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| Upper Kyle Canyon from Overlook |
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| Dark Clouds over South and North Loop Ridges |
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| The Vatican as seen from the Cathedral Rock Trail |
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| A Resting Bench with a view of Mummy's Toe |
Good things come to those who wait! Blogspot got their act together and returned to the previous format! Enjoy the complete blog below.
Rita and I hiked up to the Hidden Falls Overlook hoping that the rain didn't come in too soon. We didn't get wet at all. The hike begins at the Cathedral Rock Trailhead. We hiked up the switchbacks and stopped by Echo Falls. The falls were completely dry even though the mountains have been getting a lot of monsoon rains. After a few more switchbacks, we hiked on past the turnoff for Cathedral Rock heading out to the Manhole Cover. This is a flat old abandoned road. Reaching the Manhole Cover, we turned to our right and headed through the brush.
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| Rita on the Switchbacks |
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Cathedral Rock from Trail
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| Dry Echo Falls |
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| Cathedral Rock Trail |
You can see a cairned trail if you look really hard! The cairned trail weaves the hiker up and around more brush and finally comes out into the open. If you follow the cairns through a small gulley around a large fallen tree, you are on the right track. We followed the cairns even though we knew the direction we wanted to go. The brush and terrain invites you to follow the old game trail through the forest. Watch for the views down Kyle Canyon. This view of Cathedral Rock is different from anywhere else in the canyon. See fifth photo below. The game trail is somewhat difficult to follow as the cairns become more scarce.
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| Interesting Stuff |
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| Abandoned Road to Manhole Cover |
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| Manhole Cover |
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| Bright Aspens above Little Falls |
As the trail traverses around the hillside, it also climbs slightly. There is a particular fallen tree on the trail that we had to drop down a little in order to cross. Finally, we arrived at the edge of a cliff. The view is cloaked by trees and brush on arrival so, it is necessary to scramble up the first neighboring cliff band on the left to get a really good view of Upper Kyle Canyon. Rita and I did just that and took our photo. (If you continue scrambling up the cliff bands until you reach a large campsite, the view allows you to barely see Hidden Falls, a very tall waterfall that is dry for most of the year.) Since we knew that Hidden Falls was dry at this time, we didn't try to climb all the way to the campsite.
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| Little Falls Canyon in front of Cathedral Rock |
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| Obstacle on Overlook Trail |
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| Hidden Falls Overlook Trail |
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| South Ridge from Overlook |
To return, we tried a lower trail and decided to not try that again! Even though this path was just as nice as the upper trail at first, it soon dumped us in the middle of a lot of brush. The brush plus a whopping huge fallen tree to cross and a short but steep hill into a gulley made us vow to stick to the original trail in the future! We arrived at the manhole cover from just below in the Little Falls Canyon wash! Phew! Very happy to see a manhole cover!!
Returning to Cathedral Rock, we tried another trail that was unknown to us. (I do enjoy learning where this or that trail leads.) It put us on an old route that climbed steeply up the west side of the rock. We saw other hikers above us on the proper trail to the top so we knew our route would climb up to where we wanted to be.
After quickly enjoying the views from the top of the rock of very threatening clouds, we started our descent down Cathedral Rock Trail. There were still a lot of hikers coming up when we came to one of the last switchbacks. We noticed an old trail that broke off at the apex of the turn. Even though there was some brush and fallen trees on the trail, it was clear that this was once a real trail.
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| Double Trouble at Upper Kyle Canyon Overlook |
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| Returning on Overlook Trail |
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| Returning on a Lower Trail |
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| Old Cathedral Rock Trail |
Even though I never used it, I know that this was part of the Cathedral Rock Trail that came from the old Cathedral Rock Picnic Area. When they made the new picnic area, they changed both the South Loop and Cathedral Rock Trailheads to where they are now so that hikers don't have to pay to go into the picnic area nor start from further down the road at the old Cathedral Rock Trailhead to access either trails. This trail joined the South Loop Trail to finish the hike. (It was not a shortcut!) We had a great day learning new things!
Stats: 5 miles; 1400' gain; 4 hours
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| Proper Cathedral Rock Trail |
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| Lower Kyle Canyon from Cathedral Rock |
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| Nevada Goldenrod on Descent |
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