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| Red Rock Wrangler |
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| Echo Canyon Walls below Fossil Ridge & Calico Hills |
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| Mt. Potosi from Dog Food Loop |
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| Mojave Yucca on Fossil Ridge Trail |
David H. named the small loop at the top of the south end of the North Blue Diamond Hills, the Dog Food Loop. As the story goes, one time when he was doing a hike here, there was a woman with a dog that would stop quite often to give her dog some food. (Either the dog was really hungry or it was really good food!) Anyway, this trail did not have a name so David named it! There were ten hikers on this moderate hike today. As we were leaving the trailhead, there was a wrangler taking a group of mules and horses from the corral to the upper stables. Then, we began climbing the hill up the Fossil Ridge Trail. It was a long hill!
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| Climbing Fossil Ridge Trail |
Although the hour was late (8am), the sun was just beginning to rise far enough above the horizon to stave off some of the overnight cold temperatures of the mid-30's (F).
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| Echo Canyon from Fossil Ridge |
The park was quiet. The Thanksgiving week holiday had just begun. A couple of the teacher/hikers were on the hike celebrating their week out of school. The park would soon be bustling!
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| Upper Horse Stables from Fossil Ridge & Calico Hills |
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| Cat? ... in the North Blue Diamond Hills? |
We climbed the hill slowly but the views all around were very nice in the morning light. When we arrived at the top of the hill, we took in an overlook of Echo Canyon from its cliffs. In this area, paw prints were seen in the sandy dirt. (Looked like a large cat to this writer. Just sayin'.) We connected with the Fossil Canyon Trail and turned to the left. This part of the trail hikes alongside Echo Canyon. The conglomerate walls were covered in chert. In turn, the chert had many fossils hidden in its pockmarked blackness. The North Blue Diamond Hills are in the Bird Spring Formation and, as a result, there are many precambrian fossils (or seabed fossils) that can be found in the canyons and ridges.
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| Junction with Fossil Canyon Trail |
A long break was taken at a trail junction that turned up to the Cat in the Hat Trail where we would be later.
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| View Back toward start of Fossil Canyon Trail |
Finally, the group of ten hikers arrived at the top of Echo Canyon/Fossil Canyon Trail where it junctions with the Old Mine Road, SARS, and Dog Food Loop.
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| Lichen in Chert & Wilson Cliffs |
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| Nearing the Top of Echo Canyon |
After another long pause, we continued across the Old Mine Road and started the Dog Food Loop. This is a very pretty trail that zigzags down to cross a wash then comes back out on the other side. The gypsum mine has claimed more of the terrain for a large road that is used to truck in gypsum from other areas and states. Therefore, our original Dog Food Loop Trail was covered over with dirt and high berms of rock. Improvising, we climbed over a berm and walked down the road a short way. Next, we climbed back over the berm and ended up at the Over the Moon Trail. This trail is at the very top of the Conglomerate Gardens (aka Kibbles 'n' Bits) Trail.
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| Nice Red Barrels on Dog Food Loop |
Finding the Cat in the Hat Trail, we started our descent back to the cars.
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| Step Up |
The pace picked up when we started down. It was easy hiking now.
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| Detour on Gypsum Mind Road |
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| Over the Moon |
The Cat in the Hat Trail took us down through the desert with views of the Wilson Cliffs and the Calico Hills. When a trail came in from the right side, we connected with the Bunny Trail. No, we didn't see any bunnies! They were probably staying warm in their dens. Anyway, we continued down while enjoying the scenery and watching our footing. When we got back to the trailhead, the great Richard Natale was just starting out on a hike with a small group. Beautiful day. Cool but no wind.
5.5 miles; 900 feet elevation gain; 3 hours
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| Cat in the Hat Descent |
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| Bunny Trail Descent |
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| Bunny Trail Out |
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