Keystone Canyon - 9/18/23

Section of the Keystone Thrust Fault with Turtlehead Peak in Background

View down from above Thrust Fault

The Red Rock Escarpment from the Keystone Thrust Trail

In the washed out Keystone Wash

Have you ever done Keystone Thrust Loop in the CCW direction? Five of us did this little jewel for a beautiful ride! However, there were amendments to the original adventure. We parked at the bottom of the White Rock Spring Road at the junction of the Scenic Loop MM6 and hiked down the Grand Circle Loop trail for ~0.4 miles. This section of the loop trail is extremely washed out from recent storms and we lost the trail twice. (... and, we have all been on this section of trail many times!) In fact, we turned up in the wrong wash since this one had also become wide and gravelly. Finding the Keystone wash left turn, we started up the very washed out wide wash that, now, has 4-6 foot walls. It doesn't look much like it did before the rains! The culvert that runs under the scenic loop road, is absolutely clear ... except for the upper end where there is a serious tangled root obstacle. We got through but it wasn't easy! Next, the wash became a little more messy but still interesting and fun.

This used to be flat terrain.

The Culvert

Rita and Ralyn in the wash above the Culvert

The Scramble appears the Same

The scramble seen in the photo to the right was fairly normal in appearance except for a little deeper sand and gravel at the bottom. After that, the tree that used to cross the wash, was moved on down and is no longer an obstacle. From there up, it was clear sailing! We climbed the white rock 3rd class scramble on the right, on the trail to the side and also on the white rock on the other side. All routes were reported to be good. Next, we made our way up the beautiful rocks and climbed / scrambled all the way straight up to the Thrust Fault. We had two different fun routes going here! Finally, we sat at the overhanging rocks to take a break in the shade. The scenery was indeed better, in my opinion, taking the loop in the CCW direction but a view over our shoulders once in a while was also incredible.

Arriving at the top of the Scramble

Watermark!

Ralyn climbs up the Dryfall

Shade in Keystone Canyon

Keystone Thrust is the name for a prominent geologic fault in Red Rock Canyon. Faults are fractures in the Earth’s crust that occur from the movement of rock layers.

The Keystone Thrust is one of a series of faults that formed an estimated 65 million years ago, near the end of the Mesozoic geologic era – about the same time that the dinosaurs went extinct. At this time, the Pacific plate began moving under the North American plate. This caused compressional forces to push up older limestone rock layers over younger sandstone rock layers. At Red Rock Canyon, this is visible as grayish carbonate or limestone layers over red- and buff-colored sandstone.

This feature runs north & south for 13 miles along State Route 159, and curves at La Madre Mountain. It is one of the best examples of thrust faulting there is because you can stand along it with one foot on the younger sandstone rock layer and the other foot on the older limestone rock layer.

https://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/red-rock-canyon-a-to-z-keystonethrust/#:~:text=Keystone%20Thrust%20is%20the%20name,the%20movement%20of%20rock%20layers.

Therefore, we must recognize that the rocks we refer to as the "Keystone Thrust" is simply part of a whole that is most recognizable because you can see the two layers of rock that extremely slowly slide across one another. The remaining of the thrust fault can also be seen atop the Red Rock Escarpment where the limestone and sandstone layers come together as clear color change between the limestone and sandstone. Scientists come from all over the world to observe this area since it is one of few examples where this can clearly be seen above ground.

The Open fault area from Below

Succulent indigenous only to this area under the Fault

Another section of the open thrust Fault

A break in the Shade

After the rest, we climbed up to the trail on top of the open fault and followed it over to the Keystone Canyon again. To continue up the canyon, we were faced with about 4 dry falls, half of which were above our pay grade. We climbed up to the right side and followed a game trail up and around the first two dry falls and tackled the remaining canyon in the wash. The canyon became a class 2 climb until we hit the brush. There were trails on the side to get by the brush but this became tedious. Our target was to climb all the way up the wash until we could make our way over to Pinnacle Canyon and up. Keystone Canyon exhausted us as a whole so we stopped when we came to the La Madre Double Arch Trail agave roasting pit intersection. 

First Dryfall in continuation of Keystone Canyon

Bypassing the Dryfalls

East and West Damsel Peaks from Double Arch Trail Junction

Really rough Double Arch Trail

Leaving Pinnacle Canyon for another day, we took a sharp left turn and started down the arch trail toward the Keystone Thrust Trail. So glad we did! As it turned out, the arch trail was terribly washed out. Rocky and gutted. It was slow going on the trail so we did some of the descent on the side in the sticky Blackbrush. Should've worn long pants! When we connected with the Keystone Thrust Trail, it wasn't much better for most of the way. We turned left on the White Rock Hills Trail and hiked into the Upper White Rock Road Trailhead. Another halfish mile down the road and we were back at the car. The first half of this hike was amazing. The second half was exploratory and probably could use some refinement. Great time with friends.

Stats: 5 miles; 1200' gain; 4 hours.

View down to fault area from trail junction on Saddle

Keystone Thrust Trail nearing Upper Trailhead

Happy to be Back! (Really rough descent trail!)