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'Red Rock' as it is known to the locals, gets its name from the red colored sandstone formation embedded in the mountains that form the western and northern margins of this small valley. The distinct red colored layers of sandstone streak horizontally across mountains known as the Wilson Cliffs and can be seen from almost anywhere in Las Vegas valley.
Dave, the hiker, the adventurer just have to "conquer" the Red Rock Canyon.
On the picture below, do you see the four people who are on the top of the mountain? That's where Dave wanted to go.
As you could see the Red Rock Canyon is quite colorful, from yellow to orange to brown, and some green moss too.
So off we went climbing. It's not steep at all, in fact it's an easy climb, not slippery, not scary. Of course you must be prepared as usual with your water, candies (okay, maybe that's only for me, I prefer candies to drinking water as I don't like to be looking for a toilet in the middle of the hike).
A woman with a dog hiked with us, leaving her husband and a small boy behind. Her dog is so cute and delicate looking.
Later though, she decided it was too hot for her dog to go hiking that far, so she went back the trail.
We were almost at the top, but my heel spur acted out again, can't go on anymore, it was so painful. I told Dave I need to sit and rest. He said we're almost at the top, why don't he climb up to the top and take some pictures while I wait for him. I was okay with that so I handed him the camera.
While waiting, I amused myself by collecting stones. Yes, I collect nice stones. I imagine some of them could be made talistones. I think I have accumulated about seven colorful stones in all. I kept looking at the top, hoping to see Dave waving at me. No such thing happened.
I saw people going up, in twos, like two women who were talking non-stop and did not even notice me. I also saw two lovers, sweetly holding hands climbing. There was an oldish man who after a while went back, the top did not appeal much to him, I guess. There was also a young girl with ipod listening to wonderful unknown music. They all seemed preoccupied, they did not see me. I always felt like saying hello or waving at them, but it seemed to me I was invading their privacy. They were so engrossed with their climbing or with their companion or with their picture-taking. Some of them came back later, following the same trail they had before. I waited and waited and waited. After about 45 minutes, I started to worry. I thought 15 minutes would be enough for Dave to take pictures and come back! I started hollering, "Dave, I am here, where are you?''. I did that like every 5 minutes for 20 minutes. Then I made it more frequent, like non-stop, hehehe. I looked at the stones I gathered, and something occurred to me. Maybe the Indians or someone out there don't like me taking anything from the mountains. That's me, I am superstitious. I talk to the mountain, I talk to the stones, of course I talk to myself too. So I bargained with that "someone"- please bring back Dave, my husband. I won't take all of these stones, but three only for souvenir. I kept negotiating - for two, for one, until I finally gave up and decided I will not take anything at all, all the while hollering for Dave just in case he was lost and didn't know how to come back. Five minutes after I decided I will not take anything, here comes Dave, also hollering for me.
What a reunion! We hugged. He handed me back my camera, I gave him candies, and we related how we thought of each others as gone :( And you know what, we're been looking for each other for about one and a half hours. We went back the trail, I telling him how the others went down, how they chose the easier path.
Dave said that after taking pictures, he went down. It's just that it seemed all the trails going down looked the same and he did not know which one to choose. He chose one after the other but could not find me. He even asked other climbers if they saw me, "my Asian-looking wife". Nobody saw me, I was like invisible. Yeah I knew that. I was invisible to everyone, while I was holding on to the stones. He hollered for me too, "Sweetheart", "Malou", over and over like I did for him.
I thought my hollering would echo up and down the canyon, as I had seen movies about people calling out in rock formations. So I was sure my voice would carry the entire length of the canyon which was a mile or so long and he had to hear me. When he didn't answer, I thought something had to be wrong, because if he called out I would certainly hear him. He thought the same and thought something happened to me. (We both dreaded the other fell and was laying unconscious somewhere).
I didn't hear him hollering until he was within 50 feet of me. I could have heard him from a greater distance if he would have called for me on a street somewhere! This puzzled me. Was all that I heard about echoes in canyons wrong? Dave and I discussed the situation and realized what happened. Dave believes that echoes in canyons occur when the walls are relatively smooth. They reflect and propagate the sound, focusing it. The walls formations and huge boulders in Red Rock Canyon are very irregular. Instead of focusing the reflection of the sound, they defracted and diffused it, relayed the noise in all directions, dampened it, according to the same principle used in designing sound proofing building materials, which have a rough irregular surface. So the next time you're looking for someone in a canyon with huge boulders and randomly shaped formations, save your voice. They're not going to hear you. Unless they're almost close enough to see.
Now that Dave and I are together again, I could appreciate the surroundings again, like this beautiful plants.
We passed by this arranged stones. I am reminded of the arranged stones we saw at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Monks do stone arrangements. The stones look too sacred to disarrange, much more to collect and bring home! The more reason I justify to myself that I decided right in leaving the gathered stones behind. In my thought, between the stones and my husband, I would choose him, and what a ridiculous argument!
And these two big rocks seemed to agree with me. They look like a sweet couple, don't they? Aren't they two heads looking at us?
Okay, so you think I am goofy.
And back to mundane things, this is the U.S. of A, but look at this primitive toilet bowl. Actually, I've seen more primitive stuff like this - in Cambodia, in remote villages of Saudi Arabia, and why should I go too far, in the Philippines!
But as this is America, we have abundance of toilet paper.
Upon reaching our hotel, surprise! I found in my pocket a stone from the Red Rock Canyon. During my "negotiation with someone" up there, I kept emptying my pocket, then putting some of them back again, then emptied my pockets finally. I thought I had nothing. "They" gave me one remembrance after all.
Thanks a lot, Red Rock Canyon!
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