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This page last updated on 02/23/2019
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(Fig. 01)
A morning sunrise in Pittman Wash |
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| (Fig. 02) |
Description: Located in suburban Henderson, NV, the Pittman Wash follows what is usually a dry wash through residential neighborhoods from Pebble Road northeast to the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex. The major trails run between Green Valley Parkway and Valley Verde Drive (Fig. 02a) and represents urban hiking at its best. This large natural watercourse, sometimes wider than the Las Vegas Wash, carries flood waters from the Mount Potosi area of the Southwest Valley, to the Las Vegas Wash, and ultimately into Lake Mead. The wash corridor itself is a bird sanctuary with views of mountains, sand, desert scrub, plants and trees, and a wide variety of wildlife including coyotes, foxes, rabbits, ground squirrels, and small lizards.
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| (Fig. 02a) |
Pittman Wash Trail Descriptions: From end to end the trail is approximately 4.2 miles in length. The trail can be accessed from multiple areas, including residential entrances along the way. One can start at either end or enter from three locations within the trail: Legacy West Park on Pecos Rd, the intersection of Green Valley Parkway, and the Silver Springs Sports Complex. Most of the upper trail hugs the walls of the neighboring residential areas and is paved with either asphalt or concrete, with limited sections of gravel or grass that is nicely landscaped and functions as a combination walking/jogging/biking trail. Along the way there are multiple resting benches, picnic tables, water fountains, numerous doggie bags supplying and discarding stations, and many informational signs – especially along the road intersections. There are clean restrooms at Legacy Park on Pecos. Parking is available at Legacy West Park on Pecos Rd, the Silver Springs Park and the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex.
There are several rock-lined trails, between Green Valley Parkway and Arroyo Grande Street, that wind through the vegetation at the bottom of the wash (Fig. 02a). The original trail was built by a Boy Scout as a project to complete the requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout; part of this trail is called the Eagle Scout Trail. The southern most trail is called the Quail Trail and closely follows the flow of water that runs through the wash. None of these various trails are challenging, and all allow you to explore the miniature ecosystem that exists within the wash. Today, this trail system is maintained by Project Green: Friends of the Pittman Wash, a volunteer organization.
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| (Fig. 03a) |
02/23/2019 Visit Notes: On this visit Bob Croke and I joined nearly 8 other interested persons, who again were led by members of the Project Green: Friends of Pittman Wash. Our leader, Larry Lodwick, provided information on the Eco system of the wash, how it works, what aquatic animals can survive, and about the kinds of plants and their importance in supporting the aquatic habitat and other animals that are rarely seen. Today I captured a few pictures of birds (Figs. 03b - 03e).
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| (Fig. 03b) Click to Enlarge |
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| (Fig. 03c) Click to Enlarge |
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| (Fig. 03d) Click to Enlarge |
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| (Fig. 03e) Road Runner |
05/19/2018 Visit Notes: On this visit Bob Croke and Jim Herring and I joined nearly 12 other interested persons, who again were led by members of the Project Green: Friends of Pittman Wash. Our leader provided information on the Eco system of the wash, how it works, what aquatic animals can survive, and about the kinds of plants and their importance in supporting the aquatic habitat and other animals that are rarely seen. Click here to visit a page with pictures and a description of this walk ...
Pitman Wash - Visit Notes for 05/19/2018
07/01/2016 Visit Notes: Today we made a quick stop at the wash to note changes since our visit of a week ago, due to the heavy rains of the past couple of days. It had been reported that the wash was filled with nearly four feet of rushing water just two days ago. As you can see from (Figs. 03), not only was the water still flowing pretty good, many of the surrounding plants showed uprooting and damage from the heavy waters. Many of the boulder lined trails within the wash also showed considerable damage. Both Bob and I captured a few pictures (Fig. 03A) of a wasp that was sitting on one of the trails sign post. Obviously, Bob got the better picture (#03A-01) in the collage.
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| (Fig. 03) |
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| (Fig. 03A) |
06/25/2016 Visit Notes: Over the course of several years I have visited and hiked Pittman Wash on several occasions. On this visit Bob Croke and Ron Ziance joined nearly 15 other interested persons, who were led by members of the Project Green: Friends of Pittman Wash, who provided information on the Eco system of the wash, how it works, what aquatic animals can survive, and about the kinds of plants and their importance in supporting the aquatic habitat and other animals that are rarely seen. As we hiked along the trails of the wash, we discovered several examples of flowing and standing water that supported the trees, plant life and animals the thrived in the wash (Fig. 04). Our very knowable guide (forth from the left in Fig. 05) provided us with a plethora of information on dragonflies (Fig. 06), varieties of the Cat-n-Nine Tails, Dumantra, and many other plants and trees (Fig. 07). Though I spotted several varieties of birds and three rabbits, I was unable to capture any pictures due to the number of people that were on this hike. All of the pictures in these collages were taken during this hike. All in all we spent nearly two very pleasurable and informative hours hiking through the wash.
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| (Fig. 04) |
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| (Fig. 05) |
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| (Fig. 06) |
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| (Fig. 07) |
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| (Fig. 08) |
Previous Visiting Notes: The following is a compilation of pictures captured on five previous visits between 2009 and 2014 (Figs. 10 thru 18). Depending upon the time of the year, sometimes I would go early in the morning, as in the example in (Fig. 01), sometimes I would go later in the day. The one constant was, that whenever I visited, there were lots of people either jogging, biking or walking their dogs (Fig. 09). This picture is of the memorial dog park behind the Silver Springs Sports Complex along the paved upper trail that runs between Green Valley Parkway and Arroyo Grande. Refer also to (Fig. 21). This is one of the most popular places to walk in Henderson. As you can see from many of these pictures, when walking down in the bottom of the wash there is so much vegetation, you are so isolated that you can't even see any of the surrounding signs of the city. It seemed that no matter what time of day or time of year that I visited, I was always able to find something different or unique to capture. Captured on 08/22/2012, these last two pictures (Figs. 19 & 20) give you an idea of Pittman Wash's primary purpose - to funnel water from flash flood storms during the monsoon season.
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| (Fig. 09) |
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| (Fig. 10) |
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| (Fig. 11) |
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| (Fig. 12) |
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| (Fig. 13) |
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| (Fig. 14) |
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| (Fig. 15) |
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| (Fig. 16) |
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| (Fig. 17) |
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| (Fig. 18) |
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| (Fig. 19) |
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| (Fig. 20) |
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| (Fig. 21) |
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Note: Every attempt is made to provide accurate information, but occasionally depictions are inaccurate by error of mapping, navigation or cataloging. The information on this site is provided without any warranty, express or implied, and is for informational and historical purposes only.
