Lone Palm - 1/24/15

Lone Palm at Colorado River - Photo: Kay Blackwell (2009)

Lone Palm Waterfall into Colorado River - Photo: Kay Blackwell (2013)

 Saturday, Joan and Chuck Hawkins took a group of hikers down to Lone Palm. John Ward offered a few photos, Keith Lane provided the GPS track and Joan wrote a narrative of the hike. (A few photos were taken from Kay's archives and added by the writer.)

 Fourteen hikers took on the challenge of hiking to Lone Palm on the Colorado River.  The original palm tree has died and been replaced by a few new palm trees.  Most of the hikers had never been to Lone Palm before.  We started at the gravel parking lot to your right when you take the Kingman Wash exit after crossing the bridge into Arizona from Nevada.  Soon after heading down the wash, we took a left into an area of big rocks and followed a small trail up on the left taking us over the rocky area to a trail on the other side.  It took us to where the Lone Palm hike started before the widening of US93. 

Old Etchings

We continued up the wash and flat area until we reached a small area of interest.  Just off the route to the right is a rocky area. At the entry are several etchings of the past—R.P. Walker 1955 and U3O8 among them.  Looking up U3O8 on Wikipedia defines it as Triuranium octoxide.

Steep Downhill into Wash

  The rocky area ends in a tall dropoff showing where we would eventually be.  We continued on to a small rocky sheep trail around to the right of the hill next to us.  We followed sheep trails along the side of several steep hillsides.  Eventually, we had to head straight down toward the wash below.  We took a small detour over a hill to the left which gave us a good view of Liberty Bell Arch in the distance.  We had a few small dry falls to negotiate and then arrived at “The Eye” area for a short break.  “The Eye” is a white marking that looks like an eye that is toward the top of a tall rock when you enter the wash leading down to Lone Palm.  After our short break,we headed down the wash toward Lone Palm.  The wash starts as a flat easy wash, and then has a few small rocks/falls to negotiate before narrowing to a trail for the final descent to the Colorado River. 

John at Guillotine Rock

 John posed for a picture near the “guillotine” rock and we climbed an “escalator “rock before arriving at the Colorado River.  We climbed to the flat overlook next to the Colorado River for our lunch.  A few hikers went to the side of the lunch area to see the small hot spring waterfall next to the Colorado River.  

Warm Springs Area with Tamarisk - Photo: Kay Blackwell (2009)

   There is a way to get down to the river by scrambling down on the left side of the overlook. If the river is not flowing high, you can make your way upstream about twenty yards to the waterfall that flows from the hot springs to the river. The waterfall is seen in the second photo of this entry.

On another note, efforts have been made to rid this area of the non-native tamarisk plant.

The Group Arrives at the River

 After lunch, we retraced our steps a very short way and then took a short steep trail down to the stream bank to our left.  The stream was narrow and we all crossed it without problem.  John had walked down the stream from our lunch area and was already on the other side.  We then had to climb up the steep area before us.

View Up River at Lone Palm - Photo: Kay Blackwell (2013)

Photo: Kay Blackwell (2013)

 Once we got to the top, we found a trail around the corner that took us across the top for a while until we had to climb over a small rock wall to our climb down to a wash on the other side of the lone palm area.

 We were only in this wash for a very short distance before turning to our left into a small wash.  At its end, we went to the left and climbed out the “rock ladder”.  At the top of the “rock ladder,” we found another trail area leading across the high area to our final climb down to the wash leading us most of the way back.  Everyone negotiated their own way down the steep hillside and we regrouped at the bottom. 

Taking a Break above the River

 We turned right heading up the wash, only to soon hit a dry fall blocking our way.  Some of the group decided to climb the fall at that point.  Others in the group went back to the left and climbed the side of the fall, walking out over the top.

Taking a Break above the River

 We made sure to stay to the right when the wash split to the left.  If you go to the left, it is a difficult climb back up to the cars.  We chose to continueto the right and climb to an old road to the left when we got to a small rocky area.  It’s a steep climb up the old road, but much of it is on old cracked pavement.  The road ends at the wash leading to the cars and we turned right and returned to the cars.    ~ Joan

5 miles; 2600 feet elevation gain; 4.75 hours

The Rock Steps - Rear View

Taking the Wash Up