PART FOUR
I was delighted, as drove out of Lee Canyon back into the desert (where I live), to see sunshine ahead of me while I still had clouds above me, this was about 7,000 feet elevation:
To the right in the above photo is the Sheep Range under snow, with the snow coming down to about 5,000 feet. I stopped again at about 6,000 feet and looked at the Sheep Range again:
Finally, at 5,000 feet I was able to pull off the road and take in the Sheep Range once more (its highest point is well above 9,000 feet):
I found those Joshua trees with little dabs of snow quite pleasant to look at:
Next we take a look at the Vegas Range that forms the northern boundary of the Las Vegas valley, which parallels the Sheep Range on its south side (the darker snowless peak under the cloud on the right of the next photo is Gass Peak, highest point on the Vegas Range at 6,999 feet):
Here is a bit of "zoom" magic to get a better look at the Vegas Range. So here is a good question: if the snow was plentiful down to 5,000 feet on both the Sheep and Spring ranges, why was there just a tiny bit of snow on the Vegas Range, which goes almost to 7,000 feet? 
The answer probably has something to do with the Vegas Range also having no trees or even sizable shrubs above 5,000 feet like the other two ranges do, it is simply drier. And maybe it is drier because the uplift over the peak isn't quite high enough or broad enough to cause a lot of air to rise to get over it and cool and form clouds above it like the Spring and Sheep ranges routinely do when there is moisture in the air.
But there was more to look at than the mountains across that wide desert valley. Here at 5,000 feet is where the snow ended (just like it did across the valley), and the melting snow was nice to look at, as if cotton had been sprayed all over:
With the sun at a low angle to the west, it was hard to get a good look back at the Spring Range's Lee Canyon in which we have just spent three pages:
But turning the camera just a tad southward did give a nice view of the north-south lying main body of Mummy Mountain:
I would be lying if I said that I was sorry this day was over, my feet hurt. But now, a few days later, they don't hurt anymore and I am retroactively sorry my snow-day ended: it was a beautiful day!
Thanks for joining me on my little day-hike. I appreciate the company.
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