Old Mill / Lee Meadows Loop (Easy Moderate) - 8/13/22

Old Mill Ruins

Weather Station Apparatus

Wild Horse in Lower Lee Meadow

Strolling through the Old Mill Picnic Area

This is a hike that we enjoy every year for the leisurely group of hikers in our club. For this overcast day in the Spring Mountains NRA, we had eight hikers plus our mascot Odie. (Odie is an excellent regular hiker and he comes with Ralyn who is an excellent asset to our club. Special circumstances allow Ralyn to bring Odie along on easy hikes. And, besides, everyone loves Odie!) So, we parked alongside Lee Canyon Road at the Lower Lee Meadow and started out across the grass to the trees at the lower corner. A trail took us up to the Old Mill Picnic Area where we made our way up to the paved road that runs through it. On up the pavement, we veered off to the right onto a rock lined trail. Originally named the Edna Gray Trail, we now refer to it as the Old Mill Trail simply because it passes by the ruins of an old mill used back in the 1940s or 1950s. We passed by the South Sister Trail turnoff talking about the small home foundation found not far up in the midst of the pine glade. A little further up this trail, the Edna Gray Spring sits down in a small wash slaking the thirst of wild horses in the area. 

Old Mill Trail

Aspens at Old Mill (Judy & Marg in Aspen Jail!)

Nearing Lower Bristlecone on Old Mill Trail

Arriving at Lower Bristlecone

Next, we came to the mill ruins and took a pause as we found interesting old school names engraved on the aspens nearby. One of the names happened to be Edna! We continued our climb up a steeper section of the trail to junction with the Lower Bristlecone Trail, aka Scout Canyon Road. The clouds hung low this morning but we remarked how beautiful the forest appeared in the low humid light. We had about 2.5 hours to complete this hike before rain really set in so we used all of that time to enjoy our hike at our slow relaxed pace. At the junction, we turned to the right and followed the road/trail a short way to the apex of a switchback corner. Here, there is a forest road that continues up the intersecting ravines. Although this road/trail has a steeper slope, we hiked up about 0.15 mile to the old weather station that was installed on the right side. Here, we took our group photo (minus 2 hikers that stayed below) and a short snack break. We noticed that a new small weather station has been installed by UNLV just below the old one. After our rest, we hiked back down to the Lower Bristlecone Trail, turned left, and continued down the road/trail to the Lower Bristlecone Trailhead. At the trailhead sign, we turned left to hike down through the trees and into the Upper Lee Meadow.

Old Writing on Aspens, Pine Cone Canyon Washed, Ponderosa Anomaly, Branch in Repose(!)

Group at the Weather Station

Hiking down Lower Bristlecone Trail (aka Scout Canyon Road)

Turning left at the Trailhead

The bright green colors of the freshly rained on meadow were outstanding against the yellow flowers underneath the gray clouds. South and North Sisters rose pointedly above the landscape. We traipsed through the wet upper meadow avoiding mud here and there then connected down into the lower meadow through more mud and beautiful green grass. Where were the wild horses among all this lush grass? Ah! We found one horse munching down in the lower meadow. His white coat stood out in all the green and yellow. He completed our beautiful and relaxed foray into the canyon named Lee!

Stats: 3.5 miles; 600' gain; 2.25 hours

South and North Sisters rise above Lee Meadows

Strolling through Upper Lee Meadow

Wild Horse in Lower Lee Meadow