Black Mountain (Henderson) Loop - 1/24/16

Black Mountain (Henderson)

View from Ascent

View from Near Summit

Climbing Black Mountain

 After yesterday's difficult climb up to Fracture Ridge Peak, several hikers returned for the climb up Black Mountain next door. In total, there were eleven hikers who began at the Shadow Canyon trailhead parking and followed the asphalt up to the water retention basin. The group circled around to the back side of it then started up the first trail labeled "Black Mountain." This trail and others in the area are part of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

One of Few Flat Places

 After a bit of wind last night, the air over the city of Las Vegas was clear. Add the beautifully snow capped Spring Mountains and the view was the best it could be.

Snow Capped Spring Mountains from a Switchback

 There was very little wind until we reached the summit ridge so many of us removed their outer layers of clothing for the sunny climb.

Calico Hills in front of Spring Mountains

Blowing Past the Rest Stop

 The group separated into two smaller groups and the leading group climbed at a strong and fast pace. The following group climbed at a moderate steady pace. A few times, the front group waited for the back group to catch up. As the ascent continued, the terrain got steeper and steeper passing each shoulder of the ridge. The last climb before the summit was the steepest and brought us stair-stepping through the lava rocks. The trail was very clear until we reached this point. Here, we had a few choices in addition to the "real" trail.

Peak as Seen from about Half Way Up

 Also during the last climb, the wind kicked up and outer layers were donned again.

The Group Stayed Together (Wink, Wink)

Las Vegas Strip from near Summit

 The first thing you see as you make your final approach is the new flag on a real flag pole. Even this flag is already slightly tattered. It is almost always windy up on this ridge located southeast of Las Vegas. We sat inside the wind break made of rocks and felt the warm sun on our backs. We signed into the log book and had a snack. It was a good and satisfying climb. Our attention turned to the north ridge of the mountain. Today's plan was to explore a descent trail that was new to all of us.

New Flag Pole on Summit

 Since the trails in this area are well marked now, we noticed the marker starting off of the peak down the north ridge.

Eleven Hikers on Top

Trail Marker Indicating the Start Down The North Ridge

 The trail followed the ridge until the end where we began a very steep and rocky descent down to an approaching ridge for the mountain. This new ridge parallels the ridge we used for the ascent. Once we reached the ridge, we found a much better trail whereas before this, we had been following trail markers and cairns with very little actual trail. The trail appears old but it is only vaguely clear. Nevertheless, we were able to follow it down on a never-ending steepish slope.

Traversing the Ridge

We descended through the rock and loose dirt terrain. Concentration among the hikers was palpable.

Dropping Down to the Descent Ridge (Boulder City in Background)

 There were very very few flat places where we could rest our legs and corps.

Lots of Rock

Descending the Ridge

 Finally, the trail dropped down to cross a large wash then climbed back up near the water tanks. At this point, the trail became quite nice as we made our way over to the retention basin. The loop hike is hard on your body but so is the alternative descent down the trail we came up. Black Mountain is and always will be a bear!

7 miles; 2000 feet elevation gain; 4.25 hours

Still Descending

Still Descending

Finally Passing the Water Tanks

West Leg / East Leg Loop - 1/23/16

Bighorn Looking Out for His Family Nearby

West Leg Trail

West Leg Trail

Starting Up the West Leg Trail

 Today's dismal sky perked up a bit when twenty-five hikers showed up for a new leisurely route located in the Bootleg Canyon Bike Park in Boulder City, Nevada. When we arrived at the zipline base parking area, there weren't many spaces available due to early runners on the trails. But, we did find a place to park and soon the runners finished and were leaving. The park was busy today, however, we only had to step aside for two bikes and a group of three runners all morning.

West Leg Trail

 We hiked up the dirt road to the first trail junction and connected with the Mother Trail to the left. Quickly, we turned to the right onto the West Leg Trail.

West Leg Trail

Zigzagging the Steep Bike Hills

The West Leg climbs up a little to travel along a high contour of the colorful hills. Our pace was slow and steady. The group stayed together as the trail wound in and out of the canyons and arroyos. One of the hikers spotted movement up on one of the ridges and we felt privileged to see a small group of bighorns far above us. Pictures were taken and we watched for a couple of moments. When we moved on, we kept winding in, out and over.

The Male

 As we crested the next small hill, one hiker quietly said, "Look!" Not too far up (maybe 25 yds.) to our left was one of the bighorns. A male.

Females Chowing Down

 Finally, he moved on and just over another small hill, we saw what he was protecting. There were four more bighorns, females. They were very busy eating from the hillside and barely took note of us.

Most Watchful Female

Hiking the End of the West Leg

 We enjoyed our wildlife treat and finally continued along the trail. All along the West Leg, we could look across the canyon to the other side and see the East Leg Trail that we would use on the return. As we rounded the turn in the canyon, we started noticing truck after truck driving up the canyon. We knew they contained bikes and riders who start at the top of the mountain and ride down on the many downhill competitive trails. There is also a zipline that begins at the top and the company's bus also went by.

View of Bootleg Canyon From West Leg

 There is a nice view from the West Leg of Bootleg Canyon as the trail curves around.

Red Mountain on Other Side of Bootleg Canyon

 The West Leg ends at a junction where several trails are found. There is a tall trail sign located here but it doesn't name all the trails in this big junction area.

Resting on Little Rocky Peak of Outer Caldera Trail

Tall Sign Junction

 For our snack break, we turned up the Outer Caldera Trail here to climb a little rocky peak. It was a great place to seat 25 hikers. Afterwards, we came back down to the tall sign and dropped on down to the dirt road. We climbed the hill on the road about half way up then turned to our right onto the East Leg Trail. Our return had begun on this colorful, mostly red, contour of Red Mountain.

View of Three Trails from East Leg

 Across from us, we could see the little rocky peak that we used for our break. See above right.

Hiking the East Leg Trail

East Leg Trail

 The hike back on the East Leg was very pleasant on a generally down slope. We observed an incident with a lost dog that ended happily. We passed the newly painted downhill practice ramp and three crazy ways for bikers to descend down to the road. The end of the East Leg is rocky but we handled it well. Everyone seemed to enjoy this new short route.

4.3 miles; 600 feet elevation gain; 2.75 hours

Red Canyon on Red Mountain

Downhill Practice Ramps

Nearing the End of East Leg

Bird Spring Range South - 1/21/16

Las Vegas from Bird Spring Cliffs

Las Vegas

Wild Horses (center) below Mt. Potosi

Starting Up the Techno Trail

 The Bird Spring Formation, found in Clark County, Nevada, preserves fossils dating back to the Carboniferous and Permian periods. (350 to 300 million years ago) Coal beds were being formed during these periods and life was evidenced by amphibians, reptiles, and anthropods (invertebrates). Beds of limestone and dolomite separated by shale and sandstone lie beneath the Bird Spring Range of today. It extends from Goodsprings on the south side up to Indian Springs on the north side. Mt. Charleston and Spring Valley (in Las Vegas) border the range on the west and east sides respectively.

View to Calico Hills from Techno Trail

 The section of the Bird Spring Range lying between Goodsprings and Highway 160 is an excellent place to explore and find fossils among the chert.

Bird Spring Peak behind Hikers on Techno Trail

 Today's seventeen hikers began the popular route at the trailhead located off of the Cottonwood Valley Road, a dirt road that turns south off of Highway 160 before the climb up to Mountain Springs Summit to the west.

Leaving Badger Pass

Climbing Bird Spring Peak

 The dirt road down to the trailhead turnoff to the left appeared to have been recently graded and it was in good condition. We connected with the Techno Trail and climbed up into the hills. There were 360 degree views of the Red Rock escarpment, the Calico Hills, Mt. Potosi and, eventually, Las Vegas. The area feels very open. Soon, we dropped down to a saddle called Badger Pass. After a brief rest, we started up an incomplete trail that leads up the peak to our left. When we ran out of trail, we just kept climbing along the wide ridge passing desert flora and limestone / dolomite rock occasionally  covered with chert.

Fossils on Peak Shoulder

 About midway up the ridge to the peak, we stopped on a shoulder to find a few excellent examples of anthropod fossils.

Las Vegas to Frenchman Mountain to Virgin Peak

 A great view of Las Vegas opened up to our left as we completed the climb up to Bird Spring Peak.

Bird Spring Cliffs

Mt. Potosi Beyond

 At the peak, we rested again. The cliffs of the Bird Spring Formation had appeared in front of us. A snow dusted Mt. Potosi rose majestically to the right and the valley floor dropped precipitously to our left. From here, we began a hike along the edge of the cliffs looking for fossils as we went. Fossils have stiff competition for "most exciting" when you peer down to the valley below. We found a few fossils but the exposure kept most of our attention!

View Back along Cliffs

 There is a faint trail that takes hikers along the edge of the ridge.

Red Rock Escarpment in Distance

 Las Vegas receded behind us. When we neared the end of the immediate ridge, the front hikers saw some mule deer running away on the ridge.

Hiking along Bird Spring Cliffs

Drop Down to Saddle Reveals Four Wild Horses

 We were expecting to see the deer down on the dirt road saddle junction as we reached the descent down the ridge. Instead, we saw four wild horses below. They were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. It is unusual to see the wild horses in this neck of the woods ... er, ... desert. They were beautiful. It appeared that, perhaps, the stallion was the dark colored one and his herd were all light in color. The stallion led the herd down the hill out of danger's way and he watched us closely while we hiked across the saddle, had our snack break and continued on our way along the ridge.

They ran but not far.

 We had our snack break on the ridge where there is a geocache located.

Steep Drop to Saddle and Dirt Road

 The wind was light but very cold. Otherwise, the temperature was decent. ... Especially after we left the saddle area.

Snack Stop

Climbing Again along Cliffs

 From the saddle, we continued along the ridge climbing up to the next peak. Someone has placed a log book container on this peak that they named Cottonwood Peak. We signed in. This high point is near to exactly the same as the Bird Spring Peak elevation. Depending on exactly where you stand on the peak. In the distance in front of us, we could see the small town of Goodsprings, NV. This little town is the gateway to the dirt roads on the south side of Mt. Potosi. It is also where Clark Gable spent weeks drowning in his beer while search crews were working on the plane crash that killed Carole Lombard, his wife, on Mt. Potosi.

Arriving on Cottonwood Peak (Goodsprings in Distance)

 We turned to our right and began a long sloping descent down to the valley floor.

Gentle Drop to Valley Below

 At the bottom of the hill, we came to a trail lying perpendicular to our route. We turned right on this trail.

Deadhorse Trail in Red Valley

Hiking through Red Valley

 This trail soon became the Deadhorse Loop Trail as we intersected the Cottonwood Valley Road. The trail dove down and took us the length of Red Valley. Near the end of the valley, we saw evidence of the 2005 fire. We passed the agave roasting pit that is becoming overgrown with desert foliage. We passed the junction with the Badger Pass Trail. Then we saw our cars waiting at the trailhead. This is a nice hike with a different sort of terrain and very different views compared to other parts of Red Rock Canyon NCA.

7 miles; 1550 feet elevation gain; 3.75 hours

Deadhorse Trail

Overgrown Agave Roasting Pit

Trailhead in Sight with La Madre Peak in Distance