Lone Grapevine Spring - 2/21/14

Mojave Yucca in Cottonwood Valley

Mike Presents a Boulder Filled with Petroglyphs

 What a fantastic day! Twenty-eight hikers must have agreed as they came out for a hike to Lone Grapevine Spring in Cottonwood Valley. The valley is located at the base of the Red Rock Canyon NCA escarpment between highways 159 and 160. We started our hike, a 5 mile partial loop with minimal elevation gain, at the Late Night Trailhead on Highway 160. Cottonwood Valley is covered with bicycle trails and most of our hike followed a few of these trails.

Hiking Toward the Escarpment

Conglomerate Rock and Cactus near a Protected Spring

 We started out by heading toward the highway and hiking parallel to it for a short distance. From there, we began hiking toward the canyon that lies between Hollow Rock Peak (the peak with the little knob on top) and Windy Peak (recognized by the two "stripes" of green brush on the left side of the slope) of the escarpment. There is a spring at the base of Windy Peak that is surrounded by a wooden fence that serves to protect the integrity of the water for the wildlife.

Hiking Over to the Next Spring

Brand New Spring Fed Water Trough

 After taking our time to observe this beautiful spring area, we hiked north toward another spring area. Here, they have just replaced the spring fed water trough with a shiny new one. We climbed the hill behind the trough and began seeing a large area of ancient and more modern petroglyphs. The collages below were made a couple of years ago after doing an extensive photographic search throughout the small area.

Collage Created in 2011

Collage Created in 2011

 We sat among the petroglyphs and ate a morning snack. It could not have been a more pleasant day. There were not many hikers exploring around the boulders but the history of the area was soaked in while we sat. Not only was this area used by the native people who lived here but it was also touched by the Spanish Trail of the early 20th century. Afterwards, we began our trek back to the cars utilizing a couple of different trails.

Collage Created in 2011

View Across Cottonwood Valley

Gunsight Notch Peak Adventure - 2/17/14

Mother Bighorn Soon to Give Birth

 On Monday of this week, a group of eleven hikers gathered to hike to either Terrace Canyon or Gunsight Notch Peak, whichever they felt was possible when they reached the turnoff to the peak. When they had hiked the scramble almost all the way to Terrace Canyon, six hikers looked at the steep wall to the left and decided it looked doable. Photos of the steep climb going up and coming back down are in this entry.  The guys also posed for a summit photo on top.

Word is that the worst exposure of this hike came in the canyon. (You know that rock that you have to squeeze by about ten feet above the ground on the way to Terrace Canyon?)

Gunsight Notch Peak Summit Photo

 During the hike, they came upon a female bighorn sheep who appeared to be very pregnant. In fact, she was so pregnant that she chose to stay right where she was when the hikers came by. The hikers were careful not to disturb her because she could possibly give birth any minute! Although she kept her eyes on the strange intruders, she seemed to feel safe enough.

Stats for the hike: 8 miles; 2150 feet of elevation gain; 6 hours. This includes a ... ahem ... detour near the beginning of the hike. GPS track is unavailable.

She Decided to Stay Put

Blue Point Springs Redstone Loop - 2/17/14

Redstone Arch

Blue Point Springs to Valley of Fire Red Rock

Starting Out at the Springs Area

 It was a long but beautiful drive up Northshore Road, this morning, for twenty-four hikers of the Around the Bend Friends. We didn't stop until we reached mile marker 41 (or so) at Blue Point Springs. The area was marked by several palm trees along the small stream. We started our morning by hiking up the stream and crossing over it. We continued up the hill next to the stream until we connected with a game trail that was clearer than any other around. There are burros and bighorns in the area that use these trails regularly.

Blue Point Springs

Hiking a Burro / Bighorn Trail Toward the Redstone

Hiking the Trail Through the Washes

 We followed the good trail that led toward red rock in the distance. Every time we had to cross a wash, the trail led us down and up in a mostly gentle fashion. Our first meeting with the redstone gave us the first arch photo of the entry. It was a stately arch through which you could see a sliver of Lake Mead. We all had cameras and we all got our photos! Moving on, we passed one of the largest pack rat nests ever! Yep. Plenty of burro poop to build with, I suppose. At this point, we had all warmed up to the fun that our imaginations could create.

A Very Large Pack Rat Nest

Exploring One of Many Cave Shelters

Hiking Through the Redstone

 The next grouping of redstone had a nice stand-alone triangular arch through which you could see Virgin Peak. Again, we all got our photos. From here, we began meandering around the area where there were many arches, caves, tunnels and "what not." They all needed to be photographed! We hiked carefully over the rocky sand going up a little and down a little continuously.

Virgin Peak Arch

Hiking Among the Many Arches of the Area

Posing in an Arch

 When we finished our little circle among the many arches, we climbed up to the high point and had our break. It was a very warm February day and we were ready for some refreshments. While we took our break, one hiker injured her ankle. We helped her wrap it up, then she and three others began their slow hike back to the cars. The remaining hikers continued their tour of the redstone.

Coffee Kettle Arch

Redstone Landscape

Valley of Fire Wash

 Chuck took us down a wash and out to a plateau where we overlooked a huge wash emanating from Valley of Fire. This was the main wash in the state park. We turned around and hiked down and up and down some more. Shade was becoming valuable and we used it to our advantage.

Down Climb

Up Climb

Exploring the Crevice

 We passed several really cool rock formations. A two-toned column and the window wall come to mind. We also found a large elephant arch. Two hikers climbed up on top of it to try to appear as if they were riding the elephant. We also found a bighorn skeleton ... He was a BIG one! There was also a wall that appeared as if it was a frozen ocean wave.

Interesting Column

Elephant Arch

Small Tortoise Shell

 Nearing the end of our loop, we started back in the direction of the cars. There were many washes to cross through so the best thing to do was to go back up to the trail that we used to get to the redstone in the beginning. We found it and proceeded back to the springs area.


5.5 miles; 750 feet elevation gain; 4.5 hours

Large Male Bighorn Skeleton

Starting Back Toward the Springs and the Cars

Jean's Canyon & Redstone - 2/15/14

Part of the Old Arrowhead Highway

Exquisite Petroglyphs in Redstone

Jean's Canyon is named for a hiker that loved this throughway into Pinto Valley. The trailhead for the canyon is the large "Call Box" parking area near mile marker 25 on Northshore Road. Today, twelve hikers parked here, crossed the road and dropped down into beautiful Jean's Canyon to hike its length to junction with the old Arrowhead Highway. The canyon began very innocent with a nice gentle winding hike through a small wash of red dirt and rocks.

Soon, the canyon rose up over a few moenkopi layer slides and the terrain started added colors of gold and gray. The small range to the left of the canyon rose tall above us as we neared the saddle of the wash. In this area, we saw several bear paw poppies growing in the sandy dirt. They are already producing flower pods among their hairy leaves. Nearby plants were also beginning their flowering phase.

Climbing Through Jean's Canyon

A Few of the Smaller Points of Interest

After we crested the saddle, we began down-climbing a series of dry falls. Most of these falls were negotiable with just a little effort. It was at this time that Chuck noticed a group of four male bighorns up on the ridge to the left. They kind of looked at us like we were from Mars! Then they quickly climbed up to the top of the range. They stood there feeling very safe and watching us until we were out of their sight.

"Oh, look! People!"

We also kept looking back up at them to see if they were still there. Their silhouette at the top of the hill was unmistakable. When we were both out of sight, we continued our descent through the other end of Jean's Canyon passing several dry falls until we reached an especially high pour-over that we had to go up and around. We went up a small trail to the left of the wash, climbed over a small high point, then began a slip and slide descent down into the wash beyond. This took a few minutes!

Watching Eyes

Slip and Slide Descent

Soon, we were out of the canyon and junctioning perpendicularly with another wash which was the remnants of the old Arrowhead Highway. This was a single lane road that took adventurous travelers living between 1914 and 1924 from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City via Las Vegas. For an inside look at the old road, go to the following link: http://www.americanroads.us/articles/Motor_Age_1917_1_25_102.html After a small break, we turned left onto the old road and followed it for around 0.7 miles. At this point, we curved off to the right and headed for the red rock in the near distance.

Heading Toward Redstone

Exploring

On approach to the Redstone area, we immediately began looking for petroglyphs and interesting places to explore. The first point of interest turned out to be the skeleton of a bighorn sheep. He was a big one! Next, we climbed up a chute and dropped down the other side past an arch that required photos. At this point, the hungry group decided we needed a snack break so we settled into a large rock cove where a vast view of Pinto Valley could be seen from the exit.

Pinto Valley from Redstone

Getting Our Bearings

After our break, we continued our explorations of the area. Almost immediately, we spotted a small panel of petroglyphs. These appeared to be very old and not sophisticated. Nevertheless, it is always very exciting to see these writings that give us a tiny window into the lives of the ancient peoples that lived here before us.

Maria, the Birthday Girl!

Some of the Redstone Petroglyphs

We climbed up, down, up, down and around then finally came to an area where there were three other panels of petroglyphs. These panels were perfectly preserved and exquisite in nature. Some of the writings were unusual to us. It would really be interesting to know what they all meant.

Hiking Through a Narrow Crack

As we explored the Redstone area, we found very many arches, a couple of slots to hike between and a fantastic rabbit hole to slither through. The rabbit hole was so small that we all had to take off our pack to get through it! Maria, our birthday girl, enjoyed getting videos of the hikers as they came through the other end. She called it their "rebirth!"

Twelve Hikers Through a Small Rabbit Hole

Pinto Valley from Redstone

At the end of our Redstone explorations, we took another snack break at the same cove where we had taken our break before. We had come full circle. From there, we headed out to the top of a nearby ridge and dropped into a wash that would take us in the direction of our cars. On the way out of this wash, we passed by another great petroglyph panel.

Finally out of the wash, we could see the mountain just behind our parking area about a half mile away. We made a beeline toward the road easily walking a flat ridgeline. We crossed the Arrowhead Hwy then connected onto an old 2 track road. This road led us all the way gently to Northshore Road where we turned left and hiked a third of a mile to our cars.

7.5 miles; 1500 feet elevation gain; 6 hours

Leaving Redstone to Return to the Cars

Hiking Out an Old Two Track Road