Web Site Update and Hiking News

I finally got motivated and moved my website to a new web hosting company. This should be transparent (I sound like a geek!) to everyone, but if you can't access the site, use this link for now: http://hikingserver302.com
So far I am very impressed with the new web hosting company (ICDsoft.com) and believe this will be the end of all the problems.

Hiking Las Vegas is going through a major redesign that has nothing to do with moving the site. Don't worry, the content will remain the same. I will not have tons of confusing ads and run you to other websites just to make a buck. There are too many websites that do that.

Onto the important stuff! On Saturday, Kathy and I started out doing the East Route to Calico Tank Peak. As we were scrambling I looked up and saw a thin man in a green jacket and an even smaller hiker in a blue jacket: Eva and Richard! They waited for us to catch up and then showed us a new route to Calico Tank South Peak, a different peak the Calico Tank Peak. There's only a cairn at the peak. This is the same peak (highpoint) that I wrote about in one of the books. It stands to the south of Calico Tank, which currently has a thin layer of ice.

Richard then showed us a very cool descent route that stays on the ridge and eventually meets up with the Red and White Route to Calico Tank. There are too many twists and turns for me to write it up and there are no cairns.

Notes: The summit of Kraft Mountain is also called Penguin Peak. Richard and Eva placed a container and sign in book at the peak recently. It needed one!

Calico Traverse to Calico Tank Peak

What started out as a quick scramble to Slab Rift (photo to the left), a unique formation near the top of Calico ridge, ended up being a four hour hike to Calico Tank Peak. Although windy at times most of the hike was wind free and very enjoyable.

This is a very hard route to follow with plenty of twists and turns that are not obvious. We placed new cairns and rebuilt some old ones. After passing below Calico Hills II High Point we descended to the slot that leads to Calico Tank.

Calico Tank still has water in it, but it will not last. A quick scramble from the tank leads up to the peak. There's an ammo box up there now and a book with plenty of blank pages.

The route can be extended to Turtlehead Junior. The descent would be off of the west side, via the log and then follow Doyle's Loop back to the trailhead.

Red Rock And Charleston Report

On January 1st, nine of us hiked to Calico Tank Peak in Red Rock Canyon, just 20 miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada. The route was free of snow, but there's still a lot of snow in Red Rock. The container at the peak is destroyed. If anyone is planning a hike there, it would be great if you could bring a container. Calico Tank was iced over making for some nice photos.

On Friday Davis and I snowshoed up the South Loop Trail and then went up the gully above Echo Cave. Surprisingly there were no tracks above the cave. Breaking trail is hard work even in snowshoes. We stopped about 700 feet above the cave.

Today I am leading a hike to the Twin Tanks in Northern Calico Basin. This is one of my favorite short hikes in Red Rock.

Calico Tank Peak

Although Calico Tank Peak is only 4,870 feet and the standard route is a little tame, we have two new scrambling routes to the peak. The photo to the left outlines the two routes. These east facing routes are great winter time hikes and you do not have to drive on the Scenic Loop to the trailhead! The peak has fantastic views and once at the peak, there are lots of options. For a longer hike you can scramble over to Turtlehead Jr. Descent options are plentiful: descend the route you ascended, descend the other route, descend over to Calico Hills and hike across the top back to Red Springs.

On another note, the snow is melting fast in Red Rock. Yesterday, Barb, Jacquie and Dave hiked Hollow Rock Peak and Windy Peak. They reported minimal snow and virtually no ice on the route. However, there's still a lot of snow on north and west facing routes.