Hello all at the Watercooler,
It's been a little busy again at work, as well as with family side of things, for the past week, which left not enough time to listen to my wired iems and daps back at home.
From Sunday morning (10/16), I stopped by a coffee shop, Little Ripper (in Glassell Park, Los Angeles, California), for some coffee and quick bites.
Outside of Little Ripper Coffee (at Glassell Park, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, 10/16).
When I was deciding on what to order from the menu, I happened to find out that the coffee shop owner is from Australia (after I briefly read from an online article about how the owner started Little Ripper Coffee).
Although my order took a bit longer than usual to be prepared and served, one of the workers who handed me my order had a pleasant/soothing tone in the way she spoke, with an easy-going & relaxed vibe.
Cold brew coffee (take-out, from Little Ripper Coffee, Glassell Park, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, 10/16).
Mostly dark notes of cherry, cacao, with a subtle distinct note of toasted caramel, bringing mild forwardness of mostly fruit, followed by toasted dark chocolate, with soft-leaning but medium bold flavors of cherry and cacao gradually easing its way up to a mellow & subtly smooth tart finish.
Jaffle (Aussie-style grilled cheese, w/ cheddar, avocado, sliced tomato, hot sauce, vegemite spread, prosciutto, and hot sauce - take-out from Little Ripper Coffee, Glassell Park, Los Angeles, California, 10/16).
This is the first time I've tried Aussie-style grilled cheese. It's an interesting take on grilled cheese, with more emphasis on the feel & texture of the bread and sauce than the meat, cheese and toppings. Tastes decent as a gourmet snack, and the texture & taste of bread is good on its own, but I think the flavors of the meat, cheese and other toppings have to work together a little more with the bread and sauce/spread.
Lamington (Australian chocolate cake, w/ coconut, berry jam filling, take-out from Little Ripper Coffee, Glassell Park, Los Angeles, California, 10/16).
My first time having Australian cake. Just the right amount of fluffy sponge feel & texture with decent balance of buttery chocolate and filling flavors. They almost got it right, yet it still feels a little off in getting that balance of subtle richness in buttery-milky feel, sweet-tart flavors and its textures of the right combination.
Going back the past two months from where I left off in my previous brief write-up about my petroglyph sightings from a petroglyph trail (in Henderson, Nevada), Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail has been one of my top go-to places for some time (and isn't too far of a drive from Los Angeles, California, when compared to a further drive up northeast for a sighting of a petroglyph gallery & trail in Utah). This place has been on my mind since, especially after several unsuccessful attempts in finding petroglyphs from another previous trail I went on few times prior within the past year.
On a quiet early Sunday morning (8/21/2022), I packed up some essentials, along with some water, fruits and snacks, to take with me for my road trip and hike.
About two hours in while on the road, I noticed a beautiful radiance of light from the sun brightening up the sky and rising its shining presence over the distant mountain range.
On the road, with a beautiful view of the sun. About two hours away from Las Vegas, Nevada (Sunday, 8/21).
Went through Primm, Nevada, and made my first stop in Art District of Las Vegas to get a coffee and burger, before heading south to the petroglyph trail in Henderson (driving towards Primm, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
By noon, I arrived at the entry point of the Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, I noticed there was only one other car parked in the lot, along with two people who appeared to be heading inside the visitor’s contact station building, perhaps due to the sweltering heat of the sun and hot & dry winds.
With some water brought alongside, I started the hike from the marked entry point, and headed through the trail at a fair brisk pace.
When I took a brief stop to drink some water, I looked out in the distance as far as I could from where I stood, and my initial thought was how fairly ‘manageable’ and ‘simple’ this hike seemed to be, based on the way the trail path was marked and kept within its arbitrary boundaries most of the way through.
However, as I headed further through the trail, I noticed there were no trail signs along the merged graded slope of land. Curious to see what was up ahead, I continued further up, until I saw a distinct low hillside of what appeared to be groups of volcanic rocks in mid-distant sight.
Low hillside of volcanic rocks ahead (along Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
As I ascended further up and got close to the front of the rock hillside, I took a moment to see and take in the beautiful formation of its geology and parts as a whole (along Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
Shortly after that moment, I peered over to the left, and I noticed there were exfoliated rocks in flat & relatively thin layers and also in clustered broken fragments of thin slabs and other similarly shaped pieces of rocks in other groups and forms along the left side (around Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
And, as I noticed a narrow arbitrary-like path of what looked to be a fairly sloped walkway, I carefully walked my way up and through the curved bend of the path, as the flat surface of the broken rocks felt somewhat slippery when in contact by foot (on the way @ Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
When I reached the top of the hillside, I felt a large mass of wind coming in picking up more noticeable force and speed. And, with some efforts to not lose my balance, I stood up in a moderate wide stance and firmly gripped my hands on one of the larger rocks I was right by, while taking in the beautiful sight and view of Las Vegas nearly straight ahead and also of the city of Henderson towards the half right (facing north eastbound, from Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
After spending enough time taking in the cool breeze and enjoying the view of the city & mountains, I felt a little more relaxed and continued hiking further up along a more sloped part of land by the mountainside. From this way of route, I thought it would be less time consuming to get to the nearest crest of the mountain and have some sort of vantage point to see how I could safely head down and get to the next part of the trail on the other side (at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
When I reached one of the lower crest points on the ridge of the mountain, I noticed there was a fair amount of distance to cover and get through, in order to get a better view of what was further down ahead on the other side.
After about two hours went by in getting myself up to speed as much as possible while making my way through and around thorny bushes and protruded large outcrops of rocks along the ridge of the mountain, I reached close enough to the top sided edge facing the opposite side of the mountain, where I was able to see a gravel trail which led its way towards a distinct broad shaped canyonside wall situated near the end of a valley (at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
While finding my way down the path of least resistance with less outcrop, I slowly made my way down the descent to reach low ground. When I was making my way down the fairly steep descent towards the gravel trail, I had some second thoughts of heading back. But, after having realized that I came this far and trusted my gut feeling in getting closer to where the petroglyphs seemed to be, I just felt it wasn’t the best decision in going through the troubling efforts to turn around and head back up towards the saddle. With this decision in mind, I went all the way down the descent, until I reached the wash area of the gravel trail (looking up northwestbound, from Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
When I reached low ground by the gravel trail, I looked ahead and noticed there was a bit of ground to cover, as the trail extended on for at least a mile. And, with the heat from the sun becoming hotter by the hour in unfamiliar territory of dry desert land, every minute in making the right choice and decision mattered.
After covering close to two miles on the trail, there was a mild pour-over incline that I climbed over and slowly walked my way down. Once I got past the pour-over, about few minutes in, I saw a large broad shaped hillside of rocks facing an intersection along the next bend of the trail not far ahead.
When I got near the canyon hillside, a little before the intersecting bend of the trail, I felt an uplifting kind of presence in some way, as I was looking at the unique form and shapes of rocks from the hillside, and how composed it appeared to be with a wide-rounded trough and broad rounded hilltop just behind to ease its way in, as a median to balance out the rough edges from each side (on Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
After I made a left turn through the next bend on the trail, there was a distinct feeling of silence with less noise coming in by higher canyon walls when I came across a basin area along the trail where distributed groups of rocks were closely positioned and also set apart from each side.
When I closely approached some of the rocks along the left side, I noticed subtly visible traces of abstract art and some with more discernible visuals of cultural motifs and symbols. Various forms of abstract art appeared to provide cultural significance, perhaps as social narratives, to express specific meanings of cultural identities and external groups of people, from encounters and early contact among indigenous people and European people at different points in time, and other forms as socioeconomic means that might have been used as task-specific purposes.
As some of these petroglyphs appeared in less complex forms than others, the more simple variants seemed to show bits and pieces of some experienced social routines in daily lives that may have served as embodiment of memories for people to reflect, possibly as a means to help overcome situations and progress forward in their way of life in more understandable & relatable ways, and perhaps to continue to share their thoughts and experiences.
Petroglyph of what possibly resembles bighorn sheep (basin area at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
Petroglyph of what appears to look like an encounter between two human-like figures, or possibly more (along basin area at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
Petroglyph at the upper left appears to show a symbolic illustration of either a ceremonial ritual with human-like figures gathering alongside, or something along the lines of representing some form of spiritual or human condition in a more profound way. Petroglyph from the lower right appears to resemble of what may possibly be a bighorn sheep (along basin area at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
Another petroglyph showing some indication or sign that bighorn sheep has played some kind of significant role in part of everyday social & cultural way of life with indigenous people in different points of time (at basin area at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
With the rise in temperature and build-up of heat felt from the sun, I started to feel the effects of lingering intensity from the heat, causing some slight numbness and fatigue.
Looking up at the sun at its highest point, under the blazing heat and fairly hot winds passing through the dry canyon trails, my mind started to wander off a little in a slight disoriented way.
View of rock spire from the distance, with the sun at around its highest point (heading back along wash area at Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
As I was finding my way back to head out of the petroglyph trail, I noticed the trail just past the pour-over along the wash area was split in a fork of two pathways. For some odd reason, I went for the upper side of the gravel trail, thinking to myself how manageable it would be to get back to the trailhead in less time. But, as I continued further and approached more rocky outcrops, sharp dips, narrow bends and some crevices along the way, it took more effort and time than I initially thought.
After spending the next two hours in getting through some rough terrain, as well as climbing over some large rocks and passing my way around large outcrops, I was feeling short of breath, and I took a short break to take some deep breaths and relax a little to gather my thoughts and senses as much as I could (about 4 miles southwestbound from the main entry trailhead of Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
As I gathered my memory of thoughts on where the most direct route would lead me back in the least amount of time possible, my attention was drawn towards a path from the opposite side, which I thought would lead its way back around to the higher grounds by the rocky hillside from where I initially came through.
However, it turned out this pathway led to a more distant side from the marked entry point of the trail. As I made my way through the next five miles of going over and around large outcrops of rocks and thorny plants in hot arid conditions from the relentless heat of the sun, I felt as if time slowed down to a near pause where the distance of getting to my destination was being pushed further out of my reach while remaining at the same far distance from my sight (about 3-4 miles southwestbound from the main entry trailhead of Sloan Canyon petroglyph trail, Henderson, Nevada, Sunday, 8/21).
With more fatigue setting in throughout my body, I felt myself going in and out of a daze, as I tried to keep myself collected and focused as much as I could. At this point, from where I was at low ground along a far stretch of land, I realized I was quite a ways off from the main designated route of entry which was situated further off at the other end.
Then, I made a slight change in my course of route, and noticed a distinct white structure, in what similarly looked like one of the visitor contact station buildings from the Sloan Canyon trail parking lot from the far distance. I continued walking my way further until I reached a familiar looking paved road that separated the land of Sloan Canyon and the white structures that I saw from afar, which unfortunately turned out to be some industrial buildings located across from the opposite side of the road. =/
Alongside where I stood by the marked sideline of the paved road, I saw a pool of water, but I realized I was a little far off by at least several miles away from the road where I initially came in (when I first got to the main entry from the parking area).
Feeling nearly out of breath and exhausted at this point, I finished the last remaining half of the water I brought (about one glass equivalent). I somehow managed to get through the last two miles, until I found my way through a familiar looking road entrance, which led me back to the parking lot by the main entry point of the trail (Henderson, Nevada, 8/21). =)
-Daniel.
or 
, not sure yet.
