Bristlecone Trail - 6/20/09

According to Wikipedia, "The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees (Pinaceae Pinus Balfournianae) that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5000 years."

Thirty-one hikers walked among some of those beautiful trees on the Bristlecone Trail found at the end of Lee Canyon Road just past the ski area. As one of the most pleasant trails in the Spring Mountains, it winds its way around through young and old bristlecone pines, limestone, aspens and wildflowers for an out-n-back length of 5 miles. The most elevation gain that one experiences on this trail is around 750 feet. The climb is gradual with a small descent as we reached the turnaround point at the junction with the Bonanza Trail.

For those wishing to make this a loop hike, the Bristlecone Trail continues at this point on a sun-washed fire road which descends around to the Lee Canyon Road at a lower point. From there, the hiker is left with a climb on the paved road to return to their car. It is normal for the Around the Bend Friends to do this hike on a Saturday using only the most user-friendly part of the trail!

The small peak of South Sister sits perky and proudly in view throughout most of the hike. At the junction with Bonanza Trail, a view of the backside of Mt. Charleston reigns in the opposite direction.

Many wildflowers graced the hillsides. Indian Paintbrush, Yellow Monkey Flowers, Periwinkle, white bouquets of something like Baby's Breath, Desert Sage and Firecracker Penstemons.

At the turnaround point, we sat for a snack and conver- sation. Many people had their cameras out in search of that great shot! The weather was quite cold when the wind kicked up but, for the most part, the sun won out with mild warmth as we watched the clouds zoom by above the ridge lines.

The hike back was quiet. Everyone seemed happy with their outing and simply wanted to enjoy the peace- fulness of the surrounding scene. The air was fresh with a slight perfume of pine floating about. The aspens fluttered in the breeze.

Raintree - 6/18/09

The Raintree Trail is a beautiful walk through old bristlecone pine trees. The Raintree, itself, is a 3000 year old bristlecone situated on the North Loop Trail which eventually leads to the summit of Mt. Charleston. To hike to the old tree involves 2.9 miles with an elevation gain of 1500 feet then a descent of around 100 feet. The return that we took today went down via the Wild Horse Canyon Trail which may have cut off almost three quarters of a mile compared to descending the North Loop Trail to the parking lot.

There were nine hikers which began the outing. We climbed fairly steeply approxi- mately 850 feet to arrive at "The Meadow" where there was a small family camping. Probably not a very private place to camp! We took a small break there while taking pictures of the gorgeous surroundings. Mummy's Chin lorded over the meadow and, in the corner, there was an old bristlecone pointing the way.

Scattered heavily throughout the meadow were small clumps of wildflowers such as the ones to the left. Yellow Monkey Flowers, perhaps? Two hikers cut the hike short by taking the Wild Horse Loop, found just past the old tree, on the ascent. Then there were seven. We began the real climb, at this point, switchbacking our way up to the ridge.

At the top of the ridge, we took a sharp hairpin turn to the right and were faced with this tremendous view of Mummy's Toe among the old bristlecone forest that crowns the ridge. From this point, the cliff faced mountain and the twisting old trees seemed to show off their beauty from every angle. This blogger fell behind as she tried to capture the scene in the lens.


At the hairpin turn, we were over 10,000 feet in elevation. It was the highest point of the hike. We started a short gradual descent through the old forest and arrived soon at the Raintree. Why is it called the Raintree? That's a good question. Perhaps this question was addressed when the reporter fell behind. And, perhaps someone would care to explain in a comment below. At any rate, the tree appeared extremely substantial and there wasn't much question how it survived all of this time with the protection of the nearby cliff face and the flat saddle on which it planted itself.

We sat at the base of the tree for snacks and discussion. The air was very cold up there in the 10,000 foot range. One hiker carried a thermometer and it read 45 degrees F. Brrr! We didn't linger long as those black clouds were hovering again so we began our descent ... which began upward and around the hairpin ... then downward!

When we reached "The Meadow" again, we took a left turn onto the Wild Horse Canyon Trail in order to sweep behind the two hikers that had gone down that trail earlier. We were pleased to be met by a nice small wooded and soft-earthed trail which lead steeply down into a small canyon. A small amount of water came from a spring and fed the plants (maybe lilies or irises) shown in the picture below.

Raintree is an excellent aerobic hike!

Mary Jane Falls - 6/13/09

Thirty-five hikers showed up today to hike to Mary Jane Falls.

The large group headed up the trail despite predictions of rain that never material- ized. There was a steady climb for about a mile and a quarter. Then the switchbacks began. The group had decided to spread out so that each hiker could hike at their own pace so the switchbacks became filled with friends.

The Mary Jane Falls trail is just over three miles up and back with around 900 feet of vertical gain. The trailhead is found off of Echo Road which leads off of Kyle Canyon Road. It is a very popular trail among Las Vegans but there is a large parking lot which was filled past capacity when we returned to the car 2.5 hours later. The trail is wooded and well-maintained with many erosion nets laid out on the hillside.


After several switch- backs, the trail leads up a series of man-made rock steps. These stairs can be a challenge since they appear at the end of the climb. Even though this trail is relatively short, it does present a good aerobic workout requiring a steady pace upward. Along the trail the pines were producing red berries.

Arriving at the top, we found a small glacier of snow ice which was slowly melting creating snow tunnels underneath the formation. The rounded glacier, itself, was approximately twelve feet square. Jim had to do it! Really ... who can resist the temptation of posing inside a glacier tunnel in Las Vegas in June??

Above us and all around, the water of Mary Jane Falls was sliding down and over the large U-shaped rock wall. There were three or four paths that the water was taking as it fell over the cliff which was maybe 50 feet high. The wet and dry wall surrounding us was filled with decorative colors and textures; ripe for natural pop-art.

From here, many of us took the small trek over to the cave which is located on around the wall to the right. From the mouth of the cave, there is a nice view of Kyle Canyon from which we hiked. Jim, again, was pleased to pose for the camera to balance out the view as the photog sat just inside the cave. We chose this great spot for a snack and a rest.

Looking back to our left, you could see the waterfall area which reminded us of an amphitheater. Several hikers had stayed there to take in the views and listen to the sounds of the water coming over the cliff. Also from the cave, you can see parts of the trail so we sat and watched some of the hikers finish the climb. It took about thirty minutes for the last hiker to reach the falls after the first hiker had arrived. We sat and enjoyed for quite a while and then eventually everyone was ready to return to the real world.

Below is a view from the falls towards the cave. Note the snow still hanging from nearby mountains in the distance.

Try to ignore the wild bounces of the GPS waypoints and find the route we took up to the falls with the help of Google Earth.

Stanley B / Fletcher Canyon - 6/11/09

What a great bunch of hikers, huh? There were thirteen of us today hiking up the Stanley B Trail all the way to the top of the ridge, crossing over and dropping down into Fletcher Canyon through Obstacle Rock and out. We parked at the Fletcher Canyon parking area, hiked up the road to Stanley B and came out at the Fletcher Canyon trailhead. The hike was a little less than six miles with an elevation gain of around 1400 feet. Due to the difficulty of the terrain, the hike took us about 4.5 hours. It might would have taken longer but the dark clouds above us kept us going.

On the way up to the ridge, we passed by the three entrances to the old lead mine. A spring comes out of the first one which is pictured to the right. After viewing the mine entrance, we headed on up the wash which became more and more steep and a little brushy. We followed the wash as long as we could then we had to head straight up the steep hill to the right covered with loose rock. The going was tough here but ... as you can see below ... the tough kept going.


At the top of the ridge, we had this view of Mummy's Toe with Fletcher Canyon descending below. The dark clouds above presented an ominous warning that we were in rain country and hiking down through Fletcher Canyon in the rain was not our first choice for a morning out. We decided to forego the snack break for after we got down past Obstacle Rock. So, down we went.

The first part of the descent was a steep slippery hike down a wash, climbing over rotting logs and stepping down rocks and gravel among the trees. The most fun part of this section was this tree we had to negotiate shown to the left. After crossing the terrain in a couple of places working our way to the left, we found the stream the flowed into Fletcher Canyon proper. At that point, we began crossing the stream over and over again while listening to the beautiful sounds of a good bit of running water.

We reached a high dry waterfall and had to hike around it to get to the bottom. It was then that the scenery exploded with interesting canyon formations. You could see where the water had smoothed out a high rock wall. There were two slot canyons, one of which had a tall ponderosa pine growing seemingly out of the rock next to it. (Did you know that a ponderosa pine smells like vanilla or butterscotch? Try it!)


The picture above shows one of the slot canyons and the picture to the left shows the waterfall inside the small slot that had the pine growing above. This blogger wanted to spend the next hour taking pictures but the train was leaving. (And, oh yeah, a little bit of camera trouble prevented pictures of the large slot canyon which leads the hiker gracefully to the top of Obstacle Rock.) One by one, all thirteen of us climbed down through the rabbithole created by what we call Obstacle Rock. The hole slides down between the canyon wall and a huge boulder which tends to move a little some years with the snow melt. Because of so many people sliding through the hole, the surrounding rock has become very smooth and slippery.

We slid through the hole, crouched through the opening then stepped down a log ladder which is also very slippery from excessive use. But there are not a lot of obstacles that thirteen people cannot conquer when they help each other. After all thirteen of us appeared on the other side, we finally sat for a snack break and some conversation.

Two more miles and we were back at the cars. Not a single drop of rain was reported. Below, you can see the route we took.

Cathedral Rock - 6/6/09

There were twenty-eight hikers at the Cathedral Rock trailhead this morning waiting to begin the hike up to the top of the rock where the views were sure to please. The weather was a very cool 45 degrees and the rain clouds ominously hovered while shedding a few sprinkles on the car as we travelled into the Spring Mountains. We were cautiously optimistic that the rain would not climb into Kyle Canyon while we were hiking on the three mile up and back hike that ascended 1000 feet in elevation. Optimism won out and the sun warmed us off and on throughout the hike.

After hiking through the halls of aspen trees which are growing quite well five years after the big avalanche of 2004 (I think), we came to a short trail leading off to the left. Several hikers took the trail to see a nice waterfall with a decent amount of water falling in two segments. Word had it that the waterfall had even more water one short week ago but today, it was still a beautiful sight. After climbing up to the bottom of the first segment of falls, the hiker could see that there was not a pool between the falls. The water fell onto small rocks and travelled ten feet to the brink of the second segment. The picture below shows the upper falls.



Blue lupin grew along the trail and were in full bloom. There were also a few Indian Paintbrush plants in bloom as well. Also in the area of the Spring Mountains, the globemallow is blooming but the cliffrose is past its prime.



In the upper regions of the trail, there was a clear view of the snow still left on the slopes above. This is a picture of the beginning of the avalanche path. The snow came crashing down from the top, barrelling over all the aspen trees below. All the way down the mountain, there remained a mess of broken trees and landscape trash when this blogger first came upon the Mt. Charleston scene. Now, the trees appear as a carpet of bright green below this viewpoint.

When we arrived at the top of Cathedral Rock, we rested while taking in the views of Mt. Charleston summit to the left and the mouth of Kyle Canyon to the right. Below us, we could see our cars in the parking lot and the communities of Rainbow and Mt. Charleston. At this point, the clouds had moved away from our area and the sun provided a crystal clear view.

Fletcher Canyon (In the Rain) - 5/30/09

"Neither rain, snow, sleet or hail can deter the Around the Bend Friends Hiking Club from accomplishing their mission." The quote is from Chris after a very cold soaking morning in Fletcher Canyon.

Twenty
-seven hikers started out on a hike to the canyon and the weather seemed like it would hold up for a while. We got about halfway to Obstacle Rock and the rain started with pea-sized hail and a steady sprinkle. When the thunder began rumbling through the surrounding mountains, most of the hikers decided to turn back to the safety and dryness of the cars. Five hikers that had come prepared with rain gear continued on, anxious to see the beautiful slot canyon under different conditions.

A surprised hiker peers out from under his trusty unbrella showing some of the hail that had been falling.

The five of us that continued up to Obstacle Rock were treated to beautiful colors in the limestone walls, shiny rain-soaked rocks strewn about and a small amount of water in the wash. The plant life in the canyon was an emerald green as they basked in the nutrient filled raindrops.


When we made it to Obstacle Rock, we were rewarded with this scene of water coming down the rock trough amid waterlogged canyon walls. The rain let up for a few minutes after we started our hike out. The thunder was still rumbling but we rarely saw any flashes of lightening. It sounded like the thunder was about 4 miles away. The hail started again with an increased fury and we increased our speed. Approximately 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the parking lot, a downpour ensued. The five of us began half running and half race-walking to the finish line. This blogger's hands and fingers were frozen as the gloves hung off the back of her pack. Finally, we reached the cars where we practically threw ourselves inside! Another magnificent hike in the Spring Mountains!

The hike to Obstacle Rock in Fletcher Canyon and back is about 3.8 miles with a minimal 500-600 feet of elevation gain.