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and...*Angels Grayce, KonaKitty, and Sylvester* always loved, never forgotten




Sunday, April 22, 2012

Sunday with Sheebie at the Wash

Friends and Kitties!

My name is Sheebie, and I'll be your tour director today.
We're going to go down to the Las Vegas Wash and look around at some of the improvements the Clark County Park Service is installing.

We live in Calico Ridge, and if you follow along Lake Mead Parkway we live on the last street on the right.  Across the street from us is desert--where the City of Henderson is building the new park and trail head.  The trail will head north down to the wash.


View Larger Map

The entire Las Vegas Valley drains into the wash (when it rains) and the treated effluent from the various sewage treatment plants also feed the wash--which guarantees flow all the time!  heh.  It's a beautiful area to hike and the trail system is tremendous; there's over 65 miles of paved trails.  Our area is one of the last to be linked because we are almost as far as you can go without going into Lake Mead. 

So the other evening Scott and I took a little tour down to the wash in the Explorer (aptly named) to...um...explore!

After a little four-wheeling through scrub desert we came out on an as-yet-unpaved road, heading north.
In the distance is a new rest area and lookout.

Scott scaled this mighty peak to get some photos from the top!

Here's what he saw--I'm in the car being a lazy bum.
You can see the water on the left.

From the fence by the wash looking south.
Our house is on the other side of these mountains.

We drove west along the wash for a mile or so.
There is an group of citizens who do lots of maintenance and remediation of the land around the wash, removing invasive species (mainly tamarisk) and planting native ones like the reeds in the middle of the stream. 

 Years of uncontrolled water release has badly eroded the wash so the County is placing riprap along the banks and installing dams to slow the water down.  The piping above the water is for bank filtration; water from the wash will be pumped up for native plant irrigation where it will trickle back into the stream, removing solids and slowing the velocity.
The fence on the right is at the north most edge of the rest area.

ARTSY PHOTO!

We're traveling east now, away from the rest area.
In the distance is Lake Las Vegas Resort, and MY volcano, Lava Butte, is the rounded black hump.

A little further down the road we saw some guys getting ready for a hike, they had some major gear, they may have been planning on camping!

Do you see the water?

This spot has been remediated for a few years now, you can see how beautiful it is!  There's reeds and wildflowers and birds galore.  I can't wait for it all to look like this.

Dams slow the water down and allow it to form the pond in the preceding pic--you can see a few of them on the aerial map. 
What a dichotomy; running water in the desert.

I sure hoped you enjoyed our little tour today!  If you ever visit Vegas, give me a holler first and I'll take you to see the wash, in person.

Happy Sunday!

xx  Sheebie  xx

35 comments:

  1. Great pics! It's so much fun to see desert pics while living here in SE Oklahoma. If Mommy efur goes to Vegas, she'll call. xoxo

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  2. Wow, great tour! what a wonderful area you live in!

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  3. I love the desert. We spent a bit of time traveling in those parts in the fifthwheel after meeting my brothers in Vegas. They were there for a convention.

    The Valley of Fire was stunning!

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  4. Wow... look at that. The Woman remembers the wash from Southern Cal but it was not out in that deep of desert.

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  5. Thanks for the tour and sharing Scott's photos! Such a lovely place to be! It looks like the Stratosphere and Strip are in the background too. Next time I get to Vegas to visit my mom I'll visit you too! :)

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  6. lots of brown, little green. that would take some time to get used to. Interesting, putting a rest area in the middle of no-where. I look forward to that tour someday!

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  7. So pretty! I like what is being done to the area. We have been down that way quite a bit and have spent time around Lake Mead. Our last trip was about 4 years ago, if we get down again I'll take you up on that tour.

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  8. Hmmmm, very desert-like, isn't it? We fink it looks too hot. The Human has never gotten much further inna desert than Palm Springs. We likes the fogs, yes we do. And the ocean. And clouds. All that wide open space kind of freaks us out. Nice pictures, though.

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  9. Well, that was a very fun tour! I grew up in the desert of Eastern Wsshington, so, I miss it sometimes, but don't miss the heat!! Looks like you had a fun afternoon! T.

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  10. What a lovely tour. You are so lucky to have all that right by you. We just love your volcano, how amazing is that :)xx

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  11. Very interesting - have never seen photos of this area before. Hope you enjoyed your walk.

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  12. Very interesting - have never seen photos of this area before. Hope you enjoyed your walk.

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  13. Thanks for the tour :) I love looking at the different places we all live in and call home. The only desert I've visited is the Sinai. It was pretty hot!

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  14. Very interesting! Our mom says the next time she's in NV she's definitely gonna call you so you can show her the cool things about NV other than the casinos and stuff!

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  15. Thank you for the tour and it was very interesting. Next time mum and dad get to Vegas they would love a tour. ( mum and dad married in Vegas ) Hugs GJ xx

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  16. That was fun and thanks for the tour! I always like seeing where my friends live!

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  17. So beautiful and different from where I live. Thanks for the tour!

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  18. Great tour sheebie.mmakes me wanna visit.

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  19. Both me and mom LOVED touring with you !
    We wanna come and visit :)

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  20. Great shots! Cool that you have running water. we have a river in our back yard and right now it is full of ducks who are heading north.
    Kozmo

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  21. That was so interesting!! I would love to see the Wash in person.

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  22. Wow-that doesn't look the least like the Vegas mom saw two years ago. She'd decided once was probably enough but your tour has her thinking differently.

    Neat photos, thanks for the tour!

    Sasha, Sami, & Saku (and Mom Eileen)

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  23. pawsome! the desert landscape really is beautiful :) so cool that you live so close to that. Purrs,

    Pip, smidgen, Minnie, HOllie

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  24. This is going to be great when its done!

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  25. Thanks for the personal tour. So that a desert! We've never seen a desert. It has it's own kind of beauty doesn't it. That was very enjoyable.

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  26. We loved the tour and hope you do regular updates.

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  27. Thank you for this amazing tour!! It's great that this bit of water is now looked after with a large nod to Mother Nature so everyone and every creature benefits! Yay! Take care
    x

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  28. Wonderful tour, hope you post another one when it is completed!

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  29. Thanks for the tour, I enjoyed it. When we stayed in Vegas we went on a tour to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and came back through Boulder City. We went out a different way and I have the feeling we went through or close to Henderson so we may have passed close to where you live.

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  30. If I weren't half way round the world, I'd love to go for the tour with you. But through your eyes, I've seen and actually felt the experience. Thank you!

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  31. What an Earth Day tour! I think it will be wonderful when it's all done.

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  32. Very nice landscape pictures! It makes me want to come out and go sight-seeing.

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  33. We really enjoyed the tour! It would be awesome to see it in person.

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  34. All that sounds pawsome!

    Thanks for the tour.

    Nubbin wiggles,
    Oskar

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Oh Boy...this is gonna be GREAT!