RonnieAdventure #0001 -Northshore Peak, Lake Mead Natiioan Recreation Area, Clark County, Nevada

Time to try out the new GPS equipment! I found a hike on the internet called Northshore Peak that sounded interesting and it even gave some GPS coordinates on how to find the trailhead. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to enter the GPS coordinates into my unit and the instruction manual that came with the unit was written in a combination of technical jargon and broken English, neither of which were comprehensible. After a lot of trial and error, I was finally able to enter the coordinates; so we were off on our Ronnie Adventure.

After traveling about 19 miles, I watched the distances count down on the GPS screen -- 500 meters, 100 meters, 5 meters, and then the unit started buzzing as the distance read zero. The only problem was that we were in the middle of a two lane highway with no parking lot and no Northshore Peak. Just my luck, I would get a defective GPS unit. We journey up the road a little farther until we found a parking lot and we assumed that this must be the place.

The internet directions for the hike indicated that there was no established trail leading to the peak and the scramble to the top could be made from either the east or the west sides of the mountain. However, the article highly recommended approaching from the east side because the western route was too steep and too dangerous and should only be attempted by hikers with substantial experience. While standing in the parking lot, the western route didn’t look too steep or too dangerous and I’ve found that you can’t believe everything that you read on the internet, so we decided to ascend the peak by the western route. The first half-mile of hiking was fairly easy and uneventful with some ups and downs, but nothing too challenging. Then the scramble became a little more difficult as the angle of the slope increased and the ground became covered with loose sand and broken rock. Finally, we arrived at a steep ravine that wasn’t visible from the parking lot and it became obvious that this was going to require some hand-over-hand third class climbing. The only problem was that water rushing down the ravine over the years had eroded away the harder surface materials and all that was left for handholds was a lot of very soft gypsum that broke every time you tried to get a good handhold or foot step. So, while ascending the ravine it seemed like every time you would go up two feet, you would slide back down one foot. Finally, arriving at the saddle, the rest of the hike to the peak was uneventful. Views from the peak were stunning and the hike down the east side was a piece of cake.

View Northwest Toward Bowl of Fire and Las Vegas

 

Arriving back in town, I stopped by the REI store to complain about the inaccuracy of the GPS unit and the 18-year-old Sales Associate suggested that before I return the unit I sign up for their remedial GPS course. He then added that if I could pass the remedial course, I should sign up for “GPS for Dummies,” which was more difficult. I told him that I could probably figure it out for myself, so I went home to decipher the instruction manual.

After spending several nights trying to read my technical jargon broken English instruction manual, I decided to return to REI and ask for some explanations. It must have been my lucky day because I found a Sales Associate that actually owned and had used a GPS unit. He looked at my GPS unit, punched a few buttons, and informed me that the unit should now work better with Base Camp. Base Camp? I don’t remember reading anything about Base Camp in my instruction manual. He said that everyone knows that you need Base Camp to manage all of your Tracks, Routes, and Way Points. Tracks, Routes, and Waypoints? I must have looked confused because he said, “Here! Let me write this down for you.” He proceeded to take out a blank piece of paper and listed all of the steps I needed to take to download Base Camp onto my computer. He then said, “And, don’t forget to download the USB Drivers and Web Updater.” I told him that maybe he should write that down also. I must have look a little bewildered, because he said: “Let me draw you a picture of what your data tree should look like under My Collection.” Data tree? I didn’t want to tell him that I wasn’t an arborist, but I think we have a couple of Ash trees in our yard because I’ve been told that the trees have some type of disease and are dying. But, I definitely don’t know much about trees. As a matter of fact, I think I’m allergic to trees. Especially Olive Trees! Anyway, I left for home to determine if I could follow his instructions.

As it turns out, the Sales Associate gave excellent directions and I was able to download Base Camp, USB Drivers, Web Updater, and I built a data tree that looked just like the one that he had sketched for me. Now for some field testing! Stay tuned for Adventure #2.