Bridge Mountain - 3/21/17

Fern Canyon Overlook (Bridge Mountain in Background)

Descending the Bench

Starting the Final Climb in the Crack & on the Beehive

The Bridge

   While club members at the other end of the spectrum were hiking slowly among easy washes and trails below in the Calico Hills, more accomplished club members were climbing around in the northern peaks of the Red Rock Canyon NCA escarpment. Mike sent these photos and narrative for us.

   Seven scantily clad trekkers exited the cars at the top of Rocky Gap Road.

Make that ‘inadequately clothed’ trekkers, as Ol' Man Winter had not yet vacated the Red Rocks.

    Patches of snow dappled the surrounding mountainside. Darkening skies and plummeting temps chilled us to the bone. Katabatic winds threatened to blow us off the face of the mountain. What else might Bridge Mountain throw at us on this first full day of spring?

    Fortunately, nothing. ~ MOC

Vitals: 6.6 miles, 2900’, 4.75 hours

 

Summit Photo (Inside the Cubby out of the Wind)

Passing Hidden Forest on the Descent

Using the Top of the Bridge for the Descent

Lower Showgirl (3 mi) O&B - 3/18/17

Charleston Peak from Lower Showgirl Trail

Lower Showgirl Trail & Charleston Peak

First Half Mile of Upper Showgirl Trail Today

Hiking Up the Trail

 Our intention for today's hike was to do the AtBF Canyon Loop. Perhaps it was a bit ambitious. We drove up to the Juniper Trailhead near Deer Creek Road and perused the landscape. Snow thickly patched the hillsides and was still covering the bottom of the washes. We hiked down the Upper Showgirl Trail for a half mile and saw that snow still covered the trail more times than not. We surmised that the canyon would still be impassable anyway. So, we returned to the car at the trailhead and drove down Kyle Canyon Road to the Lower Showgirl Trailhead. No snow here.

Desert to Mountains

 Admittedly, this trail is not as "fun" as the snow-covered trail we just left, however, the beauty of the mountains made up for that.

Trail passes Large Joshua Tree

 As the moon slipped behind the South Loop ridge, we crossed through the underpass and started hiking up the trail out of the wash.

Blooming Manzanitas

Crossing the Forest Road

 The Lower Showgirl Trail is located in the upper elevations of the Upper Sonoran Life Zone. This indicates from the 5500' to 6500' in elevation. It is a zone where the Joshua Trees blend into Pinon-juniper woodland. There is sagebrush and ephedra all around. Add to all that the abundance of manzanitas that are beginning to bloom and the desert was alive with sights and sounds of bees doing their pollinating thing. Five hikers simply enjoyed their time along the trail moving at a moderately strenuous pace.

Trail winds on the Lateral

 The Spring Mountains are pretty quiet right now but we did see a few cars along the road at various trailheads. The temperatures were fantastic, around 60 to 70 degrees.

Showgirl Trail

 We hiked almost to the AtBF Canyon mouth and stopped where there was a shady grove of junipers and pinon pines for a snack break. We could see the snowy mountains from our make-shift picnic area.

Turnaround Point in a Shady Grove

View on the Return

 Our return to the cars was generally sloping down. We hiked at a steady gait with just a couple of stops. The views were still great even though the sun was higher in the sky. We couldn't remember the last time we saw snow on Harris Peak in March! As we neared the trailhead, we almost stepped on a snake! We named him Wimbley. He was a beautiful example of a Mojave Patch-nosed Snake and he stopped to pose for photos! Non-venomous or we woulda been outathere!

Totals for the Lower Showgirl: 6 miles; 900 feet elevation gain; 3 hours
Totals for the Day: 7 miles, 1000 feet elevation gain; 4.5 hours

Harris Peak (L) & Showgirl Trail

Passing a "Flock of Joshuas"

Wimbley, the Mojave Patch-nosed Snake

Twilight Ridge Loop - 3/15/17

Spring Mountains & Kyle Canyon Wash

Grapevine Springs Dry Cistern

Morning on the Twilight Zone Trail

Crossing the Wide Wash

Today's hike was the first hike of the season in the Spring Mountains. At the low elevation of the Twilight Trailhead, we were still officially inside the boundaries of the Red Rock Canyon NCA. Nine miles up Kyle Canyon Road, there is a large parking area on the right side that still has a hitching post fence along one side of it. This is where there used to be trail rides offered around 8 years ago. Now, the same trails are used by individual horse riders, bicyclists and hikers.

Nearing the Lucky Strike Road Corner

There were only four of us this morning but it was going to be a long distance trek around a long ridge that could be seen from the trailhead.

Paralleling Lucky Strike Road

We dropped into the large Kyle Canyon wash below the cars and climbed up the other side on the Twilight Zone Trail. This trail would take us across the desert on an angle heading for the distant end of the ridge.

A Dry & Washed Out Grapevine Springs

Grapevine Wash from Explorations

We arrived at the Lucky Strike Road as we circled around the end of the Twilight Ridge. This dirt road used to service the Lucky Strike Mine in the hills beyond. Next, we continued down next to the road to get to the Grapevine Spring. In the past, this spring always had water dripping into a cistern from pipes and the grapevine behind it was sometimes lush with green growth. We had a tough winter. Well, ... a good winter with a lot of precipitation. But, all the precip was tough on the landscape.
Grapevine Spring had dried up. No grapevine. No water in the cistern. And, the surrounding fences had been washed out. Perhaps the pipes that flowed into the cistern were stopped up with dirt and debris.

Trying to Stay on a Trail ... Any Trail

After our inspection of the spring, we climbed a hill on a trail next to the spring. Our thoughts were that we would connect with the Twilight Loop here.

Trail in Wash

We never found what we were looking for and, as it turns out, the Twilight Loop was not in this location. It mattered not. We continued our hike on the other side of the Grapevine Canyon wash on one of the many trails that appeared and disappeared on a regular basis.

Winterized Chollas

Approaching First Pass

The Twilight Loop actually follows the wash on the first side. Oops. Anyway, we headed to the other end of the ridge that was now on our right. Sometimes the trail was good and sometimes it wasn't until we reached the last corner before the First Pass. Now, the trail was very good and it was actually a small shortcut over to the pass. As we hiked, we merged with the Twilight Loop that also came around the corner a little further away. Finally on top of the First Pass, we saw the East Cut Pass about half a mile from us.

East Cut Pass

At the East Cut Pass, we took our snack break almost 6 miles into the hike. The day had started out at a pleasant temperature but, by now, it was getting warm.

Leaving East Cut Pass

Three of us took our break in the shade of a rock outcropping. When we started down the East Cut Wash Trail, we were very happy to be hit with a very nice cool wind.

Following the East Cut Wash Trail

Ups & Downs of East Cut Wash Trail

The wind helped us get across the undulating desert trail all the way back to the large Kyle Canyon wash. We hiked up the wash then turned left onto a dirt road that led back to the cars. The last 2.5 miles were tough but it was nice to have this hike under our belts.

Someone has been using the wash / dirt road junction at the end for target practice. Please take care in this area.

8.5 miles; 1200 feet elevation gain; 4.25 hours

Mountains from top of Deep Drop into Kyle Canyon Wash

Connecting with Kyle Wash

Climbing out of Wash on Dirt Road