Six Miles in the Desert

I'm in Las Vegas for the International Writing Centers Association conference. I had Wednesday free while my colleagues ran a pre-conference workshop, so I rented a car and went to Red Rock Canyon National Conversation Area. I decided to run the White Rock/La Madre Springs loop--six miles of sandy, rocky, hilly terrain in 80-degree heat-- not to mention that Lansing, MI is at a wonderful 860 feet of elevation, and Red Rock is over 2500.

I did pretty well, for the first 5-1/2 miles. I didn't have to stop and power-hike very much. However, the last half-mile killed me. I had to definitely slow to a crawl because it was all uphill.

Still, it was a great day: Lots of sweet-smelling pinion pine and sage brush, many stellar and pinion jays, some odd-looking bunny and chipmunk things that we're like chipmunk and bunnies back home, some tiny cute lizards, and no snakes. Any trail run without snakes is usually a pretty good trail run.

Oh yeah, and then I go to go see Penn and Teller that night. So, overall, it was a very cool day.