Cottonwood Overlook Loop - 4/18/24

Cottonwood Overlook Plateau

Windy Peak (L) and Hollow Rock Peak (R) from Cottonwood Overlook Plateau

Steep Carabiners' Trail out of the Trailhead

Oops! Wrong Way!

A new hike for the club, the Cottonwood Overlook Loop is still under exploration. However, on this hike we learned a little more about the hillside on which it rests. Seven of us began an in-your-face climb straight up from the trailhead that lies exactly where SR 160 and Potosi Mountain Road junction. The Carabiners' Trail is in much better shape than when we did this hike several months ago. It appears that there are many groups doing this hike now. We had no problem following the small switchbacks and scrambles up until a certain place where we kept straight and, in fact, should have veered up a fork to the left. When we retraced our steps to find the "oops," we left many cairns here at this turn!

This is it! Junction fork veering up to the Left

Now, we're cooking with gas!

Trail on top of cliff with view of Spring Mountains

We found the sign!

We knew that we wanted to find the sign in the photo to the right. It took a hidden turn to the left to bring us to the sign using a smaller trail and vague climb. But, we got there! This section of the route needs more practice hikes! Anyway, once we reached the sign and took our photo, we knew where we were as we joined the old well-used BSA Trail up the hill to the next sign, "Fortress Trail," a little further along the cliffs about 0.35 mile. At this sign, we switchbacked to the left to continued to follow the BSA Trail. This part of the trail narrows a little but it takes you right to the saddle where a climbers' route takes you up a knife-edge to the higher Meditation Point and Namaste. Not wanting to do the harder hike, we passed the saddle area and continued up to Cottonwood Overlook.

BSA trail leading up to the Fortress Trail

BSA Marker with GPS Coordinates

On the Trail

More cliff Scenery

The trail climbs up to a large plateau where the views are in every direction. Across SR 160 below, we saw the southern end of the Sandstone Bluffs. That included Hollow Rock Peak and Windy Peak. Up the road, we saw the small community of Mountain Springs, NV. Looking on up Potosi Mountain Road, we could make out a lot of roads belonging to the old BSA camp. This camp is closed now but the new owners have made themselves at home. Please respect the private property in this area or we may not have this interesting and beautiful hike in our repertoire much longer. As we peered down the other end of the long dropping plateau, Cottonwood Valley lies below. 

Second of two signs at switchback Corner

SR 160 below and Cottonwood Overlook Plateau Above

Beautiful tree at start of Plateau Trail

Spring Mountains from Plateau Trail

We stopped at the plateau's high point for our break then Mark suggested we go down to the other end to overlook the valley. It was a long drop and most of us chose to only go down half way. Next, we came back up to the high point and continued back down to the Meditation Point saddle. Following the same trail on which we made our approach, we passed the "Fortress" sign and came on down to the first large sign. (Note: There used to be a Highline Trail that started at the Fortress sign and paralleled the lower trail that we would take. This trail has been washed away or something. It is not recommended to use that route at this time.) At the large sign, we switchbacked to the left and started down the beautiful BSA Trail.

South end of Sandstone Bluffs from Plateau

Small rise on Plateau

Taking a well deserved break on the Plateau

Cicada Exoskeleton ... Get ready!

This trail travelled above the cliffs for about a mile. It descended gently to bring us down to the area of the old BSA camp. Again, the scenery was beautiful and made it well worth the walk we would later have to make down the Potosi Mountain Road. As we hiked, we saw two long ridges trailing down from the height of the trail in the not-too-far distance. The second ridge holds a small powerline road. It is very important that you take the turn on the ridge following the powerline before you pass the pond on the right below. This road/trail angles back down the ridge and ends at the Potosi Mountain Road. If you take this ridge down, you probably won't catch the attention of any of the property owners in the old BSA camp area.

Dropping down to visit the actual Cottonwood Valley Overlook

For hikers wanting more ...

Heading back to Fortress Trail Sign

Heading back to Mountain Springs Overlook Sign

We followed the powerline down to the dirt road and turned to the right. Almost another mile of hiking on the dusty road brought us back to our cars. This is a very nice loop among the rocky cliffs of the hillside. The red brome is beginning to fill the trails so sometimes we just had to have faith that there was a trail there! The BSA Trail could use a little maintenance (brome clearing) on the lower portion and the Carabiners' Trail could use a couple more cairns or something to indicate which way to go to get to the large sign above. But, hey! We got there just fine! Really a fun day!

Stats: 5.5 miles (with oops moments); 1425' gain; 4.5 hours

Taking the BSA Cottonwood Overlook Trail down toward closed BSA Camp

Base of a Cliff

The telephone pole road down to Potosi Mountin Road