Cathedral Rock and Manhole Cover - 8/19/12

                                Cathedral Rock from approach trail.

                                Spot of sunlight on Charleston Peak.

 Very very early in the morning today, five insomniac hikers met for a pajama party hike up Cathedral Rock and over to the manhole cover. In spite of arriving at the trailhead at around 7:10am, the parking spaces were already almost filled. No doubt, these cars belonged to hikers who were halfway up the South Loop Trail heading to Charleston Peak.

First, we climbed to the top of Cathedral Rock and took in the beautiful morning view of Kyle Canyon and Mt. Charleston. From there, we hiked over to the manhole cover on a trail that turns off of the Cathedral Rock Trail at the bottom of the final rock climb.

The manhole cover trail is nicely flat and would be a pleasant extension to any Cathedral Rock hike. It is only an additional six tenths of a mile out and back and takes the hiker through a nice pine forest.

While two hikers returned from the manhole cover the way they came up, the remaining three hikers continued on. They were hoping to find the right route down past Little Falls and meet up with Echo Trail. We hope they made it down before 11:00am as that was when it appeared that the Spring Mountains, once again, got rain. (The monsoons seem very active this year.)

                                          The Manhole Cover

                  Manhole Cover trail with Cockscomb Peak in the background.