Natural Bridge Hike

This morning we gave the kids the option to forego our usual Saturday bike ride for a hike, to which they enthusiastically agreed. We headed south this time to Nelson, NV to hike to a natural bridge. This area is still part of the Lake Mead NRA, but lies south of Hoover dam along the Colorado River. A natural bridge is similar to a natural arch except that it is formed by water erosion as opposed to wind erosion. You can actually see the arch if you look carefully at the Google imagery (35°43'36.74"N, 114°49'7.37"W: look for the shadow spanning the wash). This is a good 1.0 mile hike each way with a tiny bit of thigh-high rock scrambling on the trail. This destination is tucked away at the bottom of a wash with some neat rock formations, plenty of oak shrub, a spring, great vistas of Boulder City and Nelson, as well as a small glimpse of the Colorado River.

We had a baby rattlesnake cross my path today between Karter and I. Baby rattlers are about 10 inches at birth. This one was about 12-13 inches long and I could only see maybe two little rattles on the tip of its tail. The snake was about 3 feet from Karter and heading his way when I spotted it as I was about to step near it. We were in a small space between the rocks and I realized I couldn't get around the rattler to get to Karter, so I frantically called to Miki, who was in front of Karter, to pull him clear of its path. Karter did a great job of standing very still, probably frozen from me raising my voice suddenly. Miki swooped Karter up while the baby snake quickly hid under the rock not to be seen again. Karter decided after this that he never wants to step on a snake and had me carry him past that spot on the way back out.

This time we packed a lunch that we ate in the shade of the natural bridge while we enjoyed the cool breeze. Of course the "tired" starts to kick in on the way back, but we made it back home to enjoy a short nap followed by Saturday chores. It was a fun time! Now maybe I should probably start thinking about getting ready to plan to possibly go about getting some studying done for my upcoming economics test. Can't wait!

Natural Bridge Hike