Red Pinnacle Loop (Valley of Fire State Park) - 1/22/20

The Red Pinnacle

Pinnacles Ahead

Weird Canyon

Hiking down to North End of Gibraltar Rock

 Just when Brian and Chuck thought they had explored every corner of Valley of Fire, a little bird tells them about yet another beautiful section of the state park. Mike OC and I joined the Lone Mountain Hiking Club as guests, today, for a new 4 mile moderate hike called the Red Pinnacle Loop. Twenty-one hikers began at the Parking Lot #3 of the White Domes (aka Mouse's Tank) Road. This is also the trailhead for the Fire Wave Trail. We crossed the road and headed down toward the left end of the big red Gibraltar Rock. Ducking into a large slot that is also used for the Drop Slot hike, we climbed up into another slot to continue our climb up to the right then left.

Approach toward Fault Mesa

 When we leveled out, we found a game trail that led along the Gibraltar Wash. In front of us, we saw open desert and a large mound. We headed toward the left side of the mound.

Game trails are nice when you can find them!

The game trail led us across the desert over a small rise toward some red sandstone in the distance. Soon, we began crossing some white sandstone.

Color Ahead

Dropping into Sandstone

 The white turned to yellow, pink, purple, and orange as seen in the photo above. Although the terrain was flattish, a slight indentation suggested that we were "flowing" down into a wash or small canyon. Finally, Brian arrived at the top of a small very interesting canyon that another writer has temporarily dubbed Weird Canyon. (Watch out what you say! I think this name might stick!) It wasn't long before the easy scrambling brought us to a covey of red and orange pinnacles. One pinnacle, in particular, offered several photos as seen at the beginning of this entry. Two photos down gives you an idea of the "covey." Lying next to the Red Pinnacle was the business end of an old rusted pick axe.

Weird Canyon

 There was some discussion about whether we would carry out the pick axe but it was really heavy! Besides, it was probably older than fifty years ... historical artifact!

Red Pinnacles

 After the Red Pinnacle, Weird Canyon offered some really nice scrambling within its narrow walls.

Entering Red Pinnacle Area

Rusted Pick Ax near Red Pinnacle

 Near the end of the canyon, we were stopped short by a large pool of water. We climbed around the pool and came back to look. It had cattails and is rumored to have water in it year round. This is what we have dubbed Delta Spring ... after Charlie Spring that is also found in the park. Not too much further, we came to another deep pool. Of course, why not "Epsilon Spring?" Mike tested the depth of the pool and buried his hiking stick. The pool was at least 3-4 feet deep. We came to a junction with a large wash that crossed perpendicular to ours. It is rather large and very sandy. Here, we found some shade on this spring day in January and sat for our snack break.

Weird Canyon

 This part of the park is different from any other area we have hiked. It is full of the signature pastel colors but the terrain appears more flat even though the small canyons cut down into unseen passages.

Weird Canyon

 After our break, we turned left to hike up the sandy wash for about a third of a mile. We hiked past another pool of water. Oh, why not. Call it Gamma Spring! On the left side, there was a small trail. We turned here.

Weird Canyon

Weird Canyon

 The small trail connected with the larger wash to the right we'll call White & Black Wash. The reds, pinks and yellows were temporarily abandoned for black and white walls. These walls were topped off by a brown and black conglomerate rock. They held a beauty all their own. After a curve of white wall, we came abruptly to red sandstone again. This landmark had tiny stripes of red and white running vertically in the wall. See one of the photos in the collage below. We climbed up a yellow sandstone slab after that and hiked over to a light pour over of a spring above. It's so unusual to see water in the Vally of Fire. I'm sure these pools are crucial to the wildlife here.

Delta Spring

 In fact, coming into the park this morning, we saw a group of bighorns on the left side of the highway before we came to the fee booth.

Epsilon Spring (at least 3' deep)

 Then, we saw a larger group of bighorns crossing White Domes Road just north of Mouse's Tank.

Junction with Large Wash

Snack Break at Large Wash Junction

The slab that the spring was flowing on continued up the hill. We followed it until the leader stepped off and into the sand dune that led up the hill toward the cars. We aimed for another sandstone slab near the top and ended up very near the Fire Wave Trailhead.

Brian hikes into the White & Black Wash

 This is a short hike but it is very nice in color and  terrain.

White Walls

 Stats: 3.5 miles; 400 feet elevation gain; 2.25 hours

Interesting Geology

Climbing out of Stripes

 I would like to thank the Lone Mountain Hiking Club for allowing me to join them on this new hike at Valley of Fire. They are a wonderful group of people. And, I hope that I will be able to perpetuate the life of the hike by leading it for the Around the Bend Friends someday.

Zigzag up the Sandstone Slab

Spring overflowing down the Slab

Almost back to the Trailhead

Pinto Northshore Loop Exploratory - 1/20/20

Northshore Wash Descent Canyon

Deep into Northshore Wash Descent

Razorback Wash North Rock Palette

Starting Up Pinto Valley Wash

 There is a wash below Northshore Peak that I have wondered about for a while. Today, three intrepid hikers joined me in an exploration of that canyon. We had a blast! Our route plan was to enter via the Pinto Valley Wash at Northshore Road's mile marker 18 turnout. We would turn left at the Razorback Wash North; take another left at Interesting Canyon; climb up over the saddle below Northshore Peak's caves and descend the wash on the other side to connect again with Razorback Wash North. Although one of our hikers was vaguely familiar with the area from many years ago, we were quite anxious about what we would encounter. - But, not anxious enough to not try it!

Arrowhead Road Ramp (upper right) - Detours around Narrow Section in Pinto Valley Wash

 So, four hikers arrived at Northshore Road's mile marker 18 and started up Pinto Valley Wash hiking at a fairly good pace in the familiar territory.

Up Cottonwood Spring Dry Fall

 One mile out, we climbed up Cottonwood Spring dry fall and kept walking another half mile to a  wash junction. If you continue straight on the small wash, you will follow the old Arrowhead Road route. We turned to the left into Razorback Wash North.

Max enjoys a side Exploration

View back to Pinto Wash from side Exploration

 At this point, we slowed down to start taking in the less familiar scenery. Soon, we came to a rock that jutted up to the right of the wash. This seemed to be an intriguing spot so we did a small side exploration to see what we would find. Well, we found a nice view and a few bighorn bones. Back down in the wash, we continued up a little further and came to the likely wash junction that we would re-enter after our descent. Further up Razorback Wash North, (2.75 miles from the trailhead), we came to Interesting Canyon junction. There is a water-made alcove around a right corner of our wash and the wide mouth of Interesting Canyon on the left. Ahead, we saw a white design in a red embankment.

Razorback Ridge from Razorback Wash North

 A couple of us took the extra time to go over and inspect the interesting design that appeared like bighorn horns made by white mineral deposits in the red dirt. (See second photo below.)

Knife-Edge Peak from Razorback Wash North

 Either someone got creative or this is an incredible natural phenomena ... or ... this wash is haunted! BTW, there were no footsteps below the "drawing" when we got there.

Hmm. This can't be natural.

Start up Interesting Canyon

 We turned left into Interesting Canyon and hiked up the wide delta and soon funneled into a dried mud area. The canyon continues to the left. We have been in the canyon a handful of times but always as a descent. Our first ascent of Interesting Canyon was a beautiful array of different geology(shifting) caused formations. At the top of the big ramp that borders a dry fall, we stood for the view back. Under our feet, there was evidence that a bighorn had done just that, too! See the third photo below ... for the view ... not the evidence! This overlook is about 2/3 of the way up the canyon. Then we topped out at a three-way wash junction. Seeing the high point saddle about 1/3 of a mile away, we continued up in the left fork.

Various Views in Interesting Canyon Ascent

 This 1/3 of a mile consisted of a somewhat gentle climb up through a bit of a maze. But, following our GPS track of the main wash, we gained the saddle without pause. Up to our right, we were intrigued by the caves high up in Northshore Peak. Another day!

My Adventure-Loving Guys!

 We had not experienced wind this morning until we hit the saddle! So, we went ahead and dropped down over the saddle into the wash where we could take a break and enjoy the view.

Climbing the Steep Ramp by a Dry Fall

Northshore Peak (and Caves) from Wash Junction

 This is the point that we had been looking forward to all morning! It was somewhat disconcerting that we did not see any human footprints on the saddle nor telltale trails leading down into the wash. There were also no cairns ... which was nice in one sense. So, we took our break then started down. In the first half of the wash, there were four or five dry fall drops no higher than four feet. All were very negotiable. The wash is very wiggly and we were constantly wondering what surprise was hiding behind the next sharp curve. The wash was absolutely beautiful and, contrary to what I thought at the time, we could see Hamblin Mountain in the distance straight out of the descent.

Arriving at the High Point Saddle - Hamblin Mtn. (center left) in Distance

 The overcast day deepened the colors and the wash was mostly gold, red and brown in color. But, the terrain offered different formations underfoot.

Very Interesting Northshore Wash Descent

 We enjoyed the lengthy descent exploration as we "discovered" what was waiting for us next. As it turned out, the wash was perfect!

Having Fun in Northshore Wash

Two Thirds down Northshore Wash

 When we got closer to the bottom of the wash, we began seeing signs of humans in the form of cairns. I'm wondering if hikers don't continue all the way up to the saddle. IMO, the descent is the more beautiful way to go but an ascent is definitely doable. So, we flowed out into Razorback Wash North at the point we had suspected and turned right. A connection back into Pinto Valley Wash sent us scrambling back down Cottonwood Spring dry fall and out. This will be a great addition to our list of moderately strenuous hikes. Thanks, guys, for having a great day with me!

7 miles; 900 feet elevation gain; 4 hours; average speed 1.6 mph

John points out Cairn near bottom Wash Junction

Sun briefly Breaks Through

Back down Cottonwood Spring Dry Fall