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| Turtlehead Peak from Escarpment Rim |
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| Clouds over Rainbow Wilderness |
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| Stratosphere Window |
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| Climbing Heartbreak Hill |
Mountain Springs Peak is located on the limestone layer of the Red Rock Canyon NCA escarpment behind the sandstone Black Velvet Peak. It is the highest point in that area and can be seen from the front of the escarpment. The trailhead for this and other peaks on the south end of the Wilson Cliffs is found at the Mountain Springs Summit Pass on Highway 160. It is an obscure road that turns north off of the highway into the trees. This morning, three of our twenty hikers never found the trailhead and we had to leave without them.
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| Climbing to the Escarpment Rim |
The first mile of the climb is known as Heartbreak Hill. It is a steep climb that ends on a saddle after passing a radio relay tower on the way up.
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| Hiking into the Clouds |
Several hikers zoomed up the hill while several more hikers were a little slower. We all made it up with spare energy. Good thing. The climbing wasn't over!
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| Telescope Peak (Death Valley NP) from Trail |
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| Windy Peak Trail Junction |
We turned to the left on the saddle and followed the trail up to the fork seen in the photo to the left. Go right for Windy Peak. Today, we went left. Soon, we found ourselves on the escarpment rim where we saw Black Velvet Peak below us to the right and all the way to Telescope Peak in Death Valley to the left. The trail alternated with climbs and leveling out as we made our way up. Each time we reached another climb, we stopped at the top to wait for the end of the line to reach the front hikers. All the way up, we marveled at the gorgeous display all around us.
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| Black Velvet Peak and the Las Vegas Skyline |
The clouds decorated the sky. The shadows decorated the ground. And, the sun pointed out various interesting places in the terrain.
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| Climbing Again |
The weather was cool but we were warm from our exertion. There wasn't much wind either.
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| View Toward Pahrump, Nevada |
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| The Group Climbs the Last Big Hill |
As we approached the last big hill, the front hikers took off! This was the last serious ascent of the day. From the top of Mountain Springs Peak, today's route would be going mostly downhill and we were only 2.5 miles into a 6.75 mile hike. The last hikers climbed up onto the peak and the log book was already out. We had several newbies today and they were happy to sign in. Cameras made their way out of the packs.
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| Mountain Springs Peak Summit View |
This was the first view we had of the Red Rock Calico Hills. The clouds were really doing a great job of filling in the landscape.
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| Summit View of Turtlehead |
There were so many photo ops that it was difficult to put the camera down and hike!
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| View from the Escarpment Rim Trail |
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| Monument Peak from Snack Cliff Area |
From the summit, we continued over its other side on the escarpment rim trail hiking on the edge of very high cliffs. We dropped down to the lowest point here and stopped for our snack break on the cliff overlooking Monument Peak. Just past this cliff, a small window reveals the Stratosphere if you look through it in the right place. (See third photo.) We took our break on the edge of the abyss then gathered ourselves once again to start the downhill portion of the hike. We began by hiking
up the next hill on the rim trail!
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| Hikers on Snack Cliff |
When we almost reached the top of this ridge, we turned to our left and began an off trail trip down the ridge. We could decipher a bit of foot traffic having been down this way before.
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| Off Trail down the Ridge |
The descent wash du jour would be the one on the left side of the ridge. We dropped down the top of the ridge until we came to a small wash dividing two hills on the ridge. Taking a left, we dropped down into the wash below and turned to our right in a small friendly rocky wash.
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| Small Descent Wash |
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| One of Few Obstacles |
This wash also displayed previous foot traffic. There were several small interesting obstacles and a few cairns here and there. The wash, itself, seemed in slight disarray ... most likely from recent hard rains. As we dropped down, the wash became narrower, almost like a trench. The group was still staying together very well. A lot of concentration centered around where to put feet so that injuries did not occur. The terrain finally leveled off as we neared the round hill in front of us.
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| Descent Wash Narrowing |
We were now searching for a trail that crossed over the desert toward the springs near town. This would be the first time we used this trail for this particular hike. The first hiker that found the trail won. It was Steve Al. ... Of course.
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| Found the Cross Trail while Mt. Potosi gets Rain |
This is a fantastic trail and some of us wondered why we had not found it before! Happily, we followed the trail across the desert.
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| Loving the New Cross Trail |
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| Rain Clouds from Cross Trail |
Eventually, the trail ended at a trailhead found at the springs area. We passed the springs, found the agave roasting pit turnoff, and connected with one of many old roads in this area. The Mountain Springs residents have been busy trying to block off some of the passages. Motor vehicles are likely the discouraged culprits. We followed our old dirt road over to pass above the farmhouse with the dogs then climbed up to the road above. Using a short cut trail to the right, we connected with the road that we began the hike on. This was a great hike on an absolutely gorgeous day!
7 miles; 1600 feet elevation gain; 4 hours
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| Mountain Springs Springs Area |
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| Agave Roasting Pit |
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| Following Old Roads back to the Trailhead |
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