ADVENTURE TIME Extreme runners and rock climbers!

Kayaking and camp cooking! Happy hour in the middle of the desert! Let’s take this outside

T H E O U T D O O R I S S U E

5 MAD MEN MOMENTSBask in the past as the show’s last act begins

ROCKABILLY GLAMCapturing the look of Viva Las Vegas

+FUKUBURGER ON THE MOVEThe food-truck fave’s new Strip spot

CRAWL THE

CROMWELL

Drinking in

Interlude, Bound

& Giada

LISA COLETY on the Railroad Trail

near Lake Mead

April 2-8, 2015 LasVegasWeekLy.com 17

Wild things

Where the sideWalk ends, the gnarly rocks, mighty rivers

and epic trails begin photograph by Max Moore

OUTDOORISSUE

2015

Wild things

> true grit about a week after this photo was taken, alex Johnson completed a first ascent of this V10 boulder, granting her the right to name it—the swoop.

18 LasVegasWeekLy.com April 2-8, 2015 photogrAphs by dAvid beAver

Heart of stone on the world-clAss rocks in lAs vegAs’ bAckyArd, pro climber Alex Johnson is finAlly home by erin Ryan

She drinkS her coffee with butter. Her Chihuahua runs 8-minute miles. And she can

hang her entire body weight on two fin-gers. Something tells me Alex Johnson would be good at Two Truths and a Lie. At the moment, the 26-year-old profes-sional climber is laughing about drunk marmots while gripping the side of an 18-foot boulder.

“They chewed through the cans!” another climber says as Johnson works the imposing hunk of chalk-tattooed sandstone known as All Nightmare Long. This is the first time she’s ever touched it, but her movements look memorized. In a way they are, considering she started climbing at a Wisconsin gym at age 7, won her first U.S. title at 12 and has since notched five national championships and two Bouldering World Cup golds. She’s still competing at the high-est level, taking second at the American Bouldering Series final in February, but Johnson has “honed in on outdoor projects.” Not just first female ascents, though she’s racking them up. First ascents, period.

“So many other areas have been so tapped out, and I can go exploring here in a canyon and find things that haven’t been climbed, and then I can make them my own, clean them up and make the landings safe. I’ve never done that anywhere else, and it’s cool to be a contributing factor to more rock climbing,” she says, shar-ing some of what drew her from Boulder, Colorado (Mecca for American climbing) to Las Vegas a year ago. It’s the scope of the developing landscape and the climbing community’s inclusive vibe that make her casually say she might stay forever. “I’ve never felt more at home.”

Since they moved into a place near the road to Red Rock Canyon, Johnson and her climbing partner and manager Kati Hetrick have been checking off boulder problems and longer routes in the world-class playground. With Johnson’s tiny pup Fritz sprinting along, they haul their crash pads into the wilds looking for classics and anything untested that has the right bal-ance of beauty, difficulty and fun.

The Swoop was one of those, a richly striated boulder knifing to the sky with a “really, really, really scary landing.” Johnson thinks that’s the reason no one tried it. She spent days cleaning the holds and perfecting the sequence of moves to the crux, which she describes in a video about the project as “a committing jump.” You have to see it to know what she means, but picture a fully extended leap anchored by the fingertips of one hand and landing on an edge sloping in gravity’s favor. When she finally nails it and gets to the top in the video, she pounds the rock like a stoked kid.

April 2-8, 2015 LasVegasWeekLy.com 19

The Swoop is one of two climbs she’s put up in Red Rock, the other a 30-foot highball she named Critically Acclaimed. Keep in mind that there are no ropes in bouldering. Just the pads and a bag of chalk. Hetrick says, “There’s a point where you just can’t fall.”

They met at a competition four years ago, when Johnson was getting back into the formal side of the sport after burning out and Hetrick was breaking in. She says she got Johnson into training, convinc-ing her to give up the Taco Bell and the “off-the-couch” model. “She went from getting sixth at nationals to competing in the World Cup four months later and beating all the Americans and getting fourth in the world,” says Hetrick, add-ing that her work with and connections through Johnson were the foundations of RedPoint, her business consulting for big outdoor brands and managing athletes.

Johnson, who climbs full-time thanks to sponsors like the North Face, Evolv and Nicros Climbing, says she can only train like that maybe twice a year, that it’s all her body can handle.

“And your brain,” adds Hetrick. “It’s a technical, physical and mental sport. Very equal parts. … You could be completely fit and ready and know the technique, but if your head’s not there, you’re not gonna do it.”

Johnson’s head is clearly there on All Nightmare Long as she pulls herself up by fractions of fingertips. She dispatches the V6 easily. Boulder grades go from V0 to V16, and she’s one of the only women to consistently climb V12.

Given her talent, I ask why she chose to focus on bouldering instead of the big-wall stuff that can make headlines, and careers. She reframes it rhetorical-ly: If you’re in Yosemite for El Capitan’s 3,000-foot glory, why would you climb a little nugget that broke off?

“Bouldering singles out difficulty. It takes the difficulty that could be all of El Cap, and you can compact it into like four moves. So it’s basically the four single hardest moves you can physically do,” she says. It’s about power, body control and finesse, not to mention the aesthetics of the moves, the line and the rock itself. Boulders are inspiring problems to be solved, and Johnson says some climbers will “sit under” one for years. “You have to have an obsessive personality.”

Overcoming that kind of challenge feels amazing—until comment feeds blow up with arguments over its grade. Johnson experienced that after achiev-ing the first female ascent of a local V12 called Lethal Design in 2012.

“Since then a handful of girls and women have done it, and there have been murmurs of ‘soft’ and ‘downgrade,’” she wrote on her blog last July, getting into the nuances of individual strengths and styles making climbs easier or harder in ways that defy consensus grades. While she sees the need for standards, Johnson urged downgrade bandwagoners to keep in mind that as sports grow, athletes get stronger and boundaries get crushed. And to think hard about how important it is to nitpick a number. “Because to some-one, that line could be the hardest thing

they’ve ever done, and they could have worked their ass off for it.”

Kynan Waggoner has always known Johnson to speak her mind. Joining her on the boulders in Red Rock’s Oak Creek Canyon area, he recalls her technique as a teenager competing indoors. The CEO of USA Climbing used to set routes for com-petitions, and he says she was a natural. Becoming a professional takes more than ability, and Waggoner says that Johnson and other young climbers accomplished a lot without support—something his orga-nization is trying to change. “Climbing, even though the numbers are growing astronomically, is still a very young sport,” he says. “It’s happening in the middle of nowhere. No one sees what’s going on. And in order to be here you gotta love what you’re doing.”

The love comes through in the encouragements these climbers yell when faces are strained and muscles pumped by tough moves—and in the cel-ebratory beers. It’s in Johnson’s constant bounding away to scout every rock. And it’s definitely in the satisfaction she feels about going for V14 as a woman, even though she has yet to conquer one.

“The season that she tried was the first year everybody started to con-sider, just fathom, that it was possible,” Hetrick says. “And months later, three girls did it, like back to back to back.”

Johnson says it was awesome just to crack the glass. She seems passionate about advancing the sport and her place in it, and sincere in thinking Las Vegas might be the perfect line.

“It’s a technical, physical and mental sport. Very equal parts. But if your head’s not there, you’re not gonna do it.”

OUTDOORISSUE

2015

> climb on at a mount charleston crag called the Hood, alex Johnson does an expert line called short Dog.

> monkey buSineSS kati Hetrick takes on a classic at kraft Boulders,

the V7 monkey Bar Traverse.

Heaven that’s hellfor locAl extreme runners, A rim-to-rim trek through the grAnd cAnyon is A high thAt’s worth the struggle by sarah Feldberg

liSa colety haS read the warnings. She knows the dangers: temperature swings, unpredictable weather, the pos-

sibility of twisting an ankle, taking a fall or sim-ply stepping off a ledge to almost certain death.

“Everything you look at when you talk about going North to South says do not attempt to do this in one day,” the veteran trail runner (and Weekly covergirl) says. “And we know that, but this is what we do.”

“This” is the Grand Canyon’s legendary rim-to-rim trek, a leg-pummeling, mentally punish-ing trip from one side of the giant gash in the Earth to the other, covering about 24 miles and more than 10,000 feet of elevation change. Hiking it over multiple days is a challenge, but Colety and her friend Zoe Albright prefer to run the canyon—usually finishing in 8-10 hours.

Though the National Park Service discour-ages traversing the canyon as a day trip, run-ners and hikers have been tackling the route for decades, and in recent years it has grown enormously popular. The Park Service estimates that 400-600 people now attempt rim-to-rim (or rim-to-river-to-rim) treks on weekend days during peak season. Last August it rolled out a new permitting program to limit inner-canyon day hikes.

Some of those who lace up for the adventure compete for FKT (Fastest Known Time) or run

makeshift ultramarathons on this brutal desert course. The current rim-to-rim record belongs to Arizonan Rob Krar, who made the journey in 2 hours, 51 minutes and 28 seconds on May 25, 2012. About a year later Jason “Ras” Vaughan ran the only known sextuple rim to rim, navigat-ing the canyon six times over an incomprehen-sible 68 hours and 10 minutes.

For most, however, a single trek across the Big Ditch proves daunting enough. Colety and Albright have completed the journey four times since 2008. For that first attempt, Albright says they made a pact: “You make sure I get out, I’ll make sure you get out.”

Not everyone does. About 250 people are rescued from the Grand Canyon every year, and there’s an entire book dedicated to those who didn’t make it out alive. The canyon has a way of pushing people to their limits, and Albright says it’s different every time. “That’s part of the allure of it—the unknown.”

The women start their journey on the North Rim before dawn, descending on narrow switch-backs in the morning chill and the glow of headlamps. When the sun finally rises, “you see where you’ve been hiking,” Colety explains. “The sun just shines on these canyons. Sometimes there are waterfalls and there’s green … It’s just very spiritual. It’s breathtaking.”

But the canyon can also be cruel. Temp-eratures at the bottom often surpass 100 degrees, and the terrain is harsh, jutting skyward for the final miles when runners are at their most exhausted. “When you’re out on the trail,” Albright says, “you just keep going.” The only way out is up.

Colety had tears in her eyes when she fin-ished the climb on that first trip seven years ago. “You look at the other side of the canyon—we were there this morning—and it’s so far away. So far away.”

20 LasVegasWeekLy.com April 2-8, 2015 illustrAtion by cAmeron k. lewis April 2-8, 2015 LasVegasWeekLy.com 21

The road to every-wherecrAggy forests, cArved rocks And A rAinbow of squirrels Along utAh’s scenic route 14

if you love red rock and Mount Charleston and Lake Mead and Black Mountain,

then you’ll love Utah’s State Route 14. Features from Las Vegas’ best outdoor destinations converge on this 41-mile stretch of scenic highway, boasting craggy forest, a natural sandstone amphitheater, a lake, a waterfall and a striking lava field that blankets the floor of a birch grove. Best of all, it’s only two and a half hours from Vegas, and the area can be surveyed in as little as a day.

To get to State Route 14, head north on Interstate 15 and exit on Main Street in Cedar City. Turn right, and follow the road to the UT-14 East intersection. Make another right, and

you’re on your way. The gray desert landscape quickly

rises into low mountains in reds and tans dotted with vibrant plant life. Soon after, the scenery narrows into a rounded, tree-topped limestone can-yon and then flattens to a forest floor. Pine trees spring up as you enter the Dixie National Forest.

Cedar Canyon Campground is the first campsite on the route driv-ing east, and has stunning red-rock views of an eroded cliff face, but the $15 sites can be noisy because they’re close to the road.

About halfway to Duck Creek, the highway’s end point, is Route 148, which leads to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Cedar Breaks’

most memorable trait is its red-and-white striated geologic “amphithe-ater,” which is half a mile deep and beautifully carved by the elements. At 10,000 feet above sea level, the park, open May through October, is consid-ered a sub-alpine forest, with ancient bristlecone pines and wildflower fields during spring.

Continuing east, you’ll find Navajo Lake, open in June and home to three $12 campgrounds, fishing, boating and a handful of hiking trails for all ability levels. One of the easiest, Cascade Falls, is a scenic walk on the south-facing side of a red mountain to a waterfall. The water feature is small, but the hike is still well worth it for the sweeping valley views.

Happy hour at the oasismiller lite. pork nAchos. swAmp coolers. And miles And miles of ArizonA desert

it’S 1 in the afternoon and I’m drinking a Miller Lite in the middle of nowhere, the

northern reaches of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, miles down a dirt road from any signs of civilization.

Did I mention I’m at a bar?That’s the allure of the Nellie E

Saloon. Affectionately called the “Desert Bar,” the watering hole’s remote location and off-the-grid quirks (no air conditioning, limited refrigeration and a cash-only policy) have been attracting desert nomads since the bar opened in 1983.

Situated on an old mining camp, what started as a three-sided outpost slinging cans of brewskis to dirt bik-ers has morphed into a makeshift townsite. The saloon now stands two

stories tall, complete with two indoor bars, two grills, covered patio areas and two stages for live bands. Owner Ken Coughlin’s abode, an open-air church and the destination’s “cooling towers” (utilizing swamp-cooler tech-nology minus electricity) complete the camp-ish complex, which under-goes some kind of expansion project each year.

If Nellie E is anything, it’s a tes-tament to “If you build it, they will come.” On a recent Saturday after-

noon the bar was packed to the brim, with around 200 people throwing back beers, chowing on burgers and pulled-pork nachos and two-step-ping to the live country crooning in the background.

The seasonal bar is only open from October through April, (those cooling towers wouldn’t help much during Arizona’s brutal summers), but you still have this month to take advan-tage of the nearby oddity.

And while Nellie E itself is defi-

nitely something to see, the journey can be the real adventure. While most opt to take their sedans and trucks on the easy-riding dirt road in, many choose to off-road on a path that begins behind the River Island gas station in Parker, Arizona. The trek through the saguaro- and prickly-pear-dotted Buckskin Mountains takes approximately three hours, and it’ll make that Miller Lite (or Solo cup of Franzia!) taste even better. –Mark Adams

OUTDOORISSUE

2015

Beyond the lake are lava fields created by ancient volcanic activ-ity. Mammoth Cave, a quarter-mile-long lava tube, is located near Mammoth Creek Road and is safe to explore, but just driving past presents a breathtaking view of white birch trees and jagged black rocks. Finally, the highway ends at Duck Creek, a small town with campsites, cabins and vari-ous recreational rentals.

If you’re lucky, you’ll spot deer, porcupine, pikas, marmots and several kinds of squirrels. (Several kinds of squirrels!) Though it’s possible to cover the sights in a day, you’ll want to stay longer to experience them. –Kristy Totten

> navajo lake> utah’S State route 14> cedar breakS

22 LasVegasWeekLy.com April 2-8, 2015 colorAdo river by mikAylA whitmore cAmp food by christopher devArgAs April 2-8, 2015 LasVegasWeekLy.com 23

Gear to covet Add some smArt And stylish to your Active life

red cobra careenS her kayak into the bow of my boat with no warning. A missile

gone rogue with its last breath, moving independently in the midday sun.

She’d been zigzagging the Colorado like this for most of the journey, blaming it on her rudderless vessel. But then, we all found our excuses for whatever hindered our novice paddling.

I squint into the distance, hoping to spot Stretch, but she’s long gone, leaving the three of us to pick up the pace. Any slower and the search party will come. We have until 4 p.m., they said. But it’d taken us the day to kayak two miles up-river, so dawdling of any sort is out of the question, as is Hoover Dam. Access is restricted now, and any fantasy of nearing it was doused when one of our crew considered abandoning ship before we’d even left the Willow Beach har-bor. Her technique, much like Red Cobra’s, proved interesting, both of them errantly ramming into the docks at launch (and one, who shall remain nameless, later tangling with a shrub). Unable to paddle free, they stuck like insects on flypaper. It was Keystone Cops in slow-mo.

Tomorrow would be the first day of spring, and we were its eager welcom-ing committee. No destination other than “up-river.”

Boulders towered on either side in hues of brown, a statuesque desert pas-sage as pronounced and dreamy as any brochure could promise. Volcanoes cre-ated this canyon, and 15 million years later the four of us paddle through with beer and candy at $45 per rented

kayak. Some of us barreling against the current. Others debating whether they’re actually moving. Ducky says she’s self-identifying as a weakling.

There are many ways to get up and down this stretch of the river, but navigating solo in a kayak creates an intense and complicated love affair, with a current that seems merciless at moments but promises to return you to your destination should your arms give out. We understand its demands. It has California to nourish, and we’ve already taken plenty. It makes national head-lines for this reason, yet here it is close up, clear, seemingly pristine, bountiful and forgiving, oblivious to the political controversy taking place in boardrooms across the country.

At the shore beneath the historic river gauger’s house site, we come across others, explorers on a guided tour with fancier kayaks and a sense of ease in their eyes. They’re cordial and informative, having just hiked up to the historic site. “Harry’s House,” they call it. And what a view he had. We find remnants of a former home—steps, hardware, broken window glass, rusty nails and a concrete foun-dation. We examine the glass shards melted by the summer heat and read the provided text. Daily he would measure the water’s volume, rate of flow and silt content in the 1920s and ’30s. The Dam does that now.

Journeying on, the cliffs and des-ert brush signal our speed. Beaches provide respite. The Emerald Cave is indeed emerald. We paddle out of it and back down the river with a grace we didn’t have going up. Red Cobra zigzags, and the sky seems eternal.

Bag-o-gourmetA tAsty tour of cAmpsite snAckAge

rehydrated food might not sound appetizing, but when you’re out in the wild, hot meals are a welcome upgrade from sad sandwiches. We tried a handful of brands and flavors

(available at your local REI), and found some so delectable we might even make them at home.

∑ mountain house scrambled eggs with ham, $6The spongey texture and un-flavor smack more of fake meat than real egg, though hunks of salty ham and bitter green pepper add some depth. Wrapped in a tortilla with salsa, we wouldn’t kick this out of bed.

∑ maryjanesfarm organic chilimac, $5.93How is it possible that this tastes better than any mac and cheese we’ve made in an actual kitch-en?! Seriously, the sharp cheddar goo should be a condiment for all camp food. And lentils? Genius!

∑ Wildlings yoga haleakala yoga mat Leave it to Urban Outfitters’ new fitness-themed branch, Without Walls, to carry an arsenal of trendy camping tchotchkes and yoga accessories. We can totally get behind aligning our chakras with a giant purple galaxy mat. Because what better way to prac-tice warrior pose than in outer space? $65, withoutwalls.com

∑ funktional Wearables fitbit cuff bracelet It’s great to have motivation around your wrist, but sometimes you don’t want the whole world knowing you’re part of the trend. Funktional Wearables ingeniously hides your device in chunky necklaces, cuffs and metallic bracelets. Our favorite is the Natalie Fitbit bracelet in antique gold. $40, funktionalwearables.com

∑ injinji ex-celerator compression 2.0 otc socks Toe shoes might be out of style for runners, but toe socks are all the rage. Injinji’s 5 Toe Fit System gives you the wiggling comfort (and increased blood flow) in a slick compression sock designed to enhance circulation and recovery. And if it’s going to come up to your knee, you might as well make it hot pink. $49, injinji.com

∑ bluebuds X wireless headphones You’re a gym regular, so you’re used to dealing with that bundle of headphone wire smacking you in the face. Solve that cardio conundrum with earbuds boast-ing eight hours of playtime and a headband that goes behind your neck or over your ears, so you can concentrate on yourworkout—not your wires. $170, jaybirdsport.com

∑ big agnes ripple creek tent + mtnglo Backpacker recognized Big Agnes’ col-lection of mtnGLO tents, because they finally addressed the issue of trying to get out for a bathroom break in the middle of the night without stepping on someone’s neck. LEDs are built into the body of this three-season shelter, which is sweet with or with-out the glow. $400, bigagnes.com

∑ topeak defender iglow X fender set Flashing bike lights are fine, but why not make your safety gear part of your ride, with Integral Glow (iGlow) tech-nology that lights up your whole fender. Lightweight and tough with steel struts and rubber connectors, the set’s red LEDS can be fixed or blinking and burn for up to 100 hours. $90, topeak.com –Erin Ryan and Leslie Ventura

∑ good to-go thai curry, $10.75

This one smelled the most suspect dry, and it has the best flavor. If the veggies were a tad less mushy, it could almost pass for

restaurant curry, from fish sauce to ginger to

kaffir lime leaf.

∑ backpacker’s Pantry beef pho, $9 Pho in the wild? You betcha! It might have milder broth, stiffer noodles and strange little cubes of meat, but crystal-lized lime, powdered sriracha and cilantro flakes make it taste fresh when it really shouldn’t.

∑ alpineaire bananas foster, $4.93Kinda like breakfast, in a good way. The fruit retains a nice chew, somewhere between fresh and dried. And the silky bath of butter and brown sugar makes you not give a damn what else is in the bag. –Kristy Totten and Erin Ryan

One dance with the Coloradofour pAddlers tAke on our stunning (And A little bit merciless) wAterwAy by kristen Peterson

> river tame (or iS it?) Don’t underestimate the

power of the colorado.

OUTDOORISSUE

2015