After the double-hike the day before, we all slept pretty well that night besides the warm stink in the tent. I myself was a little sluggish in the morning for the first time this trip. It seemed like we were all in the need for a nice hotel and dinner (and shower). One more short hike first. Now the hikes in Zion pretty much go from easy to strenuous with not much in between. You either hike up the walls of the canyon or along the floor. Of course, I hike took us up the wall of the canyon. There was an 850 ft elevation gain over a little less than a mile. JJ was not happy. We knocked out the familiar switchback up and up, but it was over before we knew it. Our destination was Hidden Canyon, which I was interested to see why it was “hidden”. After the switchback, it was evident why this canyon was given its name. To get to the mouth of the canyon (which was 1000 ft above the floor of the main canyon) we had to walk on the face of a cliff holding onto a chain link handrail. I thought this was awesome, while JJ and Nick were a little less enthusiastic about it. Maybe that’s why JJ kept calling me “psychotic” the entire trip.
After surviving that part of the hike, we had made it to the mouth of the canyon. Now originally, the hike was supposed to stop there. We then saw this sign:
That’s soo ULTRA. Obviously, we went into the canyon. The scrambling wasn’t too bad at first. Just a couple moves up and over a boulder, no big deal. Then the canyon started getting narrower; very reminiscent of Buckskin Gulch, but not as pristine. The walls were not as rounded and there was a lot of debris from flash floods. Overall, I would call this canyon more rugged than Buckskin. The deeper we went in, the more technical the scrambling became. We tried to keep in mind that we were going to have to scramble our way out, but we were trying to keep up our streak of arch-baggin’. You should probably look at some of the pics of the hike so get a better idea. We hiked in about 1.5 miles and didn’t see any arch, and the boulder fields were getting bigger and bigger. We finally decided that it was time to give up, and head out. It was tricky to get out, but not as bad as I thought it would be. When we finally made it out, I could tell by the look on everyone’s face that they were done with the nature crap for a little bit. So we headed back to the car, and took off for Las Vegas.
Now we had another Exec Dec to make. Since our hike in Yosemite was snowed out (AGAIN), we needed to decide how we were going to spend our extra day. Easiest choice would stay in Vegas for an extra night, but being the person I am, I had about 10 other thoughts running through my head. These included Kings Canyon NP (just south of Yosemite), San Diego to visit Bret and Dan, or hit up the PCH. We would make a decision once we got to Vegas and everyone was in a better mood. Last time we made the drive from Zion to Vegas, I was passed out for the entire thing. This time I made a point to stay awake, and it was pretty awesome. Cutting through the canyons of just desolate looking mountains with little to no signs of life around you; feels like a different planet. When we finally saw Vegas in the distance, JJ and Nick’s face lit up. Neither of them had ever been here and it does have quite a reputation. We met up with my friend, Liz, who usually hooks it up when I am in Vegas. She did not disappoint this time. She was able to upgrade us to a suite for free. When we got to the room, everyone was blown away by how nice it was. It had a king size bed looking out over the strip, a fireplace, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, Jacuzzi hottub, and 2 42” flat screen TV’s. By the time I had come out of the bathroom for some much needed relief, Liz and JJ had all ready booked the room for a 2nd night. So that took care of our Exec Dec. First order of business included the pool and food. Nick and I went down to the pool, which was actually pretty cold because the pool was on the 6th floor and it was very windy up there. That was a bummer, so it was onto the food. We hit up the happy hour “specials” which included a $6 Heineken. Liz and I went for a quick grocery store run where we obviously bought more than we could eat/drink in 2 days, but whatever. JJ and Nick went to the gym to get their pump on before heading out for the evening. When we all got back to the hotel, we decided to sit around and play a few card games before going out. Liz had put us on “the list” for one of the hippest clubs in the city, Surrender. I’m not really sure what privileges being on “the list” gave us because JJ and I still had to pay $40 each to get in. Back at the room, Nick was bored out of his mind so he decided to make some phone calls and catch up with his friends.
The club was pretty awesome. The whole thing was open air with suites all around looking out over the crowd. It was by far the biggest club I had ever been to, and also the most expensive. Each round of drinks was ~$60 after tip, and everyone knows how stingy I tip (because I’m kinda Jewish). There was house music playing, which was pretty fun, and just a ton of people dressed to impress. I realized that if I end up in Vegas for my residency, I might need to update my wardrobe. Since I spent $100+ at the club, I figured I would try to earn some of that back with hard work AKA roulette. Things did not go as planned, but luckily I was aware enough to stop early. Only lost another $100 (womp womp) and then decided to call it a night. Went back to the room, where Nick had conveniently decided to lock the door. After yelling, knocking, calling, and ringing, he finally answered half-asleep and then just went right back to sleep. I passed out pretty quickly looking out over the strip; pretty freakin’ ULTRA. ULTRA day 11/39: COMPLETE
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