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| From Tule Springs to the Spring Mountains |
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| New Trail through Ice Age Fossils State Park |
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| Mammoth Dig (Light Colored Mound) |
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| Horse Drive Trailhead |
Before we get started, everyone should know that these two areas, Ice Age Fossils State Park and Tule Springs National Monument, are fairly new appropriations to the land just north of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, Nevada. Tule Springs was only instated as a National Monument in 2014 and Ice Age Fossils SP was recently granted funding for a Visitor's Center. Funding for the Tule Springs Visitor's Center is yet to come. Therefore, the information that Ed Matulis imparted on the hike today was interesting but new to our ears. For more detailed information on these two parks and their short histories, come to our monthly meeting on January 8th to listen to a guest speaker on the subject.
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| Starting Out by the Model Airplane Property |
Additionally, this guest speaker will talk about showing the "Monumental Mammoth" at this year's edition of Burning Man in northern Nevada.
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| Connecting with the New Trail |
But, let's talk about our hike today and the tidbits of information that Ed added to it with flourish!
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| Canyon K (Contains Snail Fragments in Walls) |
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| Layer of Snail Fragments |
About fifteen hikers arrived at a trailhead located on Horse Drive east of N. Decatur Blvd. It is to the east of the model airplane property. After a bit of introduction, we hiked out the flattish terrain past the property signage and T-ed into a newly built trail lined with rocks. We turned to the left and followed the trail down to a deep trench (Canyon K). In the trench, we found fragments of snail shells; very small. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, this area was lush with springs and flora and fauna such as mammoths, sloths, American lions, dire wolves, camels, horses and saber-tooth tigers. We know this because of the many variety of bones that archeologists have uncovered.
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| Close-Ups of Snail Fragments (< 1") |
Now, the land is dry with relatively few plants and animals. But, as the story goes, when the huge power lines were erected through this area after the building of Hoover Dam, someone began noticing the many fossilized bones that were being dug up.
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| Connecting with the Trail Again |
Some trenches were dug by large machines. And, a couple of mammoths were excavated. One of the archeological "excavators" was a man by the name of Don Touhey. He found a pair of mammoth tusks and part of the cranium. Later, 75 other bones from this mammoth were uncovered.
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| Points of Interest |
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| Leaving Ice Age Fossils SP - Entering Tule Springs NM |
Some of the bones that were uncovered in Tule Springs NM are in the Museum of Natural History in Las Vegas. Others were sent to San Diego until we can bring them back here. So, after Canyon K, we connected with the trail again and hiked east until we were in line with a landmark on Gass Peak. (It is a light colored orange splotch on the hillside not too far up the side of the mountain. Hmm.) Here, we turned north and found the Don Touhey Mammoth Dig Site. There is nothing left here at this site but it is interesting to see what a dig site looks like and what size it is. After photos, we crossed back down and up an embankment until we were on an old road in the sand.
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| Heading toward the Don Touhey Mammoth Dig Site |
It was easy to follow this road until we veered right at a fork. Our target was the exit trail that we had passed on the way to the east.
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| More Trail |
We dropped back down off of the elevated road and retraced some of our steps until we reached the exit trail junction fork.
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| The Don Touhey Mammoth Dig Site |
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| Leaving the Dig Site to Connect with the Old Road |
Finally, we followed this trail through a canyon and up to the right, then the left. This put us on the trail exactly where we had connected to it in the beginning. From there, we simply hiked back to the cars which were about 1/3 to 1/2 mile away. Nice day. Always up for learning more about the Las Vegas surrounding natural areas.
4.25 miles; 200 feet elevation gain; 2.5 hours; average moving speed 1.6 mph
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| Following the Old Road on Higher Ground |
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| Finding the Exit Trail |
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| Gass Peak rising above Tule Springs NM |
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