Boulder City Conclusion

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Ethel M Chocolates Cactus Garden is on the northwest side of Henderson Nevada. They produce various types of treats at the factory there and have an extensive gift shop with wide assortment of candy bars, gift boxes and other chocolate delicacies. There is also a large garden on the grounds right next to the building. We had stopped here three years ago when we were in town and enjoyed both the treats and the gardens. Being the Christmas season, the gardens are decorated with all sorts of lights and other holiday displays. During our last visit for some reason, we didn’t stay to see the gardens after dark. We decided it was worth a second trip to see the festive lights. We picked a day mid week hoping the crowds would be a bit smaller and arrived around 2:30 so we could see the gardens again during the light of day and check out the production area and gift shop.

Welcome to Ethel M

There are numerous walking paths thru the gardens and we were able to walk around and enjoy the various desert plants. There were hundreds of displays from snowmen to polar bears. Many of the walking paths were blocked off which we later determined was to provide for a more orderly procession of visitors after sunset.

Peacock Display

Santa's Helpers

Angels

Polar Bear

Inside the building, we get a complimentary chocolate and walk past the large windows that overlook the factory floor. There were a small number of workers cleaning up the equipment but we didn’t get to see any real candy production. We perused the gift shop and did buy a few candy bars since we were there.

Mixers Sitting Idle

We managed to accomplish this in an hour or so. Instead of sticking around for sunset, we had planned to head to Bass Pro Shop to look around. This store has to be the largest one of them we have ever visited. We were able to wander around aimlessly for quite some time taking it all in. Next we headed to a hole in the wall restaurant we had discovered a week earlier in our stay. The Codfather is a fish and chips place that has some excellent food as long as you want some sort of fish and chips. By the time we were done eating dinner, it was quite dark and we headed back over to the nearby Ethel M to see the displays at night.

Reindeer

The place was a complete zoo. We needed to park several blocks away from the gardens and then line up with the couple hundred other folks that decided a Wednesday wouldn’t be as crowded. I suppose it likely is much worse on a weekend night so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky. It probably took 15 or 20 minutes before we managed to get into the gardens. There was a nominal fee to get in and we were then able to walk thru the displays at a leisurely pace.

Cool Ornament

Santa

Colorful Prickly Pear Cactus

Snowman

It was definitely a magical place. Since most desert plants have some sort of needles or thorns, I can only imagine how difficult it is to put up all the lights. There are lots of other Christmas themed items and plenty of light displays that are somewhat animated. The blocked off pathways provided for a one way traffic flow that was less confusing especially in the dark. The path leads past a vendor where hot chocolate and other warm items were available for the cool evening air. It also heads past the large area where kids could visit with Santa Claus.

Reindeer

Once we were in the gardens, we likely spent an hour or more just enjoying the festive nature of the gardens and the happy mood of all the people visiting. Well worth the time if you happen to be here at the right time of year.

Same Bear Picture as Before but at Night

Large Sleigh

Vibrant Joy

We were looking to get in some more hiking before leaving the area and picked a spot near Lake Las Vegas. The Lake Las Vegas Overlook Trail heads up to Hummel Peak which happens to have a geocache at the top. It will be nearly a 3.5 mile hike and gain 600 feet in elevation. The trail initially starts out on a paved bike path and bridge over the Las Vegas Wash. The middle portion of the hike is a loop that we will follow in a clockwise direction. We were enjoying the paved path so much that we continued on it well past where we were supposed to veer off onto a less visible single track. Fortunately we discovered our mistake before getting too far beyond our turn and headed back to get on the correct trail.

Heading Along the Trail

The trail is pretty much all uphill for the first 1.6 miles to the peak and was a good workout. Being late in the afternoon, much of the hike was in the shadow of another hill. At just over a mile into the hike, we spot the side trail which will be our return portion of the loop after making it to the summit. As we get closer, we notice there is an American flag at the peak. At least we know for certain where our destination is.

Still Going Up

Getting Closer to Peak

As we get further up the hill, we start to get much better views of the town of Lake Las Vegas. The last quarter mile to the peak is a bit rocky but the trail is quite obvious. We have nice views in all directions from the top of Hummel Peak. Old Glory has seen better days. We sign in at the cache and start the return trip down, needing to be careful of all the loose rocks on steep decline.

View Back Over Lake Las Vegas Community

The Final Push to Top

Made It

Nice Views Up Here

For the return trip, we head off the other trail onto a spur trail that leads down into a wash. The only problem is that the wash is down a 15 foot tall rock face that is quite steep. It does require some butt sliding in order to make it safely into the wash. Most of the wash has a thick gravel bed so walking is a bit more challenging but at least we are heading downhill. There are a few more drop offs that we need to figure how to descend without breaking a limb.

Chris Navigates Dry Waterfall Area

Another Dry Waterfall

The wash ends up connecting to a much larger wash that doesn’t have any real obstacles. We were paying attention to our trail map to make sure we took the proper path out of the wash. It would be quite easy to blissfully follow the wash and not be able to easily get back to the car. The next part of the hike is on either ATV trails or actual mining roads as there seemed to be some sort of heavy equipment parked nearby. We did run into some rather large pools of water and lots of mud. It wasn’t our typical desert hike but was fun. We got back to the car just as the sun was setting.

Our Route Out of Wash

Huge Mud Puddle in the Desert?

A couple days later, we head back over to Lake Mead National Recreation Area for one last set of hikes. We still had a few options we were hoping to do, bit we picked the an area pretty far north into the park known as the Redstone area. The first hike is the Redstone Extended Loop Trail. It starts out as a very obvious foot path around some wonderful petrified dunes. This area has predominantly red sandstone rock outcroppings. We aren’t too far from Valley of Fire State Park, so it might not be too surprising to find cool formations.

Redstone Outcropping

Inside Looking Out

The main rock formation has hundreds of cavities eroded out of the rock. Some are fairly small while others are large enough to crawl inside of. There are lots of interesting textures in the rocks but it doesn’t have the same color variations that we saw at Valley of Fire although this is still quite interesting.

Unusual Rock Texture

Chris Plays Peak-a-Boo

On the backside of the main formation, our trail map in AllTrails has us head south towards other formations maybe a third of a mile away. There is definitely no obvious trail or rock cairns. We try to stay more or less on the intended path but find ourselves getting well off the “trail” to explore some interesting rock formations.

Slender Arch in Stone

Pockets in Rock

Distance View from Up Top

There were lots of cool windows in many of the rocks. This is one of those hikes where the real goal is to just explore and not worry so much about sticking to a prescribed path. The rocks to the south are about 200 feet higher than the beginning of the trail, so the views are pretty nice of the formations in the distance.

More Rock Windows

We really enjoyed crawling around the rocks and seeing all there is to see. We likely could have spent even more time exploring, but our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time so we headed back down to the car and took advantage of one of the several picnic tables.

More Odd Rock Texture

After lunch, we head about a mile back along Northshore Road for our second hike. This one is the Redstone Discovery Trail. It’s a loop of nearly 4 miles but is even more challenging than the last one. First thing is there isn’t a parking lot but just a wide gravel shoulder along the road. There are some washes that serve as the initial portion of the trail but this one doesn’t have any rock cairns or obvious tracks to help guide us. We really need to rely on the trail map in AllTrails and the conditions on the ground to weave our way thru the desert landscape.

Starting Out to the Unknown

One Destination Along the Way

There are a few different large rock outcroppings along the way and this “trail” is supposed to get us to them but we find it challenging. There are plenty of spots with washes and hills and it’s not clear whether we should stay low in a wash or climb up the hill to continue. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful area but it isn’t the type of hike that should be attempted without some sort of navigation aid.

Rough Terrain on Route

Overlooking Valley

We were just over a mile into our wandering and we realized we didn’t stand much of a chance to follow the published route and get in the full 4 miles. As we studied the map and the terrain around us, we came up with a plan to cut to the east across the unknown with the hopes of getting onto the return section of the route. This would allow us to cut off a good mile from the hike assuming we could find suitable hiking conditions.

Surveying Our Possible Shortcut

It took a fair amount of trial and error to find a way across one of the canyons that was in our way, but we eventually made it across and found that most of the return leg of the trip was either following a wash or climbing out of the wash to avoid large obstacles in the wash. We managed to find our way back to the car. It was a very neat area but it does take some effort if you want to actually follow “the trail”. On the drive back to camp, we spotted one big horn sheep cross the road just a few hundred feet in front of us. We pulled over to get some pictures and then we spotted a second one cross behind us. As they climbed the hill on the side of the road, they eventually got to a point where they were a bit more visible with the sky in the background.

Pretty Views in Lake Mead

Bighorn Sheep Climb the Hill

For the past few weeks we have been planning out our geocaching strategy in order to have our 15,000th find happen on the 13th anniversary of our first geocache find. It took a little bit of effort but we managed to get to the point where our next find would be our milestone. The cache with the highest number of favorite points was one at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. We’ve been in Boulder City for 4 weeks and haven’t made a stop in Vegas yet. So we planned our day’s start at the sign to get our picture taken in order to log the cache and then spend the day exploring some of the Vegas Strip. We definitely are not into gambling, or any of the shows the town is known for, but it is still fun to simply walk around to do some sightseeing and people watching.

The Welcome to Vegas sign, actually has a large parking lot associated with it. In the past, visitors would need to park along the street and risk getting run over to make their way to the sign. We headed there first and we’re amazed at how many others were there. I suspect none of them were there because of the virtual geocache but there was a line of nearly 20 people ahead of us. We slowly worked our way to the front of the line and had our moment of fame immortalized on my phone.

Long Line for Photo Op

We Made it to 15,000!

From here, we drove up to Fashion Show Mall to park and start our journey. We didn’t have real specific places we wanted to see other than Chris wanted wanted to be at the Bellagio for one of the water shows in the large pools outside later in the afternoon. Heading south on the Strip, our first stop is inside Caesar’s Palace. We wander around inside until we get the Forum Shops. It’s a shopping area with domes ceilings painted like the sky. We do a little window shopping then head out.

Statues Inside Caesar's Palace

Big Christmas Tree

Fountain of the Gods

Hail Caesar

Outside Caesar's Palace

We were hungry by now so we headed up towards the area of the High Roller - a 550 foot diameter Ferris wheel that has about 30 pods attached to the outside of the wheel. We didn’t bother to go on it but it is pretty neat to watch since it never stops. We grabbed some lunch and watched the wheel go round and round.

Eiffel Tower with High Roller on Left

Another Xmas Tree by In-N-Out Burger

Underneath High Roller Pods

A quick stop at the Flamingo where the outside bird habitat is nice. They generally have flamingos there but they had been removed for some sort of health concern. All the ducks were quite entertaining to watch.

Male Wood Duck

Red Crested Pochard

Next stop is inside of the Bellagio. We had about an hour to kill before the water show was to begin outside. There was a rather elaborate Christmas display with a huge tree and gingerbread houses. They also had the CocaCola polar bears that were real size but made completely of flowers. They were pretty amazing. On our way out was a art glass display by Dale Chihuly. We had seen some of his work during a trip to Washington state and find it quite amazing.

Entering Christmas Displays

Polar Bear Made of Flowers

Merry Christmas!

More Coke Bears

Chihuly Art Glass Above

We headed out 15 minutes before the show was to begin and picked a spot to watch. There are more than 1000 water fountains that rise above the water level of the large pool and put on quite a display. There were two songs and the water jets are choreographed to go along with the music. Some of the jets blast water over 450 feet high.

Bellagio Water Show

By now, we were quite tired from all the slow walking around town. I swear a day like this is more tiring than a strenuous hike. We didn’t stick around for the sun to set and see all the bright lights of town but headed back to camp to begin to get ready for a travel day after sitting stationary for 29 nights. Death Valley National Park here we come.