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| Lava Butte from top of exit Ridge |
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| A few of the first spring Flowers |
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| Susan's beautiful photo of Lava Butte from Ridge Crest |
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| Entering the gardens through the Wash |
We missed the usual December hike to Rainbow Gardens and here it is February. What a nice surprise it was! We found that many of the early spring flowers were blooming in the washes and low ridges. Right away, we noticed the phacelia, the brittlebushes and the Asian mustard, an invasive plant that isn't that bad looking as it begins to grow. (It becomes more ugly as the year wears on.) A few goldeneyes, young flowering rock nettles, california poppies (evening primroses), purple mat and flourishing beaver tail cacti that are not budding as yet. Susan and I had a great time slowly wandering up the main wash looking for the "super bloom" of Rainbow Gardens!
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| More of the first spring Flowers |
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| Bedsprings Junction |
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| The Kitchen |
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| View north from the Kitchen |
We took a right at Bedsprings Junction and crossed over the ridge to Rainbow Gardens Canyon. The colors of the canyon were dullish. Perhaps because the sky was not a nice color of blue. We passed the ladder and took a right up onto a steep ridge with a trail. This led us up to the crest of the ridge that surrounds the colors of Rainbow Gardens and below Lava Butte, that imposing dark boulder covered butte that rises with a prominence of almost 875' and an elevation of almost 3000'.
While sometimes referred to as a lava butte, it is actually an igneous, dacite-based laccolith formed about 13 million years ago, rather than a surface eruption, according to the USGS report. ~ AI |
| Starting down through the Rainbow Gardens Canyon |
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Last curve in the Rainbow Gardens Canyon
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| Colors below the ridge Crest |
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Arriving at the ridge Crest
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There is a marked trail along the ridge crest with a few very large cairns. Be careful because the trail comes very close to the cliff that would not be good to fall over the edge! However, the view from the cliff is one of the best on this hike. We followed the trail all the way over to the saddle in front of Lava Butte after taking a break at a high point cairn. At this saddle, we took our "group" photo and followed the trail over the edge and down to the saddle below the climb to Lava Butte. About halfway up the trail to the base of the butte, there is a faint trail that crossed to the right side of this area. I prefer to take the higher trail to put hikers at a better location. On the other side, we climbed up to a ridge that would take us down to the white hills passing two old cairns on a game trail.
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| View over the ridge Cliff |
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| Over the Cliff and on the the Lake Las Vegas home Construction |
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More spring flowers and one of the large Cairns
This ridge descent is not marked well but, suffice it to say, we followed the vague trail along the left side of the ridge summit. We passed two very old cairns that we would all prefer stay there and descended to the wash that leads between the two white hills in front of us. This wash will take you down to a cross-wash where we continued straight and climbed the hill in front of us. The high point here is a gorgeous view if you turn around and look at Lava Butte!
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| Through the White Hills |
All that remained was a ridge trail, bearing to the right through a couple of shallow saddles. This will take you back to the original main wash that will, in turn, take you back to trailhead. As in the past, I missed the first right fork saddle and ended up back-tracking a little. I'm going to get it right, again, someday!!!
Stats: 6.7 miles (with back-tracking); 900' gain; 5.25 hours (We went slow and enjoyed our hike!)
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| Kay and Susan in front of Lava Butte |
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