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| Wash Crossing on the Bike Trail |
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| Bike Trail return on the side of the Ridge |
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| Bike Trail heading into the South Canyon |
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| Starting out on a cool Morning |
Six months ago, we started mapping out this loop hike that begins in the vicinity of Late Night Trailhead. It uses a very well made bike trail and a power line road that is partially overgrown. Since the construction on SR 160, there is no legal access to the area of the main part of the trail. (Why? I have no idea.) Pedestrian access gates would have been greatly appreciated. Instead, hikers have begun resorting to a circus act to get through the fence and balance their way down to the ground. Anyway, so, this hike is begun from a gravel road (HCV) with no circus acts, two roads up from the Late Night parking lot. About 1/3 mile out the road, you will find a place to park where the road makes a switchback to the right. Be careful because there are two places that appear similar. Check your maps and GPSs. From your car, you can hike directly up the wash for around 1/2 mile. Here, you will run perpendicularly into a clear bike trail. Turn left.
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| Bike Trail with South Canyon Beyond |
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| Duck Bikers! |
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| Mike rummages in a Cairn Can |
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| Heading into the Canyon |
We followed the bike trail on the south side of the wash noting the obvious work that someone did to make this trail. There is one tree that you have to duck under. Beware! The trail comes down to the wash and crosses it at the barrel cairn seen in the photo above. If you miss this, there are a couple more opportunities to reach the trail on the other side. Now, the trail starts through colorful rocks and dips down to go alongside the wash. Someone has done a great job making the trail in the wash so that it is not easily washed away. As the trail follows the wash through a walled curve, there is an opening on the right side where you can hike up a rock hillside. This is the bottom of the power line road. Turn right and begin climbing up the road to follow it all the way along the escarpment hills to the right. Both last time and this time, we tried the game trails that seem to cut below the road on a traverse. These trails may cut elevation gain but they are not completely clear and difficult to follow. I guess if you do it right, the trails would help. If you lose the trail, you end up in a mess! Regardless, there are a couple of cairns lying around.
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| Cairn made from Insulator Materials & an old Can |
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| The Bike Trail |
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| Nearing the end of the bike trail Ridge |
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| Returning through the wash on the Bike Trail |
The trail goes to the end of the ridge and drops steeply with the help of several switchbacks. Eventually, the trail drops into the wash and connects near where the power line road climbs out. At this point, you simply follow the trail back the way you came, crossing the wash where that barrel cairn is set up. Under the low hanging branch and on to the wash where you had connected with the trail in the first place. Now, there is a choice. You can either turn right into the wash and descend to the trailhead or, for a tiny bit more distance, you can follow the trail, turn right onto a trailed bench, look for your car in the distance to the right ahead, and drop off the bench to bushwhack over to the car. Your choice! We did the latter for both hikes and were entertained by a skeleton in an old car that was filled with gravel on the side of the wash. We made a couple of mishaps on this hike but the description and maps are correct. Maybe next time, the third time, we will have a better handle on this wonderful hike. Still happy!
Stats: 6 miles; 1140' gain; ~4 hours
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| Duck Again |
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| Returning on the Trail |
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| Trail on ridge nearing the Trailhead |
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