Three hikes in one day? Well, actually the plan was for a circle hike but then we saw two enticing branches heading off of the circle and took them for awhile before we turned back. Las Vegas is a glitzy city of millions with millions of tourists arriving yearly. However, within 5 miles of the city is a neat natural area called the Red Rock Canyon along the east side of the Spring Mountains. Here you can hike, rock climb, take the 13-mile scenic road, picnic and/or just sit and enjoy the natural beauty of the area. Several years ago we saw a herd of Big Horn sheep while we hiked.
There is also an area called the Keystone Thrust which extends for quite a few miles but is most dramatic in the park. Geologists come from all over the world to study this area and we’ve actually gone on websites for colleges in the East which have posted papers written on this area. Here’s a diagram which shows what happens and puts it into a way even I can understand. Here there are 2 tectonic plates which have slid past each other such that now, older rock layers are on top of younger rock layers. On the right are the younger layers and on the left are the older rock layers. Note how the brown layer on the left is way above the brown layer on the right.
What’s so special about this? Well, mostly this happens miles down under the earth’s crust. Here, in the Keystone Thrust, you can actually see it with your own eyes.
But back to the hike. We drove the scenic drive for 2/3 of the way around, turned off and began in a picnic area down this road. Most of the area around Vegas is rocky desert but here you can find riparian areas watered by the snow melting off the peaks in the background. Trees, shrubs and other plants surround the trail and make for a neat experience. 1/4 of the way around, we saw the La Madre Springs trail heading off to the left. Only .55 miles. Gary asks: ‘what’s one more mile?’ Not much so off we headed. We found the Springs which was a small pool with audible running water but also found a small trail close to it heading up the creek. And, guess who followed the creek? Gary Boone headed off to find the ‘source’ of the running water and up we went. I looked up, saw the mountains ahead of us and told him where the source was. ‘I’ve found the source’, I told him. Nope, he wanted to ‘find’ the source and on we went. Through brush, around boulders, stepping on small stones on the creek to get to the other side, we made our way upwards.
Finally Boone realized that we would probably climb to the top of the mountains ahead of us, miss the Keystone Thrust and he decided to turn back. Whew. Back down the trail, back to the original trail and onwards.
Very nice trail and I’ve got a picture of the valley that it winds its way through. Note all the greenery. At one spot, we were able to sit in the shade to eat our lunch, a rare occurrence in the desert.
Then we hit the Keystone Thrust trail and we took it off of the circle trail we were on. Up and over the Hogsback Ridge, around a rocky mound and we then stood on a high rocky cliff looking down onto the Thrust area. Did we know it? Nope. Did we know exactly what the Thrust was? Nope. Would we actually recognize it if we saw it? Nope. Did that deter us? Nope, again.
We wound around the rocky cliff, into the bouldery, brushy creek bed and wound our way down to what we thought the Thrust was. And, actually, we were right on it, it’s where the white rock on the right is being covered by the red rock on the left. Sand covers the actual meeting of the two rocks but you can see where it might occur.
Now, here’s my confession. I can only speak with as much knowledge as I have because I looked it all up AFTER the hike in the evening. Then several days later we found the neat diagram above on another hike which explained it all.
Today, we looked at where we thought the Thrust was and ? is this it? We weren’t sure. It sure didn’t look like 2 tectonic plates. I expected 2 large sheets of rock rubbing against each other. Oh, well.
And then we had to get back. That’s the trick about hiking, sometimes it’s easy to get someplace and much more difficult to get back. Gary wanted to climb up the rocky cliff (which is the reddish rocks behind Gary’s left shoulder in the picture above.) Me, well, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. And, since Gary had the plan and I only seemed to stand there and fret, we went up the cliff. And, it wasn’t so bad, in fact it was pretty easy. So much for the fret queen.
But, we were nearing the end of our energy and the rest of the hike was a 3 mile plod. Beautiful country and pretty lush for a desert but we were a bit tired.
As we neared the car we saw these pictographs on a rock in the picnic area.
Finally we reached the car and I expressed the sentiments of both of us.
10.2 2561
No comments:
Post a Comment