Rainbow Gardens Crest Loop - 12/14/24

Lava Butte and Rainbow Gardens from Above

From Rainbow Gardens to Lake Mead

Starting down Rainbow Gardens Canyon

Admiring Lava Butte at start of Hike

Rainbow Gardens is a popular destination in the Lake Mead NRA sitting just at the base of Lava Butte, a prominent dark, volcanic rocky peak.  Although Lava Butte is not a volcano, recent findings interpret it to be a volcanic plug emerging from the Horse Spring Formation. The Rainbow Gardens Member of the Horse Spring Formation was deposited at least 17 million years ago. This entire area, including Lake Mead NRA, is a wondrous place to learn about the geology of southern Nevada. Especially interesting is that "This is a good place to see the unconformity between the Aztec Sandstone (about 180 million years old) and the Miocene Rainbow Gardens Member of the Horse Spring Formation (at least 17 million years old). This is a normal depositional contact between the two rocks, but it is called an unconformity because all rocks between the Jurassic and Miocene time are missing - they were eroded away before deposition of the Rainbow Gardens Member." This text and paraphrasing was taken from the Geologic Tours in the Las Vegas Area (Expanded Edition with GPS Coordinates), (Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 16, University of Nevada, Reno, Mackay School of Earth Sciences, 2008, Bear Printing, Sparks, NV; pages 60 & 61.)

Lava Butte

Peering across Rainbow Gardens Canyon

Dropping into Rainbow Gardens Canyon

Getting into the Colors

The book, of course, goes on a bit and it is all very interesting but one of the area's greatest attractions is the color embedded in the landscape because of all this that was mentioned. There is a small canyon within the area that shows the colors and it is included in a traditional hike. It begins at the Northshore MM 2 trailhead. We started here and walked out the large wash that leaves the trailhead to the west. Winding around, the wash will take you to an area that was once a mining camp where miners sought gold and silver. At a junction where there are a few old bedsprings lying around, (Bedsprings Junction), we turned toward Lava Butte. However, before we reached the canyon base of the large dark plug, we dropped down into the wash on the other side of a small ridge. This is the top of Rainbow Gardens Canyon. There is a lot of color in this layered wash and, at the end, there is an old mining ladder still up against the wall. Cuidado! It's broken!

Views of Rainbow Gardens Canyon (Old mining Ladder)

Climbing up to the Crest

Transition to Crest Trail

Group shot at crest Perch

Reaching the end of the small canyon, we passed another canyon heading up to our right and came to the end of a ridge that comes after that. There is a trail that used to lead all the way down to the Rainbow Gardens Canyon wash but it has since been eroded. We found our way up to the solid part of the ridge where there is the trail. This trail takes hikers to an overlook of Rainbow Gardens and on up to the top of the encircling ridge above. It is a decent climb up but the views at the top are of great reward! There is a trail that runs around the top of the crest. Right now, there are very large cairns marking the trail in several places. As you hike along the top, you can see the Rainbow Gardens member of the Horse Spring Formation in most of its glory ... except for the powerlines running through the middle of it from the Hoover Dam facility miles away. There is also an oddly placed red pinnacle in the middle of the colorful area. We hiked around the crest and, at a saddle where we could view Lava Butte close up, we stopped for a snack.

Crest View

Crest Views

Rocky section of the Crest Trail

Climb to saddle for Break

After the break, we continued around the crest until we came to a crest saddle that offered a trail down toward the base of Lava Butte. There are a couple of trails that traverse across below the plug, and climb up to a trailing ridge on the other side of the rock flow. This is the high point of the hike. Here, we dipped down to the far side of the ridge and found a choice of game trails that traverse between the deep wash below on the left and the small hill up to our right. Some years, this trail is more clear than others. Regardless, we followed as best we could around the hill, up to an intermittent ridge and down steeply on the other side. This process was repeated until we found ourselves next to an old large cairn once used by a founding hiking club in the past. Essentially, this section of the hike takes you down the trailing ridge very ruggedly. The alternate choice is taking the deep wash to the left. This wash is viable except for a particular large drop that hikers have to circumnavigate. At the large old cairn, we continued straight down to a small wash next to the white hills beyond.

Lava Butte from break Area

Lake Las Vegas from Crest Trail

View back through Rainbow Gardens from base of Lava Butte

Following the vague game Trail

Following the small wash through the white hills and down to a larger wash which we crossed, we climbed the following hill to the top. This is a great view of Lava Butte! Next, the last mile takes a trail (made by an unlawful vehicle of years ago) down along a long slanting ridge to a main wash that will take you back to the cars. We had a great, undulating and impressive morning here. A workout was had by all!

Stats: 6 miles; 1050' gain; 4 hours

Through the white Hills

Lava Butte from another Side

Nice view before Ridge Trail

Frenchman Mountain (Mountaineers' Route) - 12/10/24

Bonanza Road from Frenchman Mountain

Starting up the Mountaineers Route

Cheryl, Theresa, and Brian

Climbing the Frenchman with Las Vegas and the Spring Mountains Behind

Following a few Arrows

Seven hikers met at the east end of Bonanza on a cold and windy Tuesday. We parked across the street from the east Mormon Temple of which our route was named. Unfortunately, there are two routes up the west side of Frenchman Mountain which start here so there was a little confusion of which route we were going to take. One route follows a trail up a ridge line. But the hike we were going on follows a road to a steep gully with lots of scrambling including several spots of class 3 scrambling. We started up a trail and then a road. The road led into our gully. There is a branch in the gully a short distance from the end of the road. We turned left and followed a trail for a short distance. The trail peters out and we started scrambling up the limestone gully. Most of the scrambling was on solid limestone slabs that have been polished smooth by many years of water flowing down. About two thirds of the way up we reached our first obstacle which was a short almost vertical chute of about ten feet. There were plenty of handholds and foot holds and we got all the hikers up without any issues. Right at the top of the chute we transitioned to a V shaped slot that is very steep but not vertical. It looks intimidating but there are plenty of holds and natural protection. At the top of the V slot we continued up to another obstacle. This one was a little easier and it was just a steep spot in the limestone slab gully.

Narrowing Down

Shimmy, Shimmy, Shimmy

Up

Interesting

Nearing the Top

After this we arrived at the ledge which we had to traverse to emerge from the gully.  The ledge is very wide at about 4 feet most of the way.  There is a spot where it narrows but it’s not that scary or difficult.  We emerged from the gully and hiked up the slope to the access road.  We followed the road to the summit but stopped short of the actual summit since there was tons of communication gear at the top and our group was reluctant to step in front of some high powered microwave transceivers.  We had our snack break, took a group shot and proceeded back the way we came.  There was no issues at the two obstacles and we got back to the cars in just under five hours.  One of our hikers commented on the uncanny accuracy of the time estimates made by the coordinators. ~J&C

Stats: 3.5 miles, 2300 ft, 4 hours 50 minutes.

Summit Photo

Down

Down that interesting Part

And, down some more!

Cottonwood Overlook - 12/12/24

View from Carabiner Route of SR 160 and the Spring Mountains

Meditation Point from Cottonwood Overlook

Landmark Sign 

Straight up from the Get-Go

There were seven of us on the Cottonwood Overlook Trail that begins from the junction of SR 160 and Potosi Mountain Road. Three of us had done the hike before a few times but the remaining four were newbies. We headed over to the hill to the east and started up on a trail that rock climbers use to gain access to some of the cliff walls that faced the west on the north end of the small Potosi Mountain range. Potosi Mountain is famous for being on the receiving end of a TWA airplane crash that Carole Lombard and a load of service men were on. I have one blog about this crash site from years ago and it is the most popular entry on this site. People, I guess, are still looking for her diamond ring!

Trail zigzags through cliff Bands

Climbing the Carabiner Trail

A climbers' Shortcut

View out of the Shadows

The climbers' trail presented tight zigzags all the way up the very steep hill with several small scrambles that sometimes included large steps. There are many times that the trail came to a fork. It is necessary to decide which fork looked like a trail to a climbing wall and which trail went through to the top. Luckily, I have a GPS track and between the three of us that had done the trail before, we made no mistakes. (But, we DID have to consult each other and the track several times!) There is one section, in particular, that is not well worn. The more worn choice is a climbing wall trail. The less worn trail climbs through debris to the left to find a trail that soon leads to the landmark sign as seen in the third photo. If you get there the way we do, you will come in behind this sign that is placed on a switchback point of the Highline Trail. Highline is a good trail that the Boy Scouts used that began from their camp located on up the canyon. We took our required group photo with the sign, sans me, and continued up by following the switchback trail that led up the hill. A little further up the trail, we came to another switchback with a sign that read Fortress Trail. This is the Cottonwood Overlook Trail spur.

Old Juniper next to the Trail

A changing Sky

Second of three Signs

Rock-lined path on top of Cottonwood Overlook

I am assuming that the "Fortress" is what the Boy Scouts called the plateau where we were headed. It was obviously a gathering area where there was an old fire ring (now dismantled), views out the wazoo, and plenty of places to wander. As in the olden days, it would be a good fortress to fend off enemies that you would be able to see for miles around, if attacked! As soon as we reached the plateau, the predicted wind hit us hard. We didn't stay long and turned around to find a place out of the wind where we could sit and still enjoy the view. After a break, we returned down to that first landmark sign and turned left, downhill, on the proceeding switchback. On the good Boy Scout Trail, we moved along quickly while enjoying the landscape. Most of the time, we were out of the wind on the way down but knowing the weather was dissipating, we chose not to waste the precious good weather in between. From the time we began the hike to the time we ended it, the sky changed from clear to windy to cloudy to uh-oh! (See the photo at the end of the entry!) The descent ridge that runs from our contour to the graded dirt road below, can be seen from a distance. 

Last climb up to Plateau

Windy Peak (L), Hollow Rock Peak (R) and Las Vegas Strip

View back to Potosi Mountain Road from Summit

Dropping down off Summit

When we reached the top of the ridge, it wasn't obvious that this is where we turn right. But, due to previous hikes, I knew the trees weren't going to open up and invite us in until just past the top of the ridge. Turning anywhere you find a pathway is acceptable. If you go too far, your view of the pond, below left, will become too close for comfort! Regardless of how you get there, in this mess of trees, you will find a clear cut powerline road with a powerline right over your head. Follow the wide road/trail/powerline down the ridge all the way until you can step over a damaged barbed wire fence and onto the Potosi Mountain Road. The end of the hike is a simple walk down the road and back to the cars. This road can become dusty if a car comes by so have your buffs ready!

Trail returning to large Sign

Trail heading up the canyon in the cliff Bands

Spring Mountains with a still changing Sky

Nearing the descent Ridge

As you walk down the road, you will notice No Trespassing signs on the sides. The road runs through private property that is on the west side of the road and these signs must be obeyed. Mind your manners and stay where you belong! No off-roading with ATVs. And, do not hike up through the old Boy Scout Camp where the trail ends up. Keep this hike viable by responsible hikers. Really fun day just before the snow came in!

Stats: 5 miles; 1250' gain; 3.25 hours

Pond next to the descent Ridge

Descent ridge with powerline Road

Well-graded Potosi Mountain Road

I was coming home from the hike and saw this. I had to take a picture!