain.
bolts

Looking across the walkway. Paul-over-bridge

The bypass bridge (new bridge), located approximately 1,500 feet south of the dam, is 1,900 feet long. The arch span stretches 1,060 feet, and the deck stands 900 feet above the river. It is the world’s highest concrete arch bridge.

The road on the new bridge.
new-bridge-road

Paul was amazed that people are permitted to walk across this bridge in this day and age. We didn't even see any cameras watching the pedestrians on the bridge (I'm sure they were there somewhere).

Marks the middle of the bridge.
middle-of-bridge-marker

It sure is an awe inspiring walk looking W A Y down at the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Another engineering marvel to partner with the dam.

dam

paul-and-me-dam-in-backgrou

If you would like to see some amazing photos of this bridge being built, please click on this link.

Hoover Dam is named for Herbert Hoover, the nation’s 31st president. After he left office, the names “Boulder Canyon Dam” and “Boulder Dam” were frequently used, allegedly because the new Secretary of the Interior did not like the former president.

Hoover Dam is 726 feet high, 45 feet thick at the top and 660 feet at the bottom, and is larger than the Great Pyramid of Cheops.

side-of-dam

Hoover Dam is filled with 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete, enough to pave a strip 16 feet wide and 8 inches thick from San Francisco to New York City.

looking-straight-down-dam-w

The total cost of the bypass bridge is $240 million, $100 million in federal funds, $20 million each from Nevada and Arizona, and $100 million in state bond funds.

Backside of bridge.
other-side-of-bridge

The lake surface is far below the high water mark, surrounded by a broad, white "bathtub ring" of mineral deposits left along the shoreline by the retreating water.

water

Spillway area.
overflow-area

We then returned to our car and drove across the Hoover damn and parked on the Arizona side. We walked back across the damn to view the new bridge from below and to see the sights and memorials on the dam.

Drive on dam.
drive-over-old-bridge

View from Dam.
dam-bridge-from-dam-wall

Two winged figures, 30 feet tall and made of bronze, stand on the Nevada side’s approach to the dam. Legend has it that rubbing their toes brings good luck.

flag-and-statue

Paul trying to get some good luck.
paul-touching-toes

No we didn't need to use the dam restrooms, talk to the dam tour guide or do any other dam activity…we just couldn't resist.

A special thanks to Rick, Rick and Paulette's RV Travels. In a comment he suggested we get there early. We were there by 9 and beat the crowds. As we were making our way across the new bridge, a huge bus load of people got off. Thank goodness we arrived early!

We made a brief stop to look at Lake Mead. It also has is very low and has the "bathtub ring."

lake-mead

On our way back up the mountain toward Boulder City, NV, we saw three groups of Long Horn Sheep grazing on the green grass between the highway and a couple Little League Fields. The sheep evidently know where to find some grass that gets watered.

long-horn-sheep

long-horn-sheep-2

long-horn-sheep-posing

Another great day and great visit. 

Correction:  Our apology to Mike and Pat, Mike and Pat's Travels. We called their Angel kitty Megabyte instead of Megabyte2. Their kitty by any name is just beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!