The rain threatened, but gave us hope with this little rainbow!

Today’s trip to Gallery Wall in Red Rock was absolutely delightful! The hike to the wall was short but lots and lots of scrambling. It gave me a chance to see if I am feeling stronger, more agile, more confident and more fit. I am happy to report a resounding YES to all of those categories!

I found that the burpees I was forced to do last week at CrossFit Max Effort gave me some arms to use when lowering myself onto boulders or when getting up on a boulder above. I am sure the rowing also assisted in overall conditioning.

It was such a nice morning. I love getting up early and heading out to Red Rock. I am

Four of a Kind!

always the happiest with my choice of living areas on days I jump on to Blue Diamond and take the road to the turnouts. It was quiet with only the bicycles beating us to the day. For them, it gets hot even earlier. We simply try to get as much shade on the wall as possible before the sun comes over to chase us away.  During the climbing, I take a chance to test out my camera skills and record the others as they lead, repel, limb and generally have a great time. Today would not disappoint as we headed up to Gallery Wall. They guys

The Way Up.

headed out and I, as usual, trailed behind. I got to the rocks to scramble and the fun began. Lots of pulling, pushing, leveraging my way up to where thee guys had headed. Finally I got there and felt a real sense of satisfaction that I worked hard and kept going and had FUN!

The rain was lingering over on the hills, leaving us alone, but it looked inevitable that it would come our way. The guys were finishing up what had been a great couple hours of climbing and I thought I should go on down and get a head start since I am slower, So off I went. Going down is tricky as I am not

Goofin on the Rock

always confident in my balance. Especially with my pack on. And today, the pack was awkward with my camera rolling around inside. But I felt more in control of my feet than I had in the past. And my arms were of great help, whereas in the past they have simply been more to carry with me. I was tracking the trip on EveryTrail and was happy to see that the half mile had round 300 feet of elevation gain from the lowest point. I had to keep in mind that in order to get to where that gain could be attained, we had to hike down, then up. That means even steeper ups were presented.  My knees took a bashing but that is par for every hike. After I got back to the parking lot, I jumped in my car and headed out. The drive back was nice and I felt good. I stopped in Blue Diamond to grab a tea and visit the locals,….the burros that is! Can’t wait for the next time to play outside!

The Blue Diamond Wild Burros...who come right up and hang with you. So much for the wild side!