Yesterday I hiked the Ice Box Canyon trail at Red Rock Canyon, outside of Vegas, with my friends Will & Erich, Erich's brother and cousin, and some friends of his cousin. Since I didn't take my camera, I have no photos! The trail was fairly difficult, because the first mile of it was in open desert, and it was quite hot, and also because the other 1.5 miles of it is scrambling over rocks in the seasonal creek. This being July and all, there was no water, but I hope to do this trail again in the Spring, when the water is flowing and the sun isn't quite so oppressive. Today I'm quite pink, as I didn't wear any sunblock. The end of the trail, which was a nearly-vertical wall of rock, was quite impressive. In the Spring, water flows down the face of the mountain, which is several hundred feet high, and feeds the creek and pools in the canyon. Yesterday, though, only a small tinaja, smelly and full of algea, remained.

When we got to the end of the trail, I checked out the time and saw that it was 5:17pm. I was supposed to be at South Point to watch Ratatouille with other friends at 7:20pm! So I jogged the 2.5 miles back to the Jeep, leaving behind the other hikers. It was tiring, but I made the movie on time. Even though I was stinky and sweaty and covered in dust and my feet were sore. Ugh.

I wish I had taken my camera.....