Colorful Canyon - 1/24/12

View from the top rim rocks of Colorful Canyon.

On this windy morning of January, seventeen hikers set off from Mile Marker 20 on Northshore Road in the Lake Mead NRA for a hike to a colorful canyon area approximately four miles from the parking area. Utilizing the trail that we have taken before to the North Bowl of Fire, we headed on up the hill.

The trail took us up then down a slippery slope. A wash was next and then we dead ended into the Callville Road which we followed for a short distance. We turned right into a wash and soon exited the North Bowl of Fire route by continuing in the wash.

About two miles into the hike, we came upon the famous "camel tracks" of Lake Mead. Through short research, we learn that the tracks may be from the prehistoric animal called the camelops whose fossils have been located, in particular, in Mesa, Arizona. Wikipedia tells us the following:

Camelops first appeared during the Late Pliocene period and became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. Its extinction was part of a larger North American die-off in which native horses, camelids and mastodons also died out. This megafaunal extinction coincided roughly with the appearance of the big game hunting Clovis culture, and biochemical analyses have shown that Clovis tools were used in butchering camels.[1]

Because soft tissues are generally not preserved in the fossil record, it is not certain if Camelops possessed a hump, like modern camels, or lacked one, like its modern llama relatives. Camelops hesternus was seven feet (slightly over two meters) at the shoulder, making it slightly taller than modern Bactrian camels. Plant remains found in its teeth exhibit little grass, suggesting that the camel was an opportunistic herbivore; that is, it ate any plants that were available, as do modern camels.

Continuing through the wash and over the desert terrain, we passed an empty tortoise shell about one foot in diameter. In the distance, we saw the rim rocks of the colorful canyon that we were looking for. Dropping down into the wash, we circled through the canyon filled with yellow and orange hues then part of the group decided to climb up to the conglomerate rim rocks to take our snack break on the cliff side. As we ate, we took in a fabulous view and tried not to slip down the steep slope.

The climb down from the rim turned out to be a highlight as well. Easy does it! Joining the rest of the hikers at the bottom, we continued up the wash through a large gypsum vein. We passed another large vein of yellow rock then began crossing desert terrain again.

Junctioning with yet another wash with a few dry falls, the group separated yet again. Seven hikers took a more difficult route up and over the ridge to reach the cars. The remaining ten hikers continued up this wash and junctioned with the trail we had started out on earlier, only around half a mile up from the cars. Both groups arrived at the parking lot after 7.5 total miles at about the same time. An interesting and enjoyable day in a colorful part of the desert!

Valley of Fire North / South Traverse - 1/19/12

Brian D., the king of Valley of Fire State Park, did it again! What a fan- tabulous hike that he showed us today! Six miles of serious scrambling and endless beauty, steep ups and steep downs, red rock, white rock and striped rock ... and queue the bighorn sheep on the high sandstone wall!

To begin the point to point hike, we drove to the end of the scenic drive that runs through the park. As we climbed up past the Visitor's Center, we passed by a movie or TV set where they were filming with the dramatic backdrop of the high sandstone wall. A nice looking man with a million dollar smile peered into our vehicles. Too bad we had no idea who he was! Anyway, we began our hike at the White Domes Trailhead.

The warm- up for the hike was the last third of the Slot Canyons hike that we did last year but, instead of turning left to see the killer view near the end, we continued straight. This direction took us into another narrower slot and out the other side.

We wound our way around, through and up and over sandstone until we reached a particularly beautiful view seen in the second photo and the photo above. This was definitely a great substitute for the view that we missed earlier. From here on, the hike began showing its stuff. Colors and difficulty!

After watching a single female bighorn sheep dance around on the steep sandstone wall to our left, Brian announced that he hoped we had studied the sheep's movements carefully! Yep, we were next and up the sandstone wall we went. The wall was definitely a highlight of the hike. It's steepness dazzled us with a challenge for our vibram shoe soles.

At the top of the wall, a labyrinth of sandstone met us with brief confusion. No worries. A dependable GPS reminds the way so onward and upward we travelled.

There was only one spot where a rope came out of Brian's pack. It was just a small step up but the hand holds were scarce and the five women of the twelve member herd of hikers, needed just a small assistance.

The next section of the hike included two separate plateaus. They were both similar in elevation and both were climbed and descended with much the same level of difficulty. The second plateau's descent was longer than the first and very very tricky. We were all relieved to reach the bottom in one piece.

At the end of the descent, Brian alluded to the fact that there might be one more bit of a challenge still to come. We crossed another half mile of relatively easy desert terrain and came to the "edge." We had reached the drop off of the Valley of Fire plateau where we could see the park approach highway far below us. The steep descent was a commonly used thoroughfare for hikers coming out of the park in this direction. Down we went!

The steepness was cushioned by many solidly placed rocks and boulders. There was also a well- travelled trail that we followed. Safe at the bottom, we began crossing the desert to the Visitor's Center that we could see in the distance. The filming crew was gone and park visitors roamed about as we waited for the car drivers to return with our rides. Strenuous, yes! Worth the effort, YES!

                                Brian Dodd's Valley of Fire Hikes (Nov. 2012)

Fortification Hill - 1/17/12

This Tuesday's hike was a short steep climb up Fortification Hill. To get to the trailhead, take the Kingman Wash Access Road to the north until you reach the beach area. Then take the wash that turns sharply to the right. The report of this hike was offered by Larry D. and the photos (from the peak through the descent) were contributed by Richard J. Thanks guys.

Fourteen ABF hikers drove to Kingman Wash, on the Arizona side of the O'Callaghan- Tillman Bridge, today to hike up to the summit of Fortification Hill. The weather was great -- sunny, clear, very little wind, and temperatures in the mid-40s. We started from the trailhead about 8:50 AM. The main group took the traditional ridge route from the Kingman Wash Trailhead to the base of the lava cliff. A second group came up one of the secondary washes west of the ridge and, eventually, connected with the ridge-top route near the cliff. The ascent from the trailhead to the base of the cliff is steep -- about 1,000 feet in a mile -- but all YDS Class II.

We ascended the lava cliff to the mesa atop Fortification Hill -- maybe a hundred feet of vertical gain and some easy Class III scrambling -- and hiked across the relatively flat mesa the remaining mile or so to the summit.

After a snack break at the top, the ritual signing of the register, and several summit group photos, we headed down. The group again split up, the main group this time taking the secondary drainage down, while the other group followed the ridge-top trail.

All told, we covered about four and a half miles and booked a cumulative elevation gain of about 1,750 feet. We arrived back at the cars about noon.