Gray Cap - 3/10/11

Fifteen hikers took on a challenging climb up to Gray Cap Peak today. The quick pace and the routes chosen by the coordinator made this particular hike to the spot of limestone on top of yellow sandstone a great workout for every muscle in the body. The hike began from Sandstone Quarry and headed up the Calico Tanks Trail.

The hikers circled around the base of Red Cap and dropped down the wash which leads to Gateway Canyon. The weather was gorgeous with a very slight cool wind to ward off the warmth of the sun that occasionally peeked through the layer of wispy clouds above. At Gateway Canyon, we paid our respects to the baby bighorn skeleton that resides there and began our climb up through the recently washed out limestone canyon.


The climb up through Upper Gateway Canyon is always a fun scramble up many dry waterfalls. Hikers often change the hike by choosing a different route up the limestone obstacles than what they had done recently. Care must be taken on some of the rocks lying in the middle of the canyon path. Because of the rains this winter, some of the larger rocks have been dislodged and are dubbed "rocky rocks."

Two or three of the dry waterfalls offer routes that require a bit more concentra- tion. Footholds and handholds are scarce on these routes. Nevertheless, the routes are doable and rewarding. A few of our hikers enjoyed the more difficult challenges, today, over the 5.5 miles that we hiked in just under 5 hours with a net elevation gain of just under 1500 feet.


At the top of Gateway Canyon, the trail takes a decidedly upward turn as the rock underfoot changes to red then yellow sandstone. A truly heart and lung working route takes the hiker up a steep wall of sandstone full of crevices and some loose rock. We headed toward a landmark tree at the top of the wall then waited for everyone to achieve the scramble.


From here, we passed two tenajas. One is a very large tank filled with water placed deep into the sandstone below. As we crossed the "fin" above this tank, we found a smaller tank to our left. Turtlehead Peak rose dauntingly above us. We climbed up to our right and hugging the wall on our left, we circled around to the other side of this sandstone peak.

The final climb begins as sandstone and ends in the limestone cap. It is a steep ascent with a lot of loose rock and very little trail. The direction heads up a crevice to the left, then around to the right on an upward angle. Then, if you are lucky, you will connect with a small trail in the limestone which leads to the peak. Today, we missed the trail until we were almost to the top. Our trusty leader was waiting on the slower hikers while we were sent to the peak! (So, it's our fault!)


Finally, we were able to relax for a while and take in some nurishment. We read the sign-in book and laughed when we realized that last year we did this hike only one day later.

After our break, we began the 2.75 mile return. Making the hike a little more interesting for the return, the coordinator led us up and over a steep sandstone peak instead of retracing our steps by the large tank. From the top of this peak, the downhill scramble lasted several minutes requiring total concentration lest someone would break an ankle on the rocky rocks covering the hillside.

Surviving the downhill scramble and the descent through Upper Gateway Canyon, we were rewarded with an uphill climb to the base of Red Cap. This is no easy task at this stage of the hike. As we waited for the last hiker to arrive to this point, another hiker realized that he lost his pants ... the lower part of his zip-off pants, that is. So ... be on the lookout for lower pant legs that are pretty much the same color as the trail. They belong to Mike O'C.

Grapevine Spring - 3/5/11

Sixteen members of the Around the Bend Friends hiked an easy to moderate five miles in the Cottonwood Valley section of Red Rock Canyon NCA to Lone Grapevine Spring and Mud Spring II located near the base of Windy Peak of the escarpment. Our first stop was at Grapevine Spring where the spring is surrounded by a wooden and barbed wire fence. The desert foliage was lush and the rocks in the area were a dark colored composite type rock which lent more color to the green yuccas, chollas and white bursage. Strangely enough, there were no creosote bushes in this area.



We hiked past the base of Windy Peak above and found a large metal trough of water that flowed down from Mud Spring II. The clear water feeds the thirst of wild animals such as burros, big horn sheep, coyotes, foxes and mountain lions and of domesticated horses used for recreation in this area. To get to the spring, we climbed uphill and found that it, also, was surrounded by fencing. We began seeing petroglyphs in this area and, as we walked a little further, we saw more and more of the ancient carvings on the desert varnished boulders lying on the desert floor.



We ate our snack and summoned the energy to return to our cars by hiking through the desert on trails used mainly by mountain bikers. It was a beautiful day with sunshine to warm us through the light cool wind. Our morning views were of a snow dusted Mt. Potosi and the escarpment of Red Rock. The Calico Hills were there in the distance. We returned to the parking lot after a nice three hours of hiking.

Red Cap - 3/1/11

Can anyone out there from the Las Vegas area and beyond guess what tank this is? It is the large lower tank that is almost always dry which we almost always use for our route down from Red Cap! It is full of water right now and it is beautiful!


The BLM hike up Red Cap today was very enjoyable as eighteen hikers blew the BLM limit of fifteen. It is a heart pumping scramble up to the peak, then a tour of tanks on the way down. There was some ice in one tank which is covered with shadows for most of the day as seen to the left. The rest of the tanks were full and reflective; including the large tank seen in the first photo. We had to take a different route down to Mass Production Wall because of it. Red Cap was a great way to ring in March.... (Return any lost devices found on this route to Barry F.)

River Mountain Trail (5 mile partial) - 2/27/11

It was a morning of signs on the paved walkway of Boulder City's River Mountain Trail. We began at the trailhead which is located just north of St. Jude Ranch and ended at the Railroad Pass Casino on Highway 93. This is only 5 miles of the 34 miles allocated for the trail which runs around the River Mountains on the outskirts of Boulder City, Henderson and Las Vegas.

Six members of the Around the Bend Friends casually did the five miles pointing out the signs along the way. We avoided bicyclists and joggers. We enjoyed the recently snow- capped mountain peaks in the distance. And, we talked pleasantly about anything and everything. We passed the Bootleg Canyon trailhead where the zip line ends and mountain bikers hop over hills. We passed the high point of our hike. And, we saw an old mine across the highway that few of us had ever noticed.


About two- thirds of the way into the hike, the sight- seeing Boulder City Railroad train made its way past us. It stopped at the Railroad Pass Casino then began its journey back into Boulder City backwards, caboose first.




We crossed the railroad tracks then began our last stretch of the hike passing an elite golf club situated on the hill above us to the right. A bridge crossed an arroyo below and we stopped to admire the landscaping of the golf club. A mountain waterfall slides down the mountain behind the clubhouse.

At the end of our Sunday stroll, 5 out of the 6 of us decided to take in the champagne brunch buffet at the Railroad Pass Casino. Mr. Grumpy Tiny made all of us a delicious omelette and we chatted until we were full. We all agreed that we should do this again ... do an easy to moderate hike on Sunday morning ending with a brunch buffet somewhere. Oops! Sounds like the buffet boys!

Black Mountain - Henderson - 2/17/11

There were eighteen hikers on this morning's hike up, up ... and up Black Mountain located in Henderson, Nevada. The morning was quite chilly in the southeast Las Vegas area with strong and arctic wind gusts. The hike coordinator (who was wearing shorts) bolted up the mountain at a fever pitch. (... probably hoping to warm up quickly!)


The group became spread out leaving a few of us behind but all eighteen, minus one who stopped on the ridge about 1/3 of a mile below the peak, made it to the top. At the top, magically, the wind was mild and the sun was warm. The book was signed and photos with the flag were taken. The panorama was crystal clear after yesterday's and last night's wind storms. And, the snack break was prolonged with immense enjoyment.


Going down Black Mountain is as big an ordeal as going up. The peak area which included around 500 feet in elevation is very steep and slippery. It becomes a scramble with use of two feet, two legs, two hands and sometimes two butt cheeks (... okay, the gluteus maximus). At any rate, a good workout was had by all down south in Henderson.