Windy Peak Loop - 4/28/24

Windy Peak

Rain puddle below Windy Peak

A short life Lived

Telephone Pole Landmark

Wow! This was definitely the day to go to Red Rock! There were umpteen million cars parked at trailheads and on the road when we finished our hike up at Mountain Springs and drove back around SR 159. And, why not? It was a beautiful day with optimal temperatures, finally, on a weekend! There were five club members parked at the Mountain Springs Pass Trailhead headed for a jaunt up to Windy Peak. To make the trip a little different, we decided to ascend on the Burnt Ridge and descend on the Lower Cairn Trail. It is a nice loop of just over 5 miles. The trailhead was already filling up and was filled to capacity when we returned down the mountain. Our first priority was to visit little Liam's memorial again.

Mt. Potosi south of Red Rock Escarpment

Burnt Ridge Climb

Snow-capped Spring Mountains from Burnt Ridge

The Fork

Mike and Bruce knew the way over to the ascent ridge. Someday, I'm going to know it! It involves a telephone pole landmark and a right turn onto the trail but first you have to cross over to the correct little ridge road. Sometimes, you just have to know the right people. We "charged" up the ridge and reached The Saddle to take a (another) breather. Turning left on The Saddle at the top of Heartbreak Hill, we faced three more climbs until reaching The Fork. Here, the trail splits. Go left and you head to Mountain Springs Peak. Go right and you start climbing to the high point of the Windy Peak Trail. At the hight point, most of the work is done until you reach the sandstone. Then, the scrambling begins and that's not really work!

Climbing the Windy Peak Trail

First view of Windy Peak (L) - Hollow Rock Peak (R)

Mouse Ears off Trail

Windy Peak Approach

It had rained two days before so we saw little puddles here and there as we crossed the known route up to the peak. Mike signed in the log for us and we sauntered on out to the terminus of the peak bench. Here, it is straight down for a while so we stopped and had our break looking over the cliff and back toward Global Peak, a small spire type peak that rises between Windy Peak and Black Velvet Peak next to the Windy Peak wall. We enjoyed the beautiful view and explored the sandstone to the south before we started down off the sandstone globe. As we neared the limestone terrain, another group was climbing up. It was, indeed, a busy day up on the trails of the escarpment. 

Scrambling across the sandstone of Windy Peak - Mt. Potosi Beyond

Global Peak seen from the terminus of Windy Peak Bench

Cottonwood Valley and beyond to Las Vegas

Mike signs us in the log Book

We climbed back up to the high point without stopping at a pretty good pace. Then, just to change things up, we climbed to the little peak above the high point and decided to descend from there. The trail that we chose descended straight down to The Fork. We waited while the remaining two hikers joined and we watched Ralph start on out to Mountain Springs Peak to descend on the Upper Cairn Trail. And, then there were four. We hiked on down the trail for just about a tenth of a mile and found the Lower Cairn Trail where it obscurely turned to the right. I had heard that several of the cairns had been knocked down. The cairns nearest the top were, in fact, not there, but the further we dropped down the hill, the more cairns we saw. The fanciest cairns weren't there anymore. It had been sort of a novelty to see the balancing rocks and sculptures. However, the cairns are no longer a necessity since the trail has been well worn by now. We wound ourselves down to the big gulley and paused for a moment. Bruce was telling us that sometimes he takes the gulley down all the way to the usual gulley crossing below. We decided to try this another day. It definitely sounded interesting. We climbed up the other side of the gulley and continued down the trail.

Windy Peak's south View

The trail back across the Peak (Wilson Peak in Distance)

Climbing down off the Sandstone

Peak above the High Point

We passed the bottom of the Upper Cairn Trail where it joined ours and crossed the small roundabout that once was. The trail continues down not far from the gulley and then crosses it to a dirt road. A right turn on the road took us another quarter mile to pass a couple of disheveled agave roasting pits. We turned right onto a shortcut trail to come out above the bottom of Heartbreak Hill and Bruce showed us his "super-secret" alternate way down to the trailhead! Basically, you just go straight from the shortcut. It was a fun day and a good workout. Perfect weather!

Stats: 5.2 miles; 1550' gain; 4 hours

Descending the Lower Cairn Trail

John and Bruce on the Lower Cairn Trail

The old road back to the Cars