Here's our normal picture at the top - I'm not sure why we keep doing them, they never get better.
Our latest hike was January 15. We got some terrible directions off the internet and headed out to hike Fortification Hill. It was on the other side of Hoover Dam (Arizona side) and on an unnamed turnoff. After driving back and forth on the new bridge and then on the dam and realizing the road was closed, we drove again on the bridge and found the turnoff. The dirt road led to a spot on Lake Mead that was free and a camping ground called the Paint Pots. It was really beautiful and more brightly colored than the picture shows.
We started hiking and got to the cliff line when we realized we were not on the right trail. We made our own trail till we found the real trail and decided that desert hiking is always an adventure in trail-finding. This is the tiny cairn that we missed. We followed the much bigger trail to the left.
The hike was great and the temperature was even better (around 68 F). From the top we had a great view of Hoover Dam, the new bridge, Lake Mead, Las Vegas, and Mt. Charleston.
