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This page last updated on 09/03/2017
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06/14/2017 Hike Notes: – This was the third time I walked this trail. This time I was accompanied by my friend Blake Smith. It was an absolutely beautiful day in the low 80's with a cool breeze. At an elevation of 5,000 feet, on the drive up Kyle Canyon Road we had a good view of the snow that was still lingering on Mt. Charleston (Fig. 01). Because we got an early start, we decided to stop at the Mt. Charleston Lodge and enjoy a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benedict (Fig. 02 below). In the pond outside the lodge we found some baby ducks basking in the early morning sun (Fig. 03). After a great breakfast, we headed further up Kyle Canyon Road to the trailhead at the 6,940 foot elevation (Fig. 04). Just before starting the trail we spotted two wild horses (Fig. 05). It is always a treat to find wild horses at Mt. Charleston. (con't below)
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Hike Notes Continued: At the beginning of the trail there we some Utah Penstemon (Fig. 06). As the trail climbed higher and higher we started to get some nice views of the surrounding cliff lines (Fig. 07). Along the way we passed hundreds of huge Ponderosa Pines with their beautiful thick bark. There we also the twisted root stubs of many that had succumbed to the elements over time (Fig. 08). Along the side of the trail (Fig. 09), we found a lone Cactus growing in the sun with some beautiful budding blossoms (Fig. 10) of a Mojave Kingcup. Click here to read more more about this cactus ...
Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis). At about the 3/4 way up the nearly 2 mile trail, there was an opening in the surrounding trees that provided us with a view of the rising cliffs to our north (Fig. 11). After climbing nearly 1,000 feet, we were getting tired and decided not to go the rest of the way to the spring at the end. Several hikers returning from the end reported that there was no visible water; this further discouraged us from continuing on. On the way back we had a view of the scarred mountains due south (Fig. 12) that had been burned in the huge Carpenter Canyon fire in July of 2013 that burned more than
27,971 acres (roughly 43-square miles). [Trout Canyon Fire].
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