Lava Butte Gardens - 1/30/20

Lava Butte from Overlook Ridge

Rainbow Gardens Member of the Horse Spring Formation Colors

Lava Butte from Approach Wash

Swift Start Pace to Warm Up

Today's hike was a route that travels among the foothills of Lava Butte and within the area known as Rainbow Gardens. Thus the name, Lave Butte Gardens. Lave Butte is often confused by newcomers as a volcano, however, geologists have been led to interpret it as a small volcanic plug that came up through the Horse Spring Formation, forcing its way laterally along the formation for a short distance at one or more horizons. It now stands up as a prominent peak above its surroundings because it is composed of rocks that are more resistant to erosion than the soft sedimentary rocks that it forcefully penetrated. The Rainbow Gardens Member of the Horse Spring Formation is the oldest member of the Horse Spring having been deposited at least 17 million years ago. The dacite of Lava Butte has been dated at about 13 million years. Also noted, the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Horse Spring traveling Frenchman Mountain are much much older (540-248 million years).*

Wash starts to Narrow

What a complex world of geology it is in which we live!
*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 60.

Rainbow Gardens Colors

So, thirteen hikers parked at the mile marker 2, Northshore Road, turnout and started down the nearby wide wash beyond the posts.

Dropping into Rainbow Gardens Canyon

Mustard

Almost 2.5 miles of the first part of this hike is the same as our moderate hike called Rainbow Gardens. We hiked up the sandy main wash at a good clip until a trail appeared on the left side. This trail took us up a small hill. At the top of the bump, there are bed springs from an old mining camp up the hill to the left. I call this Bed Springs Junction. We turned to the right to follow a trail up to another ridge. This ridge approaches a craggy canyon at the base of Lava Butte but we simply crossed over the ridge and dropped into the next small colorful canyon called Rainbow Gardens Canyon. This canyon is the main attraction to the moderate hike and we enjoyed the scenery down past the ever present mining ladder propped against the wall.

Other Colors of Rainbow Gardens Canyon

At the first large canyon junction to the right, we turned, leaving behind the moderate route. We began an exhilarating climb up a series of small dry falls. I call this Ten Falls Canyon!

Points of Interest

It is a very scenic and colorful canyon. All the dry falls are easily climbed except for one and a simple climb on the left side does the trick there.

Climbing one of Falls in Ten Falls Canyon

Ten Falls Canyon

Once past all the dry falls, the ridge trail appears on the left side. Choosing to do the canyon scramble, I have never tried the trail. But, it appears that the trail rejoins and follows the ridge then reappears at the top Overlook Ridge where we were headed. The last part of the canyon climb gets slightly steep but it isn't long before you are taking in the view at the two saddles above. We took our break here where we could gaze upon the now much closer Lava Butte or the wider  view of Lake Las Vegas in the other direction. That trail passes right by our break spot and where there is a large cairn constructed. After a leisurely break, we joined the trail for a short distance then climbed on up to hike just below the ridge.

Nearing Top of Ten Falls Canyon

The Overlook Ridge is possibly an overturned anticline. I'm not a geologist and I don't play one on TV but suffice it to say, the knife edge crest of the ridge overhangs just a tad from its base wall over the Lava Butte Road Valley.

Break on the Saddle

So, we had a little bit of fun scrambling along the ridge about 3 feet under the crest for a short distance. There is a saddle near the end of the ridge where a vague trail drops down toward Lava Butte. We turned here and descended to a saddle that overlooked that valley then continued up the trail until it petered out into the dark dacite rocks.

Hiking along Overlook Ridge

Lake Las Vegas from Overlook Ridge

Here, there is another vague trail that traverses the base of Lava Butte in the rocks. The Butte towered over us to our left. We dipped in and out of a wash then crested the far ridge. Seeing a light brown rocky hill in an 11:00 direction, we headed to the left side of it and dropped to a ... yes ... vague game trail that traverses along the side of the steep hill above a wash to the left. Our first foray into this hike led us into that wash that turned out to have a particular dry fall that needed to be circumvented on a precarious path. Since then, the higher game trail has been chosen as the preferred route. This trail leads either along the side or top of the ridge above the wash. It involves two or three steep down climbs to a flat area dotted with cacti.

Playing with the Knife

The large flat area has one or two large very old cairns built on the side with the wash. These were used for a very long time as beacons for an assault on Lava Butte. Once in the flat area, we headed toward a gap between two white mud hills.

Lava Butte Road Valley

We dropped through the wash between the white hills and followed this wash down to a cross wash to turn to the right. Shortly, this wash drained into the main wash that we had used as our hike approach.

Crossing below Base of Lava Butte

Connecting with Game Trail

A left turn into the wide main wash led us back to the cars. This is a good hike with colorful terrain and a nice climb. There is a lot of balancing among the rocks and the whole thing is watched over by the daunting and mysterious Lava Butte. It was a fun group of hikers, today, that kept up with me on the ascents and tolerated me on the descents! And, yes, the game trail is there! It is very difficult to see! Fun, fun, fun!

5.5 miles; 800 feet elevation gain; 3 hours; average speed 1.8 mph

Following vague Game Trail along Ridge

White Hills Wash

Leaving White Hills Wash to Connect with Main Wash