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| The Red Pinnacle |
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| Pinnacles Ahead |
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| Weird Canyon |
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| Hiking down to North End of Gibraltar Rock |
Just when Brian and Chuck thought they had explored every corner of Valley of Fire, a little bird tells them about yet another beautiful section of the state park. Mike OC and I joined the Lone Mountain Hiking Club as guests, today, for a new 4 mile moderate hike called the Red Pinnacle Loop. Twenty-one hikers began at the Parking Lot #3 of the White Domes (aka Mouse's Tank) Road. This is also the trailhead for the Fire Wave Trail. We crossed the road and headed down toward the left end of the big red Gibraltar Rock. Ducking into a large slot that is also used for the Drop Slot hike, we climbed up into another slot to continue our climb up to the right then left.
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| Approach toward Fault Mesa |
When we leveled out, we found a game trail that led along the Gibraltar Wash. In front of us, we saw open desert and a large mound. We headed toward the left side of the mound.
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| Game trails are nice when you can find them! |
The game trail led us across the desert over a small rise toward some red sandstone in the distance. Soon, we began crossing some white sandstone.
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| Color Ahead |
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| Dropping into Sandstone |
The white turned to yellow, pink, purple, and orange as seen in the photo above. Although the terrain was flattish, a slight indentation suggested that we were "flowing" down into a wash or small canyon. Finally, Brian arrived at the top of a small very interesting canyon that another writer has temporarily dubbed Weird Canyon. (Watch out what you say! I think this name might stick!) It wasn't long before the easy scrambling brought us to a covey of red and orange pinnacles. One pinnacle, in particular, offered several photos as seen at the beginning of this entry. Two photos down gives you an idea of the "covey." Lying next to the Red Pinnacle was the business end of an old rusted pick axe.
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| Weird Canyon |
There was some discussion about whether we would carry out the pick axe but it was really heavy! Besides, it was probably older than fifty years ... historical artifact!
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| Red Pinnacles |
After the Red Pinnacle, Weird Canyon offered some really nice scrambling within its narrow walls.
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| Entering Red Pinnacle Area |
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| Rusted Pick Ax near Red Pinnacle |
Near the end of the canyon, we were stopped short by a large pool of water. We climbed around the pool and came back to look. It had cattails and is rumored to have water in it year round. This is what we have dubbed Delta Spring ... after Charlie Spring that is also found in the park. Not too much further, we came to another deep pool. Of course, why not "Epsilon Spring?" Mike tested the depth of the pool and buried his hiking stick. The pool was at least 3-4 feet deep. We came to a junction with a large wash that crossed perpendicular to ours. It is rather large and very sandy. Here, we found some shade on this spring day in January and sat for our snack break.
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| Weird Canyon |
This part of the park is different from any other area we have hiked. It is full of the signature pastel colors but the terrain appears more flat even though the small canyons cut down into unseen passages.
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| Weird Canyon |
After our break, we turned left to hike up the sandy wash for about a third of a mile. We hiked past another pool of water. Oh, why not. Call it Gamma Spring! On the left side, there was a small trail. We turned here.
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| Weird Canyon |
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| Weird Canyon |
The small trail connected with the larger wash to the right we'll call White & Black Wash. The reds, pinks and yellows were temporarily abandoned for black and white walls. These walls were topped off by a brown and black conglomerate rock. They held a beauty all their own. After a curve of white wall, we came abruptly to red sandstone again. This landmark had tiny stripes of red and white running vertically in the wall. See one of the photos in the collage below. We climbed up a yellow sandstone slab after that and hiked over to a light pour over of a spring above. It's so unusual to see water in the Vally of Fire. I'm sure these pools are crucial to the wildlife here.
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| Delta Spring |
In fact, coming into the park this morning, we saw a group of bighorns on the left side of the highway before we came to the fee booth.
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| Epsilon Spring (at least 3' deep) |
Then, we saw a larger group of bighorns crossing White Domes Road just north of Mouse's Tank.
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| Junction with Large Wash |
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| Snack Break at Large Wash Junction |
The slab that the spring was flowing on continued up the hill. We followed it until the leader stepped off and into the sand dune that led up the hill toward the cars. We aimed for another sandstone slab near the top and ended up very near the Fire Wave Trailhead.
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| Brian hikes into the White & Black Wash |
This is a short hike but it is very nice in color and terrain.
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| White Walls |
Stats: 3.5 miles; 400 feet elevation gain; 2.25 hours
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| Interesting Geology |
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| Climbing out of Stripes |
I would like to thank the Lone Mountain Hiking Club for allowing me to join them on this new hike at Valley of Fire. They are a wonderful group of people. And, I hope that I will be able to perpetuate the life of the hike by leading it for the Around the Bend Friends someday.
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| Zigzag up the Sandstone Slab |
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| Spring overflowing down the Slab |
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| Almost back to the Trailhead |
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