Lunar Loop - 5/24/25

Three Lady Hikers at the Inner Wash Junction

Kay and Sue hiking down the Inner Wash

Interesting Stuff

Inner Wash

Susan R. took all of these photos for this blog entry! Thanks Susan. Great job! 

  So, if you're looking for a 6ish mile hike in the desert, this is an nice one that does not require driving too far up the mountain to get to it. It does, however, need coolish weather for a spring day.... Either that or leave early and enjoy the morning fresh air like we did. Twilight Trailhead is approximately 9 miles up Kyle Canyon Road from SR 95 on the right side of the road in a very large dirt parking lot. We started out the same way we did for the Grapevine Springs hike. Into the wash and up to find the trail that runs along the cliff next to Kyle Canyon Road. Eventually, we crossed Lucky Strike Road. At 1.6 miles into the hike, there is a vague trail that crosses the desert terrain to the right. In a short distance, we crossed Lucky Strike Road again and found an old dirt 2-track road heading north-ish. We followed this road for about 1/2 mile until we junctioned with the main trail, Twilight Zone, and turned right. Down and up 2 or 3 arroyos, we hiked down one more time to come to the Inner Wash. Inner Wash can be recognized by the conglomerate overhangs on the left side of the wash near the junction.

Inner Wash

Main Kyle Canyon Wash at Inner Wash Junction

Corner on Hilltop Loop

Saddle on Hilltop Loop (La Madre Peak beyond)

It was obvious that this wash is frequented by burros! We followed the burros to the end of the wash 0.8 mile later. Here, we junctioned with the main Kyle Canyon gravel wash where we took our break. Next, we chose to grab another burro trail across the wash to hike down to the Hilltop Loop junction. The loop is a nice trail that took us up into the nearby hills to a saddle and up to traverse around the highest hill. Nice views. The trail brought us around and back down to the trailhead that we saw on our approach. Nice desert hike. Pleasant morning. 

Stats: 5.8 miles; 850' gain; 3.25 hours

Two unpleasant things: 1) There were two motorbikes that passed us. They were not even staying on trail. 

2) When we reached the main Kyle Canyon junction from the Inner Wash, we began hearing gunshots that sounded much closer than the shooting range that we knew about across SR 157. As we got up from our break, we actually heard a bullet whiz by. It could have ricocheted off the limestone walls we were near. THAT WAS SCARY! Luckily, we are all okay. Seriously folks, "Are you CRAZY?"

Climbing up to traverse Around

Interesting Fossil

Memorial near Trailhead