Monday, July 15, 2013

Poppin' Rocks and Making Switchbacks


We spent this week at Sloan Canyon Conservation Area.  Sloan is located in the Mountains on the southeast edge of Las Vegas.  It is an area of low desert mountains.  We spent most of this week building trail on Black Mountain, Sloan Canyon’s highest peak.  Black varnish covers most of the rocks on Black Mountain which could be where it gets its name.

Sloan Canyon is adjacent to a large neighborhood on the edge of the city, so it is a popular place for local recreationalists.  The mountain provides one of the best views of Las Vegas. The view is an aesthetic release from the huff and puff of the hard work day. Between two crews, we popped around 100 boulders and built a quarter mile of trail. We also performed various maintenance projects along other parts of the trail.
While digging in the dirt, we stumbled upon a chuckwalla. Chuckwallas are large lizards similar to iguanas without the spines. We’ve seen many lizards in Nevada but this one is by far the biggest. Encounters with rare, mountain creatures are one of the best parts of the job. It’s almost each week that we make a new discovery. 

Crew 4!

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