Black Velvet Canyon - 11/11/10

Black Velvet Canyon is found between Black Velvet Peak and Monument Peak along the escarpment of the Red Rock Canyon NCA. The hike begins on the Late Night Trail found on the north side of Highway 160 at Cottonwood Valley. It was here that twenty hikers from the Around the Bend Friends began the 7.75 mile, 4.5 hour hike. We hiked around the small hill found on the north side of the parking lot and through the desert on fairly flat terrain.


We crossed two or three washes that provided a small amount of down and up then reached the dirt parking lot for Black Velvet Canyon. There were several cars parked here. Rock climbers enjoy the walls of this canyon. When we dropped down into the mouth of the canyon, we could see the climbers high up on the wall to our left. They appeared as ants, very small. One climber had a red coat on so we used him to keep track of them while we bouldered our way up through the canyon which was filled with humongous boulders. As we scrambled, updates on the climbers were called out along the line periodically.


Although the distance we climbed within the canyon was not far, it was far enough to give us a good workout among the rocks. We went as far as the rope (seen below) and sat down for a snack. A couple of us tried our hand at climbing the roped wall. While we were resting, another group of rock climbers lithely went by. They didn't use the rope but climbed up to the next level on the rock up to our left.


After our break, we returned down through the canyon via a little used trail up on the Black Velvet side of the wash. Eventually, we had to come back down to the wash and we made our way back to the approach trail. We turned right onto the Black Velvet Bike Trail, crossed onto the Late Night Trail and circled around the initial hill on the opposite side from which we began the hike. Even though the hike had a lot of flatness involved, we all agreed that the distance and tough bouldering made up for the lack of elevation change in the desert portions of our hike.


As a footnote: A news story was just released that human remains (a spine) were found "near" the Black Velvet Canyon area around 2:30pm by the rock climbers. Our group had returned to the parking area and left around 1pm. (We were all accounted for.)

The photo above was placed on a TV website. It was presumably taken by one of the rock climbers we saw on the wall. Pretty creepy, huh? In the story, they said the spine was found wrapped in a shirt further up in the canyon from where we stopped our climb. They are investigating the find for any possibilities.

Bryce Canyon - 10/18/10

During October 17, 18 and 19, Ann coordinated an excursion up to southern Utah. On the first day, they explored Bryce Canyon on a cold and rainy day. However, the weather increased the show of color throughout the canyon and these pictures that Carl took are beautiful.

This is formation called Thor's Hammer.



Pronghorn antelope were spotted in a small herd on the way to Escalante where the group of twenty-one hiked to Calf Creek Falls as seen below. Thank you Carl for your pictures.

Krafft Mtn / Gateway Cyn Loop (Also, Ice Box Cyn) - 11/06/10

Today, the Around the Bend Friends had two hikes to accomplish. The hike that left at 8am was the Krafft Mountain Loop which takes the hiker through Gateway Canyon, a beautiful sandstone canyon colored with red stripes and polka dots. All of these photos were taken last Tuesday early in the morning as the sun was just reaching the canyon walls. There was only a little water which had collected in small puddles throughout the canyon. And, the hike was around 5 miles. The route taken today may or may not have followed the GPS route shown below.

The other hike the Around the Bend Friends did was Ice Box Canyon which began at 8:30am. This is a 3 mile journey into a cool canyon of the escarpment which dead ends at a tall and beautiful dry waterfall. The blogger does not have the statistics for either of these hikes but if someone would like to comment below, we would like to know how many people attended each of these hikes and what made the hike different from the rest. ...There's always something!



Krafft Mountain Loop route.

Elevation chart for Ice Box Canyon.
Ice Box Canyon route.

Gray Cap Peak - 11/4/10

There were eleven hikers on today's hike to Gray Cap Peak in the Red Rock Canyon NCA. Gray Cap is a small peak with an elevation of 5400 feet above sea level. It is named as such because the "cap" on the mountain consists of limestone around fifty feet deep surrounded by yellow sandstone which makes up the rest of the mountain.

We left from Sandstone Quarry off of the scenic loop when the sun was still very low on the horizon. As we rounded the base of Red Cap, the sun gave a nice glow to the sandstone we hiked beside (2nd photo). Peeking around the corner, we saw the Ash Canyon Overlook backdropped by the morning sky (3rd photo).

Here, we took a small water break at the usual place and started off again (4th photo). We hiked down the wash which lies between Turtlehead and Krafft Mountains and arrived at our lowest point when we entered Gateway Canyon. Below, this photo of Turtlehead shows the view that met us.


We turned left and began our climb up through the Upper Gateway Canyon. This section of the canyon is made of craggy limestone with many boulders strewn about. There are also several dry waterfalls that must be negotiated. The rough limestone provides many foot and hand holds to enable the steep climbs as seen in the photo below.

Upper Gateway Canyon is a fun scramble for which gloves are useful. The rock can be smooth at times but often it is sharp. Water floods the canyon every year and it seems to be one of the most dynamic canyons in the Red Rock hiking area. Boulders move, gravel changes locations and obstacles are presented in a new way annually.

When we reached the top of the canyon, we faced a red sandstone "wall." Taking a break, we turned around to see this small boulder arrangement on the hillside. No one could remember seeing this before. Maybe it was always there. Who knows? Anyway, we turned back to face the red wall which was filled with cracks, crevices, loose rock and eroded shapes. Yep. This is the wall we climb for a good steep 300 feet in elevation. Up we went as the sun peered over the horizon. Usually, we appear as ants climbing all over the hillside. Today, most of us stayed close together and let Chris do the thinking!


Just before we crested the hill among the sandstone which had changed to yellow, we stopped for a breather. The view above appeared majestically over the ridge to the right. Continuing, we hiked above a very large tank. Two months ago, this tank was completely dry. Thankfully, it was now filled with water for the wildlife to drink.

On the other side of the "fin" (photo above) we walked across, there was a small tank that was also filled with water (photo to right). This tank provided a nice reflection as the shadows of the hikers walked past. Moving on, we climbed further up the sandstone to the right. The panorama at the top of this entry was taken during the next portion of the hike. In it, one can see Red Cap, the escarpment and the wash in the foreground of Red Cap in which we had hiked toward Gateway Canyon.

The air was fairly clear in the valley today and we were able to see the Strip from this section of the hike. We continued hiking the yellow sandstone in a lateral way until we reached the final climb. Up we went again. Then, finally, we hit the limestone. A little further and we were on top of Gray Cap Peak. The panorama below and the one at the bottom of the entry were both taken from the peak.


On the way down, we were photo- graphed by one of the two hikers who had chosen to rest at the bottom of the sandstone wall (aka "The Fun Zone"). Carl and Luci lounged in the sun and shade below and watched us negotiate the steep descent as seen in his photo below.

We joined them at the bottom and began our scramble down Gateway Canyon. The hike finished at Sandstone Quarry after taking a few more water breaks. The sun had become hot even though it is already November. Ah, ... we love Las Vegas!

Potato Knoll & Back (& First Creek) - 10/30/10

First things first! Happy Halloween to all of the Around the Bend Friends ... tomorrow.

Interesting fact: In the photo above, we see Potato Knoll rising as a separate hill in front of Wilson Peak of the Red Rock Canyon escarpment. It is believed to have been formed by an ancient landslide which poured off of the top of Wilson Peak. There must have been a large amount of momentum in that slide to have come to rest at such a far distance from the base of the escarpment.

This morning, the 10% chance of rain fell right where both groups were hiking and both hikes were cut short. Twenty- one hikers set out at 8:30am for the First Creek trail but had to turn back after a half mile. While rain drenched the group, a beautiful double rainbow was spotted above. One half hour earlier, a group of seventeen hikers set out to hike up Potato Knoll, the small hill which lies in front of Wilson Peak. This was a change in our scheduled hike of White Rock Hills Loop which was already getting a large dose of the 10% chance of rain.

We parked at the Red Rock Scenic Loop exit and began hiking into the desert towards Oak Creek Canyon and Potato Knoll. The wind whipped up mightily and tried to knock us off the trail. We remained stalwart in our effort and escaped the worst of it when we dipped down into the crossing of Oak Creek. There was no water running at this crossing as seen in the photo above.


When we reached the small canopy of trees on the north side of the knoll, the clouds finally breached the rim of the escarpment and slid over us like a silent cloak. Soon, it began to rain ... sprinkles, at first, then more steady. Wind breakers and ponchos came out of the packs and we persisted. However, when we reached the southeast side of the base of the knoll, we hung a sharp left and abandoned our original plan by circling back around to the tree canopy and back to the loop exit. The rain stopped before we reached the cars and blue skies weren't too far behind. Timing is everything!