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PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAN ROBERTS
Fortification Hill
STORY BY DEBORAH WALL
Did you hear the one about the blackjack dealer, the insurance investigator, and the middle-aged woman who hiked up Fortification Hill? These trail buddies found themselves taking one of the best hikes in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which offers not only panoramic views but also diverse and interesting hiking terrain.
Fortification Hill is the remains of hundreds of volcanic episodes that took place between five and six million years ago. "It's an imposing hill and unique for the area," said Scott Teodorski, interpretive ranger. "It's not a traditional strata cone. It had a lot of activity with massive flows of basalt."
The colorful Paint Pots formations, stains of orange, pink, red, and gray leading from the bottom of the hill into nearby Lake Mead, result from geothermal activity, he added. "The water was superheated through fissures in the rocks and the coloring came from the chemical changes."
We arrived at the trailhead at sunrise on a cool, clear Sunday morning. Fortification Hill loomed large and forbidding over us, and we wondered how it could be possible to penetrate the mighty basalt cliffs that protected its mesa.
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The March/April 2003 Issue is out. Find it at Las Vegas bookstores today.
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