Kraft Mountain (with Jerry & Cheryl) - 4/1/26

Seven hikers met at the Kraft Mountain trailhead at 8am.  It was a pleasantly cooler morning than the past several weeks with just a little breeze.  We greeted a new comer to the club and started hiking up towards Five Stop Hill (aka Hell Hill).  After hiking for a short distance we came upon three hikers from the Lone Mountain Hiking Club who were going up Five Stop Hill.  We had a stop and chat for a few minutes and then continued.  Shortly, we turned off the main trail onto a smaller social trail as we made our way up Three Peaks Canyon.  This name was given to this small canyon on the far left of Kraft Mountain by rock climbers due to the three rock pinnacles along the side of the canyon.  We started climbing up the pour over and scrambling up the canyon.  There was quite an abundance of wildflowers in bloom including globe mallow, desert marigolds, notch leaf phacelias, mohave asters, dogweed, hedgehogs, etc.  We scrambled to the top of the canyon and then turned right and followed some slots up towards the peak.  

We eventually joined up with the standard route to the peak and continued scrambling and rock hopping to the summit.  The new comer seemed quite capable and everyone was chatting and having a good time.  We took a snack break at the summit and signed in to the register.  Then we began our descent following a track I had made in 2011 on a hike led by Branch Whitney.  This route is quite circuitous and amazingly drops from the summit to the middle of Gateway Canyon through seemingly impassable cliffs.  We scrambled down ramps and chutes, hopping over boulders.  We dropped into a small bowl area and hiked down a corridor towards a narrow slot.  I pointed to the slot and asked who would like to be first to go through it.  Well, it was so narrow that probably no one could fit through it!  After a few minutes of consternation, we said, “April Fools”, and continued down a more reasonable path.  We reached Tree Alley and everyone was able to negotiate the class 3 down climb into the alley.  We hiked along the alley and up a slot and over to another slot until we reached another class 3 down climb.  Everyone was able to negotiate these class 3 spots with no problems.  We finally made our way down into Gateway Canyon and hiked along the wash and trail back to the cars.  

Stats: 3.7 miles, 1300 ft of elevation gain, 3 hrs 43 minutes.

Pink Goblin Pass - 4/1/26

Pink Goblin Pass (aka Kraft Saddle)

Fortress built on top of ridge in front of Dragon Peak

View of Guardian Angel Pass

Morning clouds over Calico Basin

Sometimes, we return to an old hike and are reminded why we fell in love with hiking in Red Rock Canyon NCA in the first place. Over the years, we have referred to the saddle between Kraft Mountain and Dragon Peak as simply Kraft Saddle. Somewhere along the way someone renamed this colorful saddle to Pink Goblin Pass. It is found in the peaks surrounding Calico Basin. A couple of years ago, I devised an interesting trail that looped up to this saddle and around through Ash Meadows to encompass the beautiful colors of Calico Basin. There are only a few homes that still retain the right to say they live there. We all envy them. Three Lady Hikers parked at Red Springs picnic area and started up the trail placed on the north side of the parking lot. Staying more or less parallel to Calico Basin Road below to the right, we made our way over to the dry bed of a large wash avoiding homes by staying in the wash. We had to deviate here and there from the original track since the wilderness people have been reestablishing the desert terrain in this area where the trail once lay.

Dragon Peak (survey marker of low ridge in front of peak)

5 Stop Hill from ridge Fortress (Pink Goblin Pass at Top)

Colors leading over to Ash Canyon

North Blue Diamond Hill in Distance

An old horse trail led across a small paved road and up to the small ridge that leads toward Dragon Peak. We knew we were on the right ridge when we saw the survey marker. At the top of the ridge, someone has built a rock "fortress" that suggests that we should descend off the end of the hill on a particular steep trail. We chose a less steep trail and turned right to hike down and up to Pink Goblin Pass. As we sat for our break at the top, we spoke to a couple of friends who hiked by. Afterwards, we descended the way we came until we reached the bottom of the small ridge. Here, the trail made its way straight across the upper elevations of Calico Basin. On the way, Amora was surprised by a small non-poisoness snake who was trying to find its way home with a large lizard in its mouth. (see second to last photo). From here, we hiked through Ash Meadows and along the base of the Calico Hills. There were a lot of visitors today and the weather was optimal!

Stats: 3.6 miles; 850' gain; 2.5 hours

View from half-way up 5 Stop Hill

Gray Fox Canyon in Distance

Some sort of Garter snake with its lizard dinner Catch (photo by Susan)

Calico Basin

Colorful Twilight - 3/23/26

Snow-Covered Spring Mountains (Charleston Peak)
with Blooming Joshua Trees

Amora near Goodwater Canyon 

Small peak at break Point

Forest Road at Red Rock NCA Boundary

Still looking for a cooler spot to hike, we went up Kyle Canyon Road to the Colorful Twilight Trailhead, a spot on the side of the road that grows a lone juniper tree on the right side. Wading through the grasses that have grown up between the road and the escarpment, we made our way to the burro trail that climbs up the escarpment diagonally to the right. The burros don't seem to have started their residence in Kyle Canyon yet so the trail up was a little hard to pick out. After we reached the top of the escarpment, the trail was clear and we descended to the forest road below. The trail continues across the road and through the desert making its way to the Lucky Strike Canyon Road where we joined the trail leading to Grapevine Springs. This trail crosses the dirt road again and leads up above the springs and around the neighboring peak to the left. For lack of finding a better way yet, we climbed up to our left after reaching a wash. The bike trail continues to the right but our messy trail also goes up through the wash and on up the hill. We chose to bushwhack up the hill to the left.

Pointy Peak Target

Susan finds something Interesting

Trail above Grapevine Springs Valley

Amora above Grapevine Springs

There isn't much of a trail up to the ridge's saddle and it is quite a struggle but we made it up to the ridge with little left to spare. (The altitude needs a little getting used to!) We arrived on the ridge where a burro trail starts down the other side on a long diagonal (to the left) to a trailing ridge and on down to the canyon wash below. We arrived at the burro bone that kinda marks that we were at the right spot. From here, the trail continues up the other side of the canyon in the red dirt on a diagonal to the right. At the top of the red ridge, we turned to the left and climbed the ridge to a rocky place to sit for a break. The trail that we just left, appears again, here, passing by right to left. After the break, we joined the trail again by taking a left turn. This trail leaves the red terrain and goes into the limestone terrain. The view of the canyon to the left is one of the best views of the hike. See the two photos below.

Canyon that flows into Goodwater Canyon

Sheep Mountain Range Beyond

Climbing up to West Saddle

Hiking and Talking

Next, we found ourselves climbing up to a saddle I'll dub the West Saddle. If you look at the maps below, you might figure out why! The best burro trail continues straight down the other side of the small ridge and the following wash. When a good trail leads down to the wash, we followed it. (One time we stayed up on the hillside and missed the trail at the bottom.) This trail finally spit us out into the canyon wash at the bottom. Turning left (if you are in the right place), takes you very shortly to a cairned turn to the right. We followed this trail up to the top of the ridge above. On the ridge, our route (without a trail) ran diagonally down to the left where we eventually junctioned with the trail we had used to get to this area in the beginning. A couple of times here, we had to make our diagonal less sharp to finally find the original trail. Nevertheless, it is there and we used it to return to the car. All three of us were beat after this hike due to a little warmth and new altitude heights. But, it was beautiful and quiet.

Stats: 4.5 miles; 1150' gain; ~4 hours

View to south on West Saddle

Approaching West Saddle

Charleston Peak's south Ridge