Anyhow, I am pleasantly surprized as I had forgotten there lies an Indiana Jones behind Rob’s professional, corporate facade and he is an avid hiker and king of the outdoors. Yay!
We hit the road nice and early to go hiking in Red Rock.
It really is quiet, peaceful, hypnotic.
We stop to take the welcome shot. With a skip and a hop Rob is up above the big boulder. It takes me a skip, hop, fall, struggle and I still can’t do the same. This is my first glimpse of how a human can just be the bouncy, floaty type. He really seems to defy gravity. More on that later.
We are welcomed by a sweet little turtle. Rob says in all his years of hiking there this is the first time he sees this little guy. I tell him I am lucky like that but am nevertheless overjoyed.
Can you see me?
Yah it all seemed so easy when we were just starting out.
When stuck between a rock and a hard place, the only way is up it seems.
Really looked easy but got harder as we went along. Did a lot of squeezing and had to imitate the
anti-gravity moves Rob is so good at.
Rob is a different superhero depending on the terrain. Here he is being Spiderman.
Just when you think there isn’t any more left to climb, a bigger cluster of rocks appear out of nowhere, taller and steeper.
To this city girl, going up meant getting into an elevator and pressing a button.
This ROCKS!
It also wears you out. Princess takes a rest frequently.
The view from one side.
The view from the other.
This really looks like a walk in the ice-cream park and I was enjoying it. But I have to admit I was starting to get a teeny bit scared now. This was only my second time wrestling with these big boys and they were steep and slightly tricky to hoist myself over. Starting to feel a Stockholm-Syndrome type attachment to Rob at this point since my life, literally, does depend on him… but he seems to be jumping and skipping over the rocks as if he has wings on his back. Gulp! But he seems to be really good at it… (relaxed exhale). Yep, was definitely being completely bi-polar with the way I feel about the whole experience.
Soon the beauty and peacefulness of the place mesmerized me back into blissful appreciation. Nice that 🙂
Getting higher, getting hotter. We are, after all, in a desert in Nevada.
A rare photo of Rob. The higher we get the more I am focused on trying to keep going and I forget my camera-happy tendencies. Oh, and that’s Mickey the Cactus.
This place is really exhilarating. I really don’t think the danger factor is low here at all but it is really a lot of fun trying to find the best angle to go up without going down (ie falling) and it just looks like you are on the set of an adventure movie… and the dust and the heat just add icing on the desert (not a typo) cake… I am really loving the fear in a very twisted way as I always do.
Rob has flapped his wings and is above me again, effortlessly floating while I try to crawl my way up. He lets me try to figure the best way up myself, corrects me if I decide on a wrong step and gives me a hand if I need a push or a pull.
As anyone who has ever met him will attest to, Rob has an aura about him that makes you feel completely safe and protected as if by divine decree… Or the sun has got to my head, one or the other 🙂
When I see one, I take the easy way out and squeeze my way through a shortcut using my God given advantage (being a bit on the teeny-tiny side). I do, after all, have Turkish blood running through my veins, we are good at skipping lines and finding easier ways out.
It has taken us a good few hours but we are almost at the top. I should be striking one of those ‘I LOVE LIFE!’ shots with my arms open, chest sticking out, head thrown back, wild hair gloriously blowing in the wild wind… but Rob has just casually mentioned that it is usually a little trickier to go down than to come up so the most I can manage is this trying-to-uncurl-out-of-fetal-position pose.
I know it doesn’t look like it but I am stuck here! Really! Couldn’t move up or down, left or right. Superman Rob had to come to the rescue yet again.
Left side wedged and totally stuck again. The wiggle-wiggle trick doesn’t work and superman comes to the rescue again.
Here we are…
It is beautiful.
It has helped me uncurl.
I think I have run out of superheroes to liken Rob to. He just skipped his way over unforgiving rocks and boulders as if he was playing hop-scotch in the safety of a playground and took this photo.
Was a bit too heavy to be a souvenir…
What goes up must come down.
Gravity can be a friend or a foe. But a Turkish butt is definitely a friend and ensures a comfortable landing, as I discovered climbing down.
He always walks ahead to find the best possible route as we are not on a predetermined trail.
Almost there.
Yep, it was just as steep and tricky as it looked. But is was the final scary bit and Rob said I could do it so I did!
YAY!! Dusty, dirty, bruised & stained. Feels like I’ve gone through the wringer but it really was AWESOME!!
And here’s the cheery on the cake: turns out the mountain was in shut-down mode to absolutely everyone as it was too dangerous due to the fires that were raging. Ooopsieeee 😀
Here is some more information if you wish to do the same.