Hidden Peak - 3/20/18

Hidden Peak from Overlook

Tough Tree on Hidden Peak Overlook

Limestone Arch seen from Escarpment Rim Trail

Hiking up the Burnt Ridge

 Today's Tuesday Extravaganza was an almost 10 mile partial loop hike to a welcoming peak that lies within the treasure trove of the Red Rock Escarpment, aka the Wilson Cliffs, aka the Sandstone Bluffs. Before we can really appreciate the Aztec Sandstone lying below the darker gray limestone south of the Red Rock Scenic Drive and west of Cottonwood Valley, an explanation of how this beautiful yet massive feature was created is taken from that book again as follows: *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 20.
 

Climbing the Mountain Springs Peak Trail

 *The Keystone Thrust System: The Sandstone Bluffs, the 2000-foot-high cliffs ... are composed dominantly of red and white Aztec Sandstone. The Aztec Sandstone is Jurassic in age (probably deposited about 180 million years ago) and is the same rock formation as the Navajo Sandstone found on the Colorado Plateau.

Mountain Springs Peak Trail (Spring Mountains in Background)

  *On the skyline you can see a series of dark gray rock layers that now lie above the Aztec Sandstone. The sequence of rocks exposed in this escarpment is out of normal stratigraphic order; that is, older rocks are resting upon younger rocks (Cambrian rocks on Jurassic rocks). Since this unusual arrangement cannot result from normal depositional processes, it indicates the presence of a major fault - in this case a thrust fault - between the two layers.

Small Window (Monument & Hidden Peak in Background)

Hiking the Escarpment Rim Trail

  *Faults that generally place older rocks on top of younger rocks are known as reverse faults and, if they are inclined at low angles, they are called thrust faults. Thrust faults result from compressional forces within the Earth's crust.
  This particular thrust fault is known as the Wilson Cliffs thrust, one of the oldest (here topographically lowest) of several west-dipping, low-angle faults which make up the well-known Keystone thrust system. The fault is inclined gently downward to the west and places the older Cambrian rocks on top of younger Jurassic rocks. Because of its spectacular exposure - in many places it appears as a knife-sharp contact from the air - this structure is one of the most photographed thrust faults in the world.

Black Velvet Canyon from Rim Trail

 *The Keystone thrust system is one of a series of thrust faults in southern Nevada that collectively moved blocks of rock - originally 3 to 4 miles thick - tens of miles eastward. Movement along these great thrust faults probably occurred during the middle of the Cretaceous Period, although the exact age of activity on these faults remains a point of controversy among geologists.

Northern View from Hidden Peak Trail Junction

 (More on the Sandstone Bluffs later.) As I said, it was Tuesday, the first day of Spring, and, true to March's form, it was cloudy and dreary to all but eighteen first class desert hikers. We parked at the Mountain Springs Pass Trailhead and, just for a bit of variety, we ascended to the saddle via the burnt ridge that we sometimes use for our descent.

Hidden Peak Trail Descent off Rim

Crossing Bench to Hidden Peak Ascent

 (Since this was our first ascent this way, we overshot the saddle and ended up on the Hollow Rock Trail!) Back on track, we headed out to Mountain Springs Peak passing the right fork to Windy Peak. Along the rim, Paul joyfully exclaimed, "It's 9:15! Welcome to the solar equinox!" ... Or, something to that effect. Then, we peaked out on Mountain Springs Peak to find that the log book was nowhere to be found. Note: If you plan to go here soon, bring a notepad, pencil and weather proof box. Thanks. From here, we descended down to the "Snack Cliff" where the small window resides. Hidden Peak can actually be seen through the window but, well, anyway. Later, we saw the window from Hidden Peak! Now, that was really something! The next trailing ridge would be our later descent so we placed a cairn that we would see and continued around.

Black Velvet Canyon from Bench

 The larger limestone arch that hangs off of the side of the rim could be seen around the corner (see third photo). We followed the Escarpment Rim trail around until we saw this arch from the other direction. Now, to our right, we could clearly see Hidden Peak sitting above deep Black Velvet Canyon on its right.

First near View of Hidden Peak

 Why is it called "Hidden Peak?" This stealthily tame but proud peak lies south-southwest of Monument Peak. From the east, the peak appears to just be part of Monument Peak and, thus, nothing special. Sneaky, huh? Identify the peak from the approach as the round dome with a large red-orange scar on its north side. (First photo.)

Passing Small Tinaja

Crack Scramble to Sandstone Bridge

There are two junctions that can be used to attain the Hidden Peak Trail. One junction is at the small rise just after the limestone arch. But, we continued to the next corner and followed the trail that also leads down to Little Zion. Hidden Peak Trail continues steeply down to cross a bench onto the sandstone below. Views of Black Velvet Canyon to the right are spectacular! Little Zion lies silently down to the left. (Remember, this trail has to be climbed back up on the return portion of the hike.) The trail becomes very vague once it hits the sandstone but suffice it to say, it rounds the corner to the right and heads over to a down climb via various easily maneuvered sandstone cracks. You are still on the bench but the terrain is becoming a little more serious! The final down climb crack leads to the finale portion to the sandstone bridge which can be crossed atop the shear wall of Black Velvet Canyon or in the safe dirt and pine trees on the other side.

Crack Scramble to Sandstone Bridge

 As I perused the situation, I decided to stay above the final descent crack to watch the summit approach by seventeen strong hikers unfold! The Hidden Peak Overlook was a beautiful place surrounded with sandstone, views, precipitous boundaries and the limestone escarpment rim above. A photographer's dream. (Just need a prettier day.)

Hidden Peak Ascent from Overlook

 So, the remaining hikers took one of two ascent routes. The front hikers headed on up to the left on a ramp trail after which became a steep scramble to the top. The back hikers climbed up on the right side, turned left into a crack and came out closer to the summit on a different steep climb. Both routes were made to look easy to, me, the observer.

Weather Beaten Tree on Overlook

Mountain Springs Peak (R), Mt. Potosi (C) from Overlook

 After a rest on the top, they headed down but, this time, all used the left side to descend. When they reached the overlook, I stood as a landmark in red! We had a little difficulty finding the trail to head back but these hikers rarely really need a trail! Eventually, we found the trail to cross the bench and do the difficult climb out to the rim. Back on the rim, we chose to return to the trailhead via the Mountain Springs Peak Loop trail since this would eliminate some of the elevation gain. (It also adds about a mile.) Regardless, we charged into the downhill ridge, wash, and side ridge with gusto! At this point, we got pretty spread out and ended up in three smaller groups. The route back can be a bit detailed but, did I mention, this group rarely requires a trail!

Summit Photos on Hidden Peak

 At any rate, we all found the Mountain Springs Trail and returned to the cars with various routes here and there ... and feet on the accelerators. Fun stuff! Hidden Peak is a wonderful escarpment peak and I highly recommend just the Hidden Peak Overlook if it suits you.

Northern View from Overlook

 To continue with trivia about the Sandstone Bluffs, I, again, quote that book from *p. 21.
 *The escarpment we have been observing and describing is officially named Sandstone Bluffs. By official, we mean Sandstone Bluffs is the name recognized by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the naming branch of the U.S. Geological Survey. Government maps, being official and all that, only use "official names" so any published government map will show this feature labeled as "Sandstone Bluffs."

Part of the Limestone Escarpment Rim (Keystone Thrust)

Interesting Rock Designs

 *But what about the other names, Wilson Cliffs and Red Rock Escarpment? These are alternate names for the bluffs and each has a loyal following of local users. Who named it Sandstone Bluffs? No one knows, but about all this name tells us is that the bluffs are made of sandstone. "Red Rock Escarpment" sounds impressive, and the feature is definitely impressive, but it took little thought to come up with this name for an escarpment cut in red rocks. Wilson Cliffs, on the other hand, isn't descriptive, but this name does have a tie to local history. James Wilson and his partner, George Anderson, established a ranch at the base of the cliffs in 1876 and the Wilson family owned the ranch until 1929. It therefore seems fitting that the rugged cliffs rising to the west of the ranch carry the name Wilson Cliffs.
 

Hidden Peak Descent from Overlook

 *The Wilsons, however, called their holdings "Sandstone Ranch," so could they be the ones who coined "Sandstone Bluffs" as a matching name? The ranch, after several name transformations of its own, is now Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.

The Big Climb back up to the Rim

 The Sandstone Bluffs stand tall along the Keystone Thrust with the highest sandstone peak being Wilson Peak at 7071 elevation feet with a prominence of 670 feet.

Cloudy & Snowy Day over the Springs Mountains

Dropping into the Descent Wash

 The most prominent peaks of the escarpment from south to north are Hollow Rock, Windy, Black Velvet, Monument, Sandstone, Indecision, Wilson, Rainbow, and Bridge Point. Other hikable peaks include Hidden, Global, Peak-ee-Toe, Spirit, Far, Bridge, Juniper, North and Goodman. ... Well, and that's just to name a few of the many destinations of hikers and rock climbers of Red Rock Canyon NCA.

Hidden Peak Loop stats: 10 miles; 2800 feet elevation gain; 5.5 hours.

Hidden Peak Overlook Loop stats: 9 miles; 2200 feet elevation gain; 5 hours

Gathering in the Descent Wash

Lower Descent Wash

Mountain Springs Trail