I spent last week at the AWS re:Invent conference at the Sands Expo Center/Palazzo and Venetian Hotels in Las Vegas, NV. I took advantage of the business trip to visit The Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and Red Rock Canyon.
For The Grand Canyon, we landed in Vegas and were in the rental car by 8:30PM. We drove 2.5 hours to Seligman, AZ, and stayed in a motel on old Route 66. There's not much here, but Lilo's is a decent breakfast if you find yourself in the area. There are two sets of train tracks through here and the trains run all night long - so don't expect the greatest sleep of your life. The next morning, we got up and drove the remaining 1.5 hours to the South Rim of The Grand Canyon. Due to time changes and being kind of spent from the flight and marginal sleeping conditions, we opted to take the Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point and back. This is like a sidewalk hike over dust and retaining logs, with more people than Franconia Ridge on a beautiful weekend. It was different, going down first, but in the end, we did the 12-ish miles / 3000'ish feet in about 5 and a half hours without the stops. Being November ("winter" in the Canyon), the water was shut off, except at Indian Garden, where we saw a large number of people, and the only mules of the trip. Beyond this, the trip out to Plateau Point was much, much less crowded, and we enjoyed the views to the river, another mile/1000'+ below.
All Photos: Grand Canyon
Post Grand Canyon, we returned to Seligman and got more train-interrupted sleep. In the morning, we ate at Lilo's (very good) before heading west on Route 66 (more scenic than the freeway) and finally to Hoover Dam. Walking out on the O'Callaghan/Tillman Bridge, the wind threatened to remove your hat, sunglasses, and possibly even your phone/camera. The views of the dam are just awesome, although they'd be better without the shadow of the bridge. We did the power plant tour for $15 where you go 537' down (400' below Lake Mead). Standing on one of the two 30' penstocks, the power and vibration of 96,000 gallons/second is readily apparent. The electromagnet assemblies weigh 560 tons apiece and spin at 180 RPMs. I highly recommend this tour - it doesn't take very long.
All Photos: Hoover Dam
The conference started with a reception Tuesday at 5 - which gave us the morning to visit Red Rocks Canyon. It was Veteran's Day, and the admission fee was waived. We did the scenic drive but not before stopping at Calico Tanks and hiking out to the end - roughly 4 miles round trip. I enjoyed this hike more than the Grand Canyon - the "trail" involves a lot of scrambling, some of which is optional, and some of which is not. The views were not nearly as long, but you were much more up close and personal with them. I scrambled up on a bunch of different 'tanks' to get maximum Views From The Top. I would highly recommend a detour here if you find yourself in Vegas, or driving by, it would be well worth a detour.
All Photos: Red Rock Canyon
General Las Vegas and Convention Photos
Tim
For The Grand Canyon, we landed in Vegas and were in the rental car by 8:30PM. We drove 2.5 hours to Seligman, AZ, and stayed in a motel on old Route 66. There's not much here, but Lilo's is a decent breakfast if you find yourself in the area. There are two sets of train tracks through here and the trains run all night long - so don't expect the greatest sleep of your life. The next morning, we got up and drove the remaining 1.5 hours to the South Rim of The Grand Canyon. Due to time changes and being kind of spent from the flight and marginal sleeping conditions, we opted to take the Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point and back. This is like a sidewalk hike over dust and retaining logs, with more people than Franconia Ridge on a beautiful weekend. It was different, going down first, but in the end, we did the 12-ish miles / 3000'ish feet in about 5 and a half hours without the stops. Being November ("winter" in the Canyon), the water was shut off, except at Indian Garden, where we saw a large number of people, and the only mules of the trip. Beyond this, the trip out to Plateau Point was much, much less crowded, and we enjoyed the views to the river, another mile/1000'+ below.
All Photos: Grand Canyon
Post Grand Canyon, we returned to Seligman and got more train-interrupted sleep. In the morning, we ate at Lilo's (very good) before heading west on Route 66 (more scenic than the freeway) and finally to Hoover Dam. Walking out on the O'Callaghan/Tillman Bridge, the wind threatened to remove your hat, sunglasses, and possibly even your phone/camera. The views of the dam are just awesome, although they'd be better without the shadow of the bridge. We did the power plant tour for $15 where you go 537' down (400' below Lake Mead). Standing on one of the two 30' penstocks, the power and vibration of 96,000 gallons/second is readily apparent. The electromagnet assemblies weigh 560 tons apiece and spin at 180 RPMs. I highly recommend this tour - it doesn't take very long.
All Photos: Hoover Dam
The conference started with a reception Tuesday at 5 - which gave us the morning to visit Red Rocks Canyon. It was Veteran's Day, and the admission fee was waived. We did the scenic drive but not before stopping at Calico Tanks and hiking out to the end - roughly 4 miles round trip. I enjoyed this hike more than the Grand Canyon - the "trail" involves a lot of scrambling, some of which is optional, and some of which is not. The views were not nearly as long, but you were much more up close and personal with them. I scrambled up on a bunch of different 'tanks' to get maximum Views From The Top. I would highly recommend a detour here if you find yourself in Vegas, or driving by, it would be well worth a detour.
All Photos: Red Rock Canyon
General Las Vegas and Convention Photos
Tim
