Bristlecone Trail - Summary Page

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More Info On Bristlecone Trail: http://www.birdandhike.com/Hike/Mt_Char/Bristlecone/_Bristlecone.htm

09/20/2012 Trip Notes: On today’s visit with the Rock-hounds from the Heritage Park’s Senior Facility, half of the group decided to hike the full trail from its upper trailhead. While dropping this group off at the upper trailhead, I was surprised to see that the Aspen trees had already started turning color (Fig. 01). Because this was my third visit to the Bristlecone Trail, I decided to hike up a portion of the trail (Fig. 02) starting from its lower trailhead (see map above) to a ravine about a mile up that I remembered had a small stand of Aspens running through it. Once I reached the spot I was looking for, I was able to capture several shots (Figs. 03 thru 07) that showed off the beautiful color provided by these wonderful trees.    (Fig. 01) (Fig. 02) (Fig. 03) (Fig. 04) (Fig. 05) (Fig. 06) (Fig. 07) As an added bonus Linda Groft, the leader of our group, found some animal tracks (Figs. 08 & 09) along the side of the road that, due to their size, we assumed were ‘bear’ tracks. However, we were later told by a ranger at the visitor center that there are no bears in the Spring Mountain Range and that they were probably either cougar or mountain lion tracks. If you know what they are, email me at kccandcj@yahoo.com and I will update this post to properly identify them. (Fig. 08) (Fig. 09) 05/31/2012 Trip Notes: On this, my third visit to this area with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Senior Facility, the majority of us decided to hike the entire Bristlecone Trail from its Upper Trailhead down to the Lower Trailhead, a distance of approximately 5.2 miles (see the map above). The first two miles of this rather long hike had a mildly strenuous elevation gain of over 800 feet, however, the remainder of the hike was mostly downhill. As you can see from the pictures below, the views were just outstanding. Be sure to check out the newly added slideshow at the bottom for more pictures from today’s hike.

The above shot was taken near the start of the Upper Trailhead as it heads west towards the northern edge of the ski area. It shows some of the beautiful, tall Ponderosa Pine that line this lower part of the trail.  Below is a shot looking southwest towards Mt. Charleston. If you look carefully you can still see the final traces of winter snow in the crevices near the top of the mountain ridge.

About three-quarters of a mile out, just before the trail makes a turn and heads north, it winds through a couple of small stands of Aspen, always a welcome sight to any hike as their leaves glisten in the early morning sunlight. Below is a shot looking south as of one of our groups members navigates a rather narrow part of the trail as it winds its way northward its high point. Next are a couple of shots of the few plants that managed to survive the long winter along this exposed and nearly barren, rocky part of the trail.

The above shot of Harvey and Josie was captured about halfway along the trails’ northern trek near its high point, a spot that has been named, Lookout Point that captures a spectacular view of Lee Canyon. At nearly 9,400 feet, the shot below was taken at the trails’ high point, located a short distance above and beyond Lookout Point. As you can see, it is riddled with the remnants of some very old Bristlecone Pines. At these high altitudes, these ancient trees have a fittingly gnarled and stunted appearance, having reached an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years. To learn more about the Bristlecone Pine, click here ... Bristlecones - The Gnarly Ones. Notice the circumference of the tree just to the left of center in the picture below and try to image just how old this tree might be.

At about the two mile mark and the end of its northerly climb, the trail intersects with the Bonanza Trail; a 13-mile trail along the Spring Mountain Crest that ends just west of Cold Creek, Nevada. From this point the trail begins a long 3-mile, meandering northeast decent on a two-track trail (below) along what is now called Scout Canyon Road, the remnant of Lee Canyon Road that was built by the WPA back in the early 40’s.  The second shot below was taken from the trails edge at the same vantage point of the hikers in the shot below, looking to their right – due south towards the ski resort’s main trail.

The three shots above were taken right after the intersection with Forest Rd. 72 (see above map).The shot (above left) shows a young Bristlecone Pine in the middle of a grove of Aspen trees. Click to enlarge and notice how its green pine needles give the twisted branches a bottle-brush appearance.

09/08/2011 Trip Notes: So far I have visited this area in both the early Fall and early Spring time. Here are some pictures from my second visit in early Fall.

04/07/2011 Trip Notes: Even though it was early April and the Spring weather down in Las Vegas beginning to warm up considerably, up at this elevation there was still plenty of snow on the ground. So much so that the beginning of the Bristlecone Trail still had nearly two feet of snow covering it, making it impossible to hike. The short distance we did walk up however, provided some beautiful views.

(OPTION 1) Each show is designed to run automatically in place, without leaving the current browser window. If the show is not already running, just click the large "Play" button in the middle of the picture and let it run. (OPTION 2) Running the cursor over the picture being shown will PAUSE the show and bring up a navigation bar at the bottom of the slideshow window with Pause, Forward and Back buttons, allowing you to start, stop or manually forward or back up pictures one at a time. Slideshow Description: In no particular order, the slideshow above contains a collection of 63 pictures from three separate visits to the Upper Bristlecone Trailhead at Lee Canyon and along the trails' 5.2 mile hike. [Return Mt. Charleston Scenic Loop Page]