 |
Pipeline Valley from top of Bird Spring Range Escarpment |
 |
Wilson Tank from Above |
 |
La Madre Range from Wilson Tank Trailhead
|
 |
Spring Mountains NRA sign at Cottonwood Pass
|
Four club hikers used a 4WD vehicle to drive 3 miles south of SR 160 on Cottonwood Valley Road. The road is in terrible shape. A higher clearance vehicle would have been nice. This section of Red Rock Canyon NCA would be a nice expansion of hiking trails and routes if the park would maintain this road better. It would undoubtedly take some of the strain off the colorful Scenic Loop section. At 3 miles in, we came to the southern boundary of Red Rock Canyon NCA and a northern boundary of the Spring Mountains NRA. The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest also lays claim to this acreage. Just before we climbed the hill to Cottonwood Pass, we pulled off to the right side on a dirt road and parked.
 |
Hiking south along Cottonwood Valley Road |
 |
Thorn in Shoe - Mt. Potosi in Background |
 |
Descending to Saddle on the Bird Spring Escarpment |
 |
Descending canyon between escarpment Peaks |
We started our 6 mile hike going up the hill on the road. After about a mile, we veered to the left and began a climb up to the top of the Bird Spring escarpment. The climb was gentle. On top of the chosen peak, we had a good view of the valley on the other side that was used to build a pipeline. Continuing along the escarpment was ruled out because of the cliffs on the next peak so we turned right to descend back toward the road in a swale-ish valley. Turning left on the trail near the road, we passed by the full skeleton of a wild horse that likely died of old age. Further up the valley, we veered left again and climbed up to a road circle where we could see Wilson Tank below. The trail down to the tank is also in sad shape and we opted to stay up top.
Stats: 6 miles; 1000' gain; 3 hours
 |
Reaching Cottonwood Pass |
 |
Descending Broken Escalator Trail |
 |
Almost back to Wilson Tank Trailhead |
No comments:
Post a Comment