Thanks for the Tanks - 3/16/23

Six Scramblers at Pretty Tank

Tanks on Calico II Peak Area

Climbing up to the West Hills Tank

Mike stands above West Hills Tank

There's alotawata out there folks! More water than we've seen in a lot of years. Six club members parked at Sandstone Quarry Trailhead off of the Red Rock Canyon NCA Scenic Loop and went scrambling. We were out to check the status of the many tinajas (water tanks) sitting in the Northern Calico Hills. Please understand if you are not desert dwellers, seeing water in abundance gives us quite a thrill. Not to mention, it offers good photo opportunities. Today, we saw seventeen tanks of nice size and dimension. There were more but we ran out of energy before we ran out of tanks. It was a morning filled with 4 miles and 4 hours of scrambling. That'll do it! We started out by paying a visit to what I call the West Hills.

Amazing Morning at West Hills Tank

Hiking to the Arch

Under the Arch

Leaving the Arch

The West Hills are a small grouping of sandstone hills that rise on the west side of Limestone Wash - across from Turtlehead Peak. The Grand Circle (Loop) Trail takes you up to a small point next to the hills right out of Sandstone Quarry. From that point, we turned off the trail to the right and began climbing the sandstone. This section of sandstone was used as a quarry during the mid-20th century. Evidence of this is found on the west side of the hills. We climbed up the obvious slope until we found the West Hills Tank. It is quite a large tank that is filled with water at this time. The backdrop to this tank is the northern half of the Red Rock escarpment. The low clouds on this morning were the perfect touch for photos.

White Rock Hills from Arch Scramble

Charlie's first visit Here

New Calico Tank Trail Addition

Climbing over to start up Sandstone Ridge

We returned to Limestone Wash and followed it up to an obscure entrance to Arch Canyon. Being very careful ... all day ... of the wet sandstone footing, we hiked out to the arch for a photo. From there, we continued in the same direction and scrambled up to a high point. After a steep drop to the right, an overlook, and a climb up, we decided not to continue to the usual peak. There seemed to be a thin layer of ice in the area. So, we dropped steeply down to the Calico Tanks Trail. Immediately, we crossed the trail and paralleled the flooded trail above. Circling around the usual Trail Tank, we climbed on up to the right turn up toward the plateau. Already, we were running low on reserves so we stopped for a snack. (DST started 5 days ago.) Next, we reached the top of the sandstone ridge to the west of the Calico Tanks Trail that holds many tinajas and Calico II Peak. We spent a lot of time here locating the Large Tank, Pretty Tank, Colon Tank, River Tank, Exclamation Point Tank and Hidden Tank. We bypassed seeing the Asterisk Tank.

Large Tank not dry Anymore

Infinity Tank

Las Vegas native, Bruce, visits Pretty Tank for First Time

River Tank, Exclamation Point Tank,
Colon Tank, and Hidden Tank

After Hidden Tank, we dropped into the Brushy Descent. Our efforts last year of clipping some of the brush still held and we made the drop without getting scratched up. The log crossing was slippery but we made it all the way over the the Sunken Tank wall. In an effort to reach the Long Pool, we were stopped at the Camp Tank. Bruce was able to get over far enough to take a nice photo of the fantastic tinaja. We returned to the rocky climb up to Calico II tanks and the men continued up to make the peak. All of the Calico II Tanks were full of water. Finally, we began our trip back in the direction of the cars. We dropped down through the Chute ... carefully, due to the wetness. It was a very busy day at the Main Calico Tank. This was Spring Break week. We drew a lot of attention as we emerged from the Chute! We slowly descended to the trail and crossed it to climb up ... again ... to see our last tank of importance, the Shelf Tank. It sits on a shelf above the Calico Tanks Trail, quietly, where few hikers are aware of it.

Bruce captured the Long Pool from the upper End

Three Hikers on Calico II Peak

Descending the Chute

Main Calico Tank - Las Vegas Skyline in Background

Dropping down on the sandstone behind the tank, we paralleled on the red rock until we were able to join the trail at the CCC steps. Finishing the steps, our scramble back to the cars stayed parallel to the Trail on the rocks above it. We were not alone! Many of today's hikers were up on the rocks avoiding the muddy mess below. We joined the trail again at the Rattlesnake Trail junction and circled on around crossing Limestone Wash and to the cars. We had a great safe scramble! A little slow - but safe!

Stats: 4 miles; 1100' gain; 4.75 hours

Three Hikers above Shelf Tank

Scrambling down to "Back" Trail

Calico Tanks Trail to Finish