Hello everyone! Hope you are enjoying your last bit of summer. Here in Nevada, well in Vegas anyway, summer seems to last until about the end of October. Although, we have had cooler temperatures as of lately and some much needed rainfall here in the valley. After the water shortages in these last few years, we will take all the rain we can get! It’s been a bit humid from the rain and uncomfortably hot, making everything sticky and miserable. On the bright side, we got a break from the scorching summer sun and the weather looks to be clear and sunny the next several days.

A couple of weeks ago , my friend and I ventured out to the lower regions of Mt. Charelston NV, before we got all this flooding from the recent storms (more on that momentarily). There are lots of custom homes, when making your way up to the mountains, and plenty of desert hills. The trail we decided to explore is called “The Slots” in Lower Kyle Canyon. When pullung into the designated parking area, it really doesnt’ look like much at the trail head. The trail seems to go up a hill to the right or if you venture to the left, staright into a mesa. I briefly looked at the map and decided to go to the left. We walked a short distance, a noticed the trail curved to the right, almost smack dab into a rock! As we got closer, there was narrow opening that twisted onwards, so we followed.

To our great surprise, it opened up into a beautiful wide open canyon! We were awestruck that it was literally hidden behind these desert hills, that seemed to go nowhere. The canyon is hidden from the main two lane road that leads up to Mount Charleston. We felt as if we were in our own secret place, with all this stunning beauty around us. As we ventured farther into the canyon, something caught my eye and I paused. The object was very far away but looked to be bizarrely out of place. I stood still and and strained to look at this strange thing, with no luck. I couldn’t make out what is was, it almost looked as if it were some sort of huge stuffed animal, like a horse. So, I pulled out my phone, opened my camera, and zoomed in. It took a moment to focus, but when it finally did, I saw a white/gray donkey standing perfectly still. No movement from his body, head, no twtching of the ears or swishing of his tail. I then observed a slight movement to his right and realized there was a second donkey standing tail to tail with him, but he was gray! They blended in so well together, I almost didn’t recognize there was two of them!

I was mezmerized! I quickly handed my phone to my friend and had her verify what I was witnessing. We heard one of the donkeys bray (similar to a horse’s neighing or whinning) and they were watching us closely. What a treat to see this majestic creature in the open wild! We have seen donkeys before, but they are usually in groups, but never have we seen a one as light in color as this. I find donkeys to be quite adorable actually, they have such cute faces and long fuzzy ears. We explored the canyon furhter and observed some garbage cans that had been strategically placed throughout, to discard of any trash someone may have. Although, I am not sure who comes and empties these barrels.. They were pretty empty and very aged. We reached our end point, which was a beautiful enormous rock, that almost looked as if it could of been a ancient dwelling of sorts. The hike from our car to the end point was 2.5 miles, so around 5 miles round trip.

Going back to the storm.. I’m glad we had the opprotunity to hike this trail when we did, because the following week, a huge storm hit us and flooded Mount Charleston! The roads leading up to the mountains are damaged and closed. We have had severe thunder storms the last few weeks here, which is surprising this time of year. Just last week, we had a monster of a storm and most of Las Vegas flooded! There were stones and boulders all over the roads. Some people on the Southeastern side of the city, got stranded in their vehicles due to the water levels being so high. Unfortueately, there was even a fatality of a young boy. ( you can read more about that here: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2023/09/04/drowning-victim-las-vegas-weekend-storms-identified-13-year-old-boy/) Please be safe if a flash flood is ever issued! It is a serious matter! Please be safe in whatever hiking adventures you partake in, see you next time!