Railroad Tunnels, Hoover Dam & O'Callaghan - Tillman Bridge - 1/15/11

Fifty- three hikers invaded the Historic Railroad Tunnels today. We divided into two, then three groups depending on the distance and speed desired. Thirty- two of us did the hike as a 9.5 mile trip through the tunnels, down to the dam, and over to the bridge. The remaining twenty- one hikers did a seven mile trip through the tunnels and up to the bridge, skipping the dam this time around. The third group broke off from the first group to skip lunch and make the return trip a little faster.



Along the way through the five tunnels which were once used for rail cars to transport workers from Boulder City to the dam construction, we had gorgeous views of Lake Mead. It was a beautiful day with highs in the mid-60's and there were many people out and about. Up on the hill to our left after we left the fifth tunnel, we spotted a few big horn sheep. The photo above was taken by Jerry Thomas, a new guest photographer for the website.

The tunnel section of the trail is flat as a pancake, however the remaining section to the dam is slightly hilly. We descended through the large transformer station and walked down the ramps to the top level of the parking garage. At the bottom of the garage steps, we took our lunch break on the outside picnic tables. Some people walked across the dam and back. The photo of the bridge seen below was taken from the dam.


While we sat and ate our snacks and lunches, sparrows perched in the umbrellas and on the fence rails waiting for crumbs to fall from our fingers. Below, this collage of photos shows a few points of interest around the dam. The statue of the scaler shows how the builders of Hoover Dam had to scale the walls of the canyon to accomplish the engineering feat of the 1930's.


We ate our lunch then headed up to the top floor of the garage and out to the trail. Crossing over to the other side of the road, we hiked up to the parking lot where we could climb the ramp or steps to the new bridge's pedestrian walkway. As an aside, we felt that the designers of the wonderful pedestrian walkway exhibit could have provided a little better for the many Las Vegas hikers who visit the bridge via the railroad tunnels. To get to the exhibit, hikers are required to hike up the side of the road in a round about way from the trail. Although there is a hiking path which shortcuts between the road and the trail, this area is supposed to be off limits. Give us a break, guys!

As I said, the exhibit is wonderful. There are many informa- tional signs and displays. The ramp and steps provide different ways to ascend to the bridge. The architecture of the stairway is top- notch. And, the view from the bridge is unlike any other. The dam is in full view below the bridge as seen in the first photo. There were many people taking advantage of the pedestrian walkway and the beautiful weather today.



The collage above shows a few of the points of interest from the walkway. The two seals are set into the floor of the walkway in the center of the bridge. There are many plaques set into the sides of the concrete walls. It is obvious that the O'Callaghan - Tillman Memorial Bridge was built to become as big of a tourist attraction as Hoover Dam has been for 75 years.

We walked all the way to the other side of the bridge in Arizona before making our way back to Nevada and down to the parking lot where Don took us back across the road and down to the trail. After another three miles, we hiked into the trailhead parking lot located at the beginning of Northshore Drive. All groups of hikers were accounted for.

Pinto Valley - 1/13/11

Twenty members of the Around the Bend Friends, with the capable leadership of Chuck and Joan, accomp- lished an eleven mile journey through Pinto Valley. The hike began off of Lake Mead's Northshore Drive at mile marker 18 and ended at that highway's mile marker 26. It was a five hour hike through colorful surroundings.

Pinto Valley is the location of part of the old Arrowhead Highway which was used for travelling between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City way way way back before Highway 15 was even a dream. We hiked up the familiar wash and soon the remnants of the road became apparent. When we saw this picture to the left side of the wash, we hung a right.

The wash was quite muddy until the sun was able to do its job and we slogged through the mud with much chagrin and enthusiasm; a paradox we enjoyed. Our shoes became thick with the sandy mud and some of us felt taller for a while! As we slogged, we passed the familiar three mile mark just past the switchback where the highest point of the hike resides.


About another mile down the "road," we passed a rocky mount which had the appearance of an eagle taking flight. A little further, at a place where there were a few sandstone rocks at the side of the wash that reminded us of Little Finland in Gold Butte, we headed up out of the wash in search of our first set of petroglyphs.

We hiked across the desert to the rock wall and found a very nice set of petroglyphs in the bright sun. There were many figures inscribed which were unfamiliar to us. There were also at least two snake petroglyphs. Hmmm. We didn't see any snakes around but ... we did see some petrified wood.

Back on the road, we passed a large boulder with writing on it from 1922. Presumably, it was put there before Boulder Canyon was made into Lake Mead. Other points of interest seen in the photo below include a plant, the Bear Claw Poppy, which is only found in the Lake Mead area; Ripple rocks which were made by the receding ancient seas; a bird's nest found on a sheltered rock ledge; and a lot of crytobiotic soil.



Next we visited a bouldered area that was probably used as a camp. There was shelter with 2 x 4 pieces of lumber inside and a bench made of rock outside. We inspected the shelter and found the bird's nest inside. Not far from this site, we came to the next petroglyph site. Again, the carved figures were not "run of the mill" petroglyphs. Or perhaps, just not common figures of the Red Rock NCA area. Maybe Lake Mead had different artists than Red Rock.

After a snack break at the "chair" seen at the top of this entry, we returned to the road/wash for a short while then took an abrupt right turn down a smaller wash that headed toward the right side of the valley again. At this point, the hike became a challenge to keep up with the leader and we got separated. The hikers in the front could only hope that the hikers in the back would see the arrow we placed at the wash fork.

The detour down the side wash was well worth the mileage as we ended up at Sandstone Springs. The spring here always has water and there are oodles of evidence that the big horn sheep know about it. Coyote and big cat prints were also spotted in the area. Here, we waited for the second group of hikers to catch up. As we headed back to the road once again, one hiker spotted an old mining claim and chewing tobacco can from 1955.


As one hiker put it, at 10.5 miles into what was once billed as a 9 mile hike, we ascended "heartbreak hill." Actually, the hill wasn't so bad and we were all anxious to get back to the paved highway so we readily hiked up the hill still following the old Arrowhead Highway. There was some searching for the right wash and ridge used to take us out of Pinto Valley. Finding them, we made it quickly to the highway where amazingly, we found the spotted car right where we thought it would be!

A small hike up the paved road to the parking lot was a welcome aside to our long hike. The picturesque area around the parking lot kept us entertained as the drivers were all shuttled back to mile marker 18 to retrieve their cars. We settled in for a fifteen minute wait. During this time, we stretched, talked, laughed and paced.

The length of the hike was not what affected us so much as the speed at which we hiked. Granted we got back home before dark! Thank you so much, Chuck and Joan, for enriching our hiking experience by exploring Pinto Valley and its many treasures today. May we all be able to walk tomorrow!



Elevation chart.
High point.
Overview.
Closer look.

River Mountain - 1/6/11

The River Mountain hike began this morning with a couple of unusual obstacles. After parking at the River Mountain Trailhead off of Highway 93 in Boulder City, fifteen hikers were lead into a concrete drainage where they began their climb up to the Red & Black Mountain saddle. Today's hike was energetically lead by guest coordinators, Chuck and Joan, who normally lead hikes for the Lake Mead NRA.

We walked up the drainage to the end then connected with the traditional trail for Red & Black Mountains. It is a bit shorter this way than taking the traditional trail from the parking lot. The River Mountain hike is eight miles with an elevation gain of 1400 feet and every little bit of shortcut helped.

Half of the group of hikers hiked up the wash to the saddle, instead of using the switchbacks, to do a little bouldering for the day.

After rejoining the other half of the group and hiking over the saddle to the other side, we took a small break where we had a beautiful view of the Las Vegas Strip.

At this point, we went off trail heading directly down into the "caldera." Presumably, this area in the shape of a large bowl between the River Mountain Range and the east side of Las Vegas is a caldera made by an ancient volcano. Although it isn't obviously a volcano crater, with a little imagination one can see the bowl in the middle of surrounding mountains.

After hiking quickly through the caldera, we found a very rough dirt road which lead up between River Mountain and another mountain in the range. Huge power poles and lines ran along the side of the road carrying electricity from Hoover Dam. At the top of the hill, we came to the last utility pole before the power lines took a dive down the mountain on the other side.

Somehow the power lines in front of the view of Lake Mead seemed almost proper. After all, Lake Mead is all about water and electricity, isn't it?

This would make a great zip line ... except for the million volts of electricity you would have to deal with!

Turning to the left, we began our final assault on River Mountain. It was steep. It was challenging. And, the views were fantastic! We left two members of the group at the last power pole. They watched us as we climbed to the peak. We also watched them and waved to them occassionally. The group split into two on the way up. One group taking a good route and one group finding a difficult lateral crossover to the final saddle.

One by one, we reached the peak where two lightening rods reigned over the magnificent 360 degree views of the Strip, Spring Mountains, Lake Mead, and Henderson. Lava Butte stuck up into the air as if to say "Look at me! I'm colorful and perky!" We stayed up here for a short while. The wind was chilly but was not a constant hindrance then nor throughout the hike.

Although this panorama did not turn out well, it might give the reader an idea of what it was like on top of River Mountain.

Ready for the descent off of the peak, we slowly made our way down the steep and somewhat slippery trail.

When we reached the power pole, we each had a large smile on our face. The descent had been tricky and it had to be carefully dealt with. Regrouping at the pole, we began the hike down the dirt road. The hike back across the caldera was very swift as the leader was interested in giving us an excellent workout.

From here, we could see what we thought might be an ice fall next to the trail we would be returning on. Curious, we anxiously climbed to the trail and found a spot to view the ice fall. We were surprised that there was such a thick ice fall at this lower elevation. A little further and we were once again on the Red & Black saddle. Interested in making it back to the cars with our legs and feet still in tact, we took the switchbacks down. No one chose to make the return down the wash that we came up.

From the trail, you can see the red and black colors of the rock.

Healthy Teddy Bear Cholla were growing next to the concrete drainage on which we returned.

Snow at Red Rock 2011 - 1/3/11

Perhaps some of you were curious as to how much snow Red Rock Canyon NCA received this morning. The photo above was taken from the Pine Creek overlook.

We arrived at the scenic loop around noon and much of the snow had already melted. However, it was still snowing at Sandstone Quarry when we arrived to take these photos.

On around the loop, the snow had stopped. This photo and the next were taken off the loop toward White Rock Hills.

Clouds covered the escarpment and we couldn't see it until we were over on that side of the loop.

This little ball of snow which sat melting on top of a fence post at Ice Box Canyon shows how much snow probably fell at this location.