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This page last updated on 01/28/2017
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Area Description: I always have a hard time deciding what to call this area e.g. Buffington Pockets, Bitter Springs Road, or the Muddy Mountains – all three are correct. Bitter Springs road runs through the Muddy Mountains that encompass a geographic area called Buffington Pockets. The 30-mile Bitter Springs (Backcountry Byway) Road, designated a scenic back country byway by Congress in 1989, connects old mining roads, a mountain pass and desert washes between Interstate 15 and the Northshore Road in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. From the point where the paved Valley of Fire Road makes a 45 degree turn to the east, keep going straight onto a dirt road (refer to the map in Fig. 02) – this is known as the Bitter Springs Road aka Bitter Springs Trail. About a mile along this road you will see an old road crossing your route (Fig. 02). This is part of the Old Spanish Trail, also called the Mormon Trail, followed by explorers, mountain men, traders and pioneers into Southern Nevada. After several more miles you will reach the beginning of Buffington Pockets and the Muddy Mountains (Fig. 01). Here the road follows a fairly well defined wash for the next several miles. The Buffington Pockets is an area of eroded sandstone outcrops that lies just outside the wilderness area near its northern-most point.
09/12/2015 Trip Notes: On this visit I just made a quick stop here on a trip across the Bitter Spring Backcountry Byway on our way to Bitter Spring. This was the first time that I have never seen water anywhere seem the dam or the "pocket" area below the dam.
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10/22/2013 Trip Notes: On today’s visit to the Buffington Pockets, my hiking was limited to the water fed area below the dam (Fig. 04). This area gets is name from the many natural basins which trap rainwater, a Godsend for for the wildlife, including Bighorn sheep and wild horses. The beautiful sandstone outcroppings, tinted by iron ore and other minerals, are a startling contrast to the limestone hills of the Muddy Mountains. The closer to the dam you get, the more lush the vegetation (Fig. 05). Due to the water coming from the springs on the other side of the dam, this area is almost always lush and is always worth stopping at, even if it is just to enjoy the greenery and plant vegetation (Fig. 06 & 07). Harvey and I hiked to the top of the dam, but decided we didn't have time to go any further. Though I ‘m relatively sure I've gotten similar shots here on previous visits, I can never resist taking just a “few” more. After we left this area, we traveled a couple of miles further up Bitter Springs Road to a ridge that provided a view looking to the north, back over the Buffington Pockets and the area where we had just traveled (Fig. 03b).
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11/29/2012 Trip Notes: This morning’s hike with the rock-hounds from Henderson’s Heritage Park Senior Facility started out with the beautiful sunrise shot (Fig. 08) captured while I was stopped at the stoplight on the 95/515/93 Horizon Ridge exit. Most of the group hiked the route noted in yellow in the map above (Fig. 09), over the dam and into the area containing the petroglyphs. To view pictures from this area, refer to the two previous “Trip Notes” sections below. This being our third visit to this area, the Storstar’s and I hiked further up Bitter Springs Road and then circled back on the route noted in orange on the map above (Fig. 09). As you can see from the pictures below (Figs. 10 thru 16), the hike along this route provided some very interesting rock formations and some extremely colorful vistas. We thought that the rock formation in the center of (Fig. 10) looked like the profile of a lady glancing upward, wearing a chapeaux. (remember, you can click to enlarge any picture) Once we reached an upper plateau area in our hike, I captured the view in (Fig. 12), looking west to an area that we hiked (notice the red arrow) on our last trip. (Figs. 22 & 23) (scroll down) were taken from this location. The north view in (Fig. 13) shows the wash (on the right) that we hiked back to Bitter Springs Road. (Fig. 14) shows the red sandstone cliffs that paralleled the wash to the east. The last three pictures (Figs. 17, 18, & 10) emphasize some of the color that we found on this hike.
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03/22/2012 Trip Notes: I visited this area for the second time on a hike with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Heritage Park Senior Center. Being the end of the winter season, there was a lot less vegetation when compared to our previous visit, however, finding wonderfully colored sandstone everywhere you looked was not a problem.. For a change of pace, John Strorrs, Buster and I hiked up a couple of ravines to the top of a range southwest of the main wash. We were rewarded with some petroglyph sightings (Figs. 20 & 21) high up on the canyon walls and some quite nice landscape views. The picture in (Fig. 22) was taken about halfway up of Buster about looking back down the ravine we just climbed. The view in (Fig. 23) is of John from the top.
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| On the hike up we passed several cave-like openings (Fig. 19 & 20) with absolutely beautiful sandstone coloring that had been carved by centuries of erosion by wind and water. Manganese is a chemical element, often mixed with iron, that causes the many purple sightings (Fig. 21) one finds while hiking this area The picture on right (Fig. 22) is a sandstone image that John dubbed the “fried egg”. We also found a nearly dried up waterfall (Fig. 23) and several areas with “standing” water (Fig. 24). The water filled area below the waterfall in (Fig. 23) was nearly two feet deep. |
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| Probably our strangest finding was this abandoned boat (Fig. 30) in the middle of the desert, miles from anywhere. We just had to stop and get a picture. |
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11/10/2011 Trip Notes: As you can see from the map in (Fig. 02) we were only able to drive about five miles up Bitter Springs Road that leads to the base of the Buffington Pockets and Muddy Mountains. We then had to hike about a mile and a half to reach the dam. Along the way the sides (Fig. 31) of the road were strewn with blackbrush, yucca, and desert willow. Leaving the road we started walking up a wash area that lead to the dam.The picture in (Fig. 32) was taken looking west, back toward the area that we had hiked up to this point. Turning around 180-degrees, the next picture (Fig.33) is looking east towards the dam. Though a little hard to see, it is in the very top, center of the picture. Though many of the water filled areas were filled with dozens of tadpoles (Fig. 34) basking in the early morning sun, Kathy Pool and I did find this one small example of one that had turned into a frog (Fig. 35).
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After another several several hundred feet we finally reached the dam. Once we climbed over the dam, we came upon a relative narrow canyon that was lined with petroglyphs on both sides (Figs. 36 thru 39). While most of us continued straight up the wash from here, one couple in our group veered off to the right and followed another canyon and found even more petroglyphs.
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| The next series of pictures (Figs. 40 Thru 43) provide you with some idea of the wide variety of colors one gets to see while hiking throughout this area. The final two pictures (Figs. 44 & 45) were taken from the backside of a Desert Marigold with the morning sun shining on the front. The both show off the delicate two layers of petals this plant is know for. (Click any picture to enlarge) |
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Clicking the picture-link below will open OneDrive in a new window and a folder containing 85 pictures taken on a trip to Buffington Pockets. To view the show, click on the first picture in the folder and you will get the following menu bar:
Clicking the "Play slide show" will play a fullscreen window of the slide show.
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