Escaping the Desert Heat
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It was 103°F (39.4°C) when we left Las Vegas, and the thermometer was continuing to climb. It’s been triple digits here for days, with more in the forecast. The highest temp so far this year? 109 °F a few days ago, and June is typically not the hottest month; July is.
There’s not much to do about it, and we really can’t complain. We choose to live in the Mojave Desert, and deserts get hot in the summertime. Though we can’t change the nature of the desert, we can do our best to cope with the heat. Coping includes leaving the house at 0500 every morning if we want to walk in reasonable temperatures (high 70s-mid-80s) or taking an extra lap or two around an air-conditioned big box store or supermarket when we’re out shopping. Coping means running the A/C 24x7 (thank goodness we have solar) from May through September.
Coping can also mean heading to one of the Spring Mountain Recreation Area campgrounds operated by the National Forest Service. Part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Spring Mountain includes Charleston Peak, aka Mount Charleston, Nevada’s highest peak (11,918’/3633m), known as “Sky Island”. The difference in altitude accounts for a drastic difference in vegetation and, more importantly, temperature.
Tired of the heat and of rising at 0400 to walk in the mornings, we planned a short escape to the Hilltop Campground in the Spring Mountain Rec Area, about 45-60 minutes away, depending on traffic. At ~8400’ (2560m), the temperature was in the mid-80s, and though it was still warm, a light breeze kept us comfortable.
Hilltop Campsite #12 was perfect!
Hilltop will accept reservations for odd-numbered campsites, but even-numbered sites are first come/first serve. Campsite #12 was perfect for us… level, close to the clean, well-stocked vault toilets and far enough away from other campers to maintain some privacy, plus it was surrounded by towering ponderosa pine and white fir trees.
We hung out in the afternoon, napping, reading, writing, playing Yahtzee, and just chatting. We planned a couple of hikes, and then it was time for dinner, which we’d prepared ahead of time. Easy-peasy, no cooking and minimal clean-up. As the sun went down, the temperature dropped. We had to dig out our sweatshirts! What a wonderful respite.
A walk around the campground (~1 mile) at day’s end was pleasant. The views from the campground perimeter road are wonderful.
From the campground, you can see for miles and miles.
Some wildflowers were in bloom, especially the desert paintbrush, which blanketed the hillsides in shades of fiery red.
We rose early the next morning… but not too early. 0600 seems a more civilized time to rise. An early morning 4-mile hike on the Eagle Nest Loop piqued our appetites for blueberry pancakes back at camp. The rest of the day was spent lounging and relaxing with intermittent strolls around the campground. A wonderful respite from the heat, yardwork and house chores which had mounted up during our time in Portugal and which we’d been catching up on for a couple of weeks. The change in routine was just what the doctor ordered.
The sky was high-altitude cerulean blue and clear except for some wispy, irregular-looking cirrus clouds with a rainbow reflection on their edges, something we’d not observed before… or perhaps overlooked. We learned that the wispy, delicate, hair-like appearance of cirrus clouds is caused by ice crystals, of which the clouds are mostly comprised. The faint, pastel rainbow colors hugging the cloud edges are caused by the diffraction of sunlight through the tiny crystals.
Cloud irridescence caught our attention.
Towards evening, as the sun was going down, we felt a few raindrops. Once inside Blanche for the night, the rain began in earnest. It thundered; it lightninged; the wind blew. It rained throughout the night, and we awakened to a soggy campground, wet camp chairs, dark skies, and muddy trails. Time to head home, back to the heat. It rained at home, too, but just enough to wet the dust and muck up the car windshields. We're back to coping once again, making plans for more getaways.