Category: Lake Mead Recreation Area

Rivers flow and carve beautiful canyons with time or by powerful force. Thinking about life, I have always found it moves like water. Sometimes there needs to be a change or a bend to flow around, over, or through something. Sometimes force needs to be applied while other times subtle soft flowing needs to happen. We headed out to our usual trail and found some activity there so decided to keep driving. When there are questionable people I like to move to a less populated area, especially now that I have a little one. Deciding to flow like a river and see where it would take us, we happened upon a lovely new trail and saw so many wonderful things. Also, we had to watch the sky and the rain coming in the distance to know when to pack up and head back to the car. The desert can have flash floods which can come quickly with little warning.

This being in the forefront of our minds, we did stay near the vehicle while playing in the wash. The first creature she got to see was a Black-tailed jackrabbit almost the size of her! We followed slowly in the direction of the rabbit but would not have caught up with them. Giving the animals space in nature is very crucial to their survival. This little path took us to some gorgeous sandstone boulders with mountains in the distance. Our daughter touched plants, played in the sand, stacked rocks, and talked about everything she saw. We had discussions about getting to high ground if it started to rain and respecting wildlife. There were so many teachable moments but the fun was by far the best part of the hike. Seeing her face light up in wonder is purely magical! Thank you all for reading and I will write more on Wednesday with added drawings. Have a Marvelous Monday!

-Karen Hilliard

There are subtle and drastic changes in the topography of the desert landscape. Weather can carve new paths and crevices in the rock faces, washes, and leave flora twisted upon itself. The past few times I went hiking was on the same trail yet it was different in so many ways. Lighting on one particular day was glorious and magical. A cloud covered a section of the mountain while the sun peaked through and shone so brightly on another. To be there in that moment and witness the light was breathtaking. This space of time literally had me pause my breath for seconds, it was truly amazing. The picture below does it some justice, but as we all know a photograph from a phone does not get the light exactly as it was during the moment. Looking back at my photos from the hike prior to that day, the mountain looked drastically different as did the wash. I long for the day to paint these photographs even if just in a sketchbook to immortalize the memories of each beautiful day.

After being completely mesmerized by the light and sharing the moment with our daughter, she brought my attention to something else entirely. I love how toddlers can do this. All children have different attention spans and I love how their imagination can take over in an instant. We started to gather rocks and began stacking them up in towers, or carins for my outdoor friends. We found that releasing pebbles and sand from our grasp at different heights onto the stones made different sounds. Some were high pitched noises whereas others were subtle and soft. We started to hum and sing little tunes while making music out of natural objects. It was a lovely day outside. I hope you all have a Fabulous Friday and get a chance to go outside this weekend. Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard 

Another beautiful backpacking experience through the desert near our home. We found multiple rocks and stones with different types of history intertwined within. Each one had various sediments and the stones were smoothed by wind and rain. Feeling the texture of the Earth beneath and through our fingertips was wonderful. Making shapes with our bodies with our shadows was entertaining. The shapes were followed by movement and flow with the wind. We got to watch a raven in flight and being held still in wind gusts. The fire preventative vehicles of Lake Mead drove the trail as well creating massive dust. They all waved at the baby and the dog sat while watching them pass. The gravel was deep like sand hills on a beach, for those of you that love the ocean or lakes, you know what I am talking about. It was a complete leg workout for sure. Having the dog on leash while carrying a toddler was an interesting experience.

We were fortunate to have a warming sun overhead and a cool breeze below. It was definitely hat and bundle up weather. Our favorite time to be outside for sure. The desert holds many marvelous transformations throughout the months. We went from massive heat waves to a drop in temperature quite quickly and are enjoying every minute of it. I recently made a reel, a post, with a video of the two little loves roaming about outside. I mentioned how all of us find a deep passion for the outdoors in our own ways. As an artist, I get motivated and find extreme inspiration for all my creative ventures. Motivation also pushes my ideas for knitting, crocheting, sewing, cooking, etc. Many talents to be explored for sure. I come home with so many ideas and hopefully carve out the time to complete a few. I wish you all a Wonderful Wednesday and hope you can get outside this week! Thank you for reading.

-Karen Hilliard

Stomach flu running through the whole family can take an entire two weeks out of a month. Our schedule has for sure been thrown off and blogs, painting, etc. were not even in the cards during this time. Now, with a clean bill of health all around, we are all back and ready to take on the day. After resting for what felt like a very long while, the baby and I decided to go for a backpacking trip. We had a quick out-and-back due to weakness and needing to build back up muscle strength in the Mama. She had been asking to go backpacking for several days and I did not want to disappoint. Lake Mead Recreation Area is a great place for quick out-and-backs. The trailheads are right off the road for most of the mild hikes. We found a lovely spot and went out just the two of us. Here is a little sketch from our book about what we did while out there.

A beautiful bird with blue on its tail feathers joined us for a short amount of time. It watched us from a perch in a hueco on the rock formation and then proceeded to fly low around us. The bird had a wonderful call or chirp. I love their specific communication calls and wish I could identify this little wonder. We collected rock sediments, dirt, and watched how they flowed through our fingers into the wind. A lovely textile experience and quite enjoyable for both of us. There was also much fascination with our shadows and creatures we created along the walk. The baby did a wonderful job walking some of the way and loved being in the backpack for the rest of the journey. I hope you have all been well and I look forward to writing this blog again now that we are feeling better. I wish you all a Terrific Thursday and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

My family and I were fortunate enough to get a break in the summer heat this weekend and make it out to the trails. We ventured to a favorite inside Lake Mead Recreation Area. The temperatures stayed below 90 for us both Saturday and Sunday. Our dog and daughter had the best time playing and exploring. I was in JoAnn Fabrics the other day and found these amazing sensory kits for kids that included sand along with textile objects. The excitement grew when we found patches of sand out in nature and our baby played with found objects such as rocks and twigs. She was fascinated with how the sand felt between her fingertips and loved watching it move around on a huge stone slab we all sat on. The dog was just happy to find some shade and hang out with us. I love being able to share the natural world with my family and have their creativity shine when we are outside together. 

Another fun experience together was how far we actually traveled on the trail. The new backpack has been wonderful but the real excitement is all walking hand in hand. People always told me hiking with a baby would be much slower, and although I agree with this, it is very important to state how much joy comes from that slowness. She reminds us of the joy of childhood and how we never had to think about the big adult responsibilities. When we are outside, we all enjoy each other and take time to appreciate everything around us. My goal on the next couple of hikes is to quickly sketch a few inspiring subjects I find out there and then paint them upon returning home. Life sure is different now. Especially finding time to paint. I love the challenges and am blessed with new inspiration daily. Have a Marvelous Monday and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard