Defacing a petroglyph, or taking one for a souvenir, is irresponsible and seriously illegal. Many were so lost in the past, but in recent years people have faced federal prosecution for such offenses.
Personally, I feel too reverent toward petroglyphs to even consider harming one. To look at some petroglyphs is to ponder a message from people who lived before the rise of Rome! What did they mean to tell those of us who came after? Whatever the intended message, the one I always read Is this: That our culture is only a steward of this land, and not its owner. We are not the first, and perhaps may not be the last, to hold dominion here.
Hiking with Children
Giving your child an outdoor lifestyle
One of the greatest gifts parents can give their children is an appreciation of the outdoors, and one of the easiest ways to do this is taking them hiking. You won’t put many miles on your boots, but you will be laying a foundation for a lifetime admiration of the natural world. The key is to go at their pace, allowing plenty of time to go short distances, so they can take pleasure in the details like wildlife, flowers, plants, and rocks.
Up to the age of three or so, hiking with kids is fairly easy. For the most part they’ll walk a short ways on their own and get tired, whereupon you can put them in a child carrier-pack and be on your mutual way. Once they are too heavy to carry, the real work begins. You’ll want to keep them moving and interested in their surroundings, so the trail becomes an exciting adventure.
Desert tortoise.
Besides an eagerness to explore, children need a few things for hiking. Most you already own: comfortable yet rugged clothing that you can layer, a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, a whistle to hang around each child’s neck, and either hiking boots or sneakers, with good tread. Add their favorite snacks and water. Many kids will have more fun if you bring each one’s favorite small stuffed animal or doll.
Parents have better luck when they select trails based on their children’s interests and abilities. Best bets are short loop trails that have a variety of things to see, or hikes to some rewarding destination, such as a waterfall, a great view, or even a field of boulders to play on.
Walking a quarter-mile trail could easily take an hour with kids who really like looking at rocks and lizards, but others just zip along, focused on the destination. Setting unrealistic goals is a mistake I have made many times, and I have paid for it by carrying a heavy and unhappy child miles back to the trailhead.
Boredom may kill any hike but can be beat with a few tricks. Older kids might want to learn how to use a compass or global positioning system, or read a map. All ages enjoy a contest such as seeing who can find the biggest cactus, rock, or tree; or who can spot the first jackrabbit, raven or lizard.
A laminated regional field guide to Southwestern desert life may have color pictures of familiar plants and animals in our area. No matter where you hike you will find at least one cactus, plant, or bird listed. When they identify something on the sheet, mark the date and location with a Sharpie and after just a few outings your child will have a simple diary. These field guides fold up flat and are available at park visitor centers and bookstores.
Consider buying your child one of the water hydration packs now used by nearly all seasoned hikers. If you’re not already familiar with them, they include bladder-style reservoirs that are filled with water or some other liquid, and inserted either into a traditional backpack or a backpack built for the specific purpose. In either case a tube with a valve runs from the top of the pack over your shoulder and lies on your chest. You bite down on the valve and the water flows freely.
Children (adults, for that matter) will drink more often from the convenient drinking tube than if they had to unscrew a canteen lid, so they’re less likely to become dehydrated. Furthermore, hydration systems keep your child’s hands free for safer climbing, or to break a fall if the child stumbles. Hydration packs come in dozens of sizes and have pockets for extra items like binoculars, food, and extra clothing.
It’s a good habit to repeat the family’s standing safety rules, and announce any new ones for the specific hike, at the trailhead before taking the first step. Some good standing rules are always staying on the trail, no running ahead, always wearing a whistle, and never putting hands and feet into holes and crevices. In my experience, discussing rules with a child leads to better compliance than simply decreeing them. Ask the child why such-and-such behavior isn’t a good idea, and the child will usually articulate a need for the rule.
The patience you’ll need to hike with children is great but the payoff is worth it; before you know it, your child will be willing and eager to head out on the trail at the next opportunity.
Leaving no trace
Visitors to public lands and even private ones are often encouraged to follow the “Leave No Trace” principles designed to maintain, for future use, the same lands we enjoy. The author agrees with this trend and the principles are reprinted here (courtesy of www.LNT.org) for the reader’s convenience.
The Leave No Trace Seven Principles
1. Plan Ahead and Prepare.
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces.
3. Dispose of Waste Properly.
4. Leave What You Find.
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts.
6. Respect Wildlife.
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors.
The Southwest is famous for brilliant sunsets.
Rock Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Looking toward the Calico Hills in Red Rock Canyon. Yucca, Joshua trees, and creosote coexist in this natural landscape.
Visitors to Southern Nevada are often surprised and delighted to learn that just outside one of the most bustling cities in the world, they can easily experience such a dramatically different landscape as Red Rock Canyon. Only seventeen miles west of the teeming and intentionally artificial Las Vegas Strip is a stunning display of natural beauty, offering pockets of solitude to those who seek it. If you don’t live here or are a newcomer, not yet familiar with how lovely the outdoor West can be, Red Rock Canyon is where you should start to find out.
Tucked into the eastern edge of the Spring Mountain Range, this is a land of red sandstone and gray limestone formations, amid open landscapes, narrow canyons, mountains, and springs. The park gets about six to ten inches of moisture a year although nearby Las Vegas usually gets only three to four inches. The canyon is moist enough to host eight major plant communities, which support a generous variety of wildlife.
Here are more than six hundred varieties of plants and three hundred of animals. Look for desert bighorn sheep in the rocky and steep terrain, mule deer in the foothills and even burros as you travel along the lower-elevation trails and roads. Gray foxes, coyotes, mountain lions, and desert tortoises also live here.
Fragile and non-renewable evidence of American Indian occupation, in both historic and prehistoric times, has been protected here. There are wonderful examples