Lone Palm - 1/3/13

                          A Non-Native Fan Palm on the Colorado River

                                     Waterfall at the Lone Palm Beach

 Today's hike showed all of us just how much we enjoy hiking! It was somewhat of an exploratory hike as we had lost our bearings from the original Lone Palm hike that was done for years before the new bridge and highway were built and blocked off our trailhead. So, today, we parked at the new trailhead at the Kingman Wash Road exit off of Highway 93 in Arizona. Immediately, we found a trail that took us to a cliff. In the photo to the left, Mike tells us with humor, "This is the hard way down. Now, right over here, we have an easier route." This "easy" route took us straight down almost 200 elevation feet on loose rock and boulders. (There is an easier way down into a connecting wash if you go left out of the parking lot instead of right. Live and learn.)

 So, at the bottom of the "hill," we found a wash and dropped down into it. Soon, we did recognize the very old rutted paved road ramping up the hill. The area was extremely messy with dead brush. (The writer remembers this to be an open and clear part of the wash.) Anyway, we climbed the road up to the overlook area where some dam construction pieces still remain. Over the hill, we found the edge of Black Canyon's wall and could see part of the O'Callaghan / Tillman Bridge and the Colorado river.

                             Hiking Up an Old Road to the Bridge Overlook

                   The O'Callaghan / Tillman Bridge and the Colorado River

Walking up the edge, we also got a view right across from the mouth of Gold Strike Canyon seen in the photo to the left. The river water has risen back to normal levels since the beginning of November when officials had stopped letting water through the dam for a while. If you look closely, you can see the hot springs pouring out of the canyon and into the river.

 We completed our tour of the bridge overlook area noting some of the old rusted equipment such as the chain in the photo to the right used at the time of the dam building of the 1930's. We, then, hiked back down the rutted road and dropped back into the wash. We had to go up and around a rock obstacle then soon turned up to the left. (If we had kept going down the wash, we would have come upon a devilish dry fall.)

                                       The Ascent From the Wash

                              Hiking Overland From the Wash to the Spring

Next came a desert crossing going up and down steep slippery slopes. Although we knew "generally" where we were, we could not find the trail until we recognized a particular monolith of a rock. Here, there were cairns and we were able to drop to the hot spring filled wash below. The non-native tamarisk has overgrown the wash but we knew where we were so we felt our way down the wash and up to the Lone Palm overlook at the river.

 It was comforting to see the old place looking so natural ... except for the palm trees and the tamarisk. We ate our snack then most of us dropped down to the river's edge to circle around and see the beautiful waterfall made by the hot springs. All agreed that it was worth the little trip to go see it. While we were there, a large touring boat motored by.

                            View Downstream From Lone Palm Overlook

                         Break Area Above Tamarisk Filled Spring to Right

 After the break, we decided to continue our efforts at completing the hike in a counterclockwise direction. (Since we had always done the hike clockwise, this was another thing throwing us off.) But, we managed to get to the right washes and begin the correct way up and out. (Now, ... which way do we go? Must be the ridge up to the right because this wash has to have some nasty dry falls that we cannot surmount.)

 Well, the ridge worked, however, the writer sees from old trail maps that staying in the wash is what the old route would have told us to do. Anyway, after much scrambling and climbing on loose rock, we found the highway and proceeded to hike near the road all the way back to the cars. Again, the old trail map would have suggested to drop back into the wash nearby and complete the circle without having to hike over the desert.

Nevertheless, we all enjoyed the humor of the morning immensely! Next time will be better.

                                Hiking Out Via the Ridge on a Game Trail

                         The Last Half Mile Over Desert Next to Highway 93

                                      Purple Route Shows Today's Hike
             Blue Route Shows the Amendments Utilizing Previously Used Route

Razorback Wash South - 1/2/13

                              Razorback Wash Near Red Dirt Badlands

                                    Turn in Old Arrowhead Highway

 Jim Boone brought eight more club members with him to hike a new trail he developed recently called Razorback Wash South. Razorback Ridge is a sharp ridge that sits in the vicinity of Pinto Valley Wash and Northshore Peak. There are washes on either side of the ridge and, today, we explored the southwest side in a point-to-point hike beginning at a pullout from Northshore Road around mile marker 22 and ending at the familiar mile marker 18 pullout.

                                     View Eastward From High Point

                                    View Westward From High Point

The first 2.5 miles of the hike was easy going in a wide wash through the desert with an intermittent trail or old road marking the way. After this, we hit the high point of the hike which also coincides with the low point of Razorback Ridge. Looking forward, there was a beautiful view of color and a beckoning narrow wash below us. We dropped into the wash and began winding our way through the colors.

                                   Hiking Trail Next to Cryptobiotic Soil

                   Hiking Trail That Takes the Hiker to Right of High Dry Fall

 Soon, we came to a decision point and first, we checked out the left fork. Jim showed us the reason we would not be going in this direction for very far as we reached a very high dry fall. It was negotiable but not for the group of hikers we had today! We climbed up to our right and found a worn trail that took us next to some excellent crytobiotic soil and dropped us down to the wash on the right. (There was also a turnoff for dropping down to the bottom of the dry fall on the left.) From here, we entered a winding red dirt wash that could be described as badlands.

                               Climbing Out of Badlands to Next Wash

                                  Borax and Gypsum Decorate the Wash

 The badlands were fun to travel through with many twists and turns. There were patches of borax and gypsum along the way. We climbed out of one wash to enter another then took a snack break just before our trail junctioned with the old Arrowhead Highway at the Pinto Valley Wash. From here, it was just a matter of hiking out the old road and through Cottonwood Wash to Northshore Road where we had left a couple of cars. It was a very pleasant hike with many colors to fill the senses.

        Where Razorback Wash South Junctions With the Old Arrowhead Highway

                                Hiking Out Through Cottonwood Wash

Top of the World Arch - Valley of Fire - 1/1/13

                       Top of the World Arch at Valley of Fire State Park

                                           Valley of Fire Landscape

On the first day of every year, state parks around the nation give free entry to those who wish to take the offered guided hikes in the park. This was Valley of Fire's first time to participate in the program. Brian Dodd was one of the guides, today, as he took seven hikers (including four more members of AtBF) with him on a short but sweet climb to the Top of the World! Well, it is an arch located in the upper reaches of the park's sandstone and it is quite large.

 We began our hike from the first parking pullout on the left after Rainbow Vista off of the Scenic Drive of Valley of Fire State Park. Brian gave us his briefing and we began crossing the desert via a small wash. The first landmark was a rock that resembles a large salmon fish with open mouth. To our right, in the distance, the eye of a large arch on the summit of a sandstone peak, peered down at us. We rounded the salmon to the right and came to a steep but climbable sandstone wall. The eight of us leaned forward and surmounted the obstacle. The view from the top is seen in the two photos to the left above.

                                       A Large Unreachable Arch

                                   Three Amigas (Sherry, Dee, & Kay)

 After getting to the top of the wall, the climbing continued up to the left around to the right. Here, we stopped to wait for stragglers and took photos of ourselves in the beautiful scenery. After the photo shoot, we began a small uphill trudge through deep sand.

 From the sand, we happily stepped up to the sandstone ramp on the left of the dune. This third climb was fairly gentle and at the top, we saw the view in the photo to the right. You can almost see the arch on the peak in the distance, however, it is still hidden under the rock. We descended the hill in front of us and climbed the one in front of it to the right.

                                              Shadows and Colors

                                     Kay's Shadow on the Top of the Arch

 At the top of the next hill, we approached the arch which was long and high enough to walk under without ducking. There were three different ways to get to the top of the arch and we explored all of them. Some of us sat for a break and some of us wandered around for a few minutes while taking photos.

 On one end of the arch, there was a nice size tinaja. In the photo to the left, Sherry sits above the tinaja and the top of the arch can be seen beyond the rock at top left. The views of the park from this high point of the arch were very colorful.

We returned the same way we had come except for a small change at the end of the hike which was slightly more direct to the cars. The hike was only three miles and had 840 feet of elevation gain. In the cold morning air, we accomplished the hike in nearly three hours at a medium pace.

                                Descending the Steep Sandstone Rock

                                    Crossing the Colorful Sandstone