La Madre Spring/Dam Hike (RRCNCA) - Summary Page

{Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page} This page last updated on 04/10/2018 (Fig. 01)

03/25/2016 Trip Notes: Today Bob Croke, Jim Herring, Ron Ziance and myself decided to go to Red Rock and hike the La Madre Spring trail. Though this was my second hike to the dam, It was a first for all three of my fellow hikers. Click this link to view pictures and a description of this hike ... La Madre Spring - Trip Notes for 03/25/2016.                              10/11/2012 Trip Notes: The actual trailhead, about a half mile from the parking areas, is the beginning of the 47,180 acre La Madre Mountain Wilderness Area. The area includes La Madre Mountain and several archaeological areas including the Brownstone Canyon Archaeological District, is administered by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management. From the very beginning of this hike we were threatened with rain. At about a 10% grade, the trail follows an old road that winds around the backside of White Rock Mountain. About halfway up the trail levels out at the junction of the White Rock Loop & La Madre Springs trails. On a clear day, with the limestone La Madre range right behind you; North Peak and Bridge Mountain to the West and the magnificent three-headed White Rock Mountain directly in front of you, this is actually some of the best scenery that you’ll find anywhere at Red Rock. At this point (Fig. 02) we ran into some light rain that let up after about five minutes. Even though the mountain tops were encased in clouds, by the time we reached the dam (Fig. 01) at the end of the hike we could see a few patches of blue sky (Fig. 03). Though past “peak”, the lush vegetation (Figs. 04 thru 07) surrounding the small pond created by the dam still provided us with some very nice color. The pool created by the dam, built in the 1950's, is one of the biggest riparian areas at Red Rock. There are plants and birds and bugs of every description here, and of course this is a popular year-round watering hole for the bighorn sheep, mule deer and other mountain critters.

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A short walk up the trail above the dam presented us with the beautiful valley view seen in (Fig. 08). Even though I knew there was a waterfall, an old rock miner’s shack, and two mine openings beyond this point, they were about a half mile further up the ravine and beyond our time restraints for returning to the van. On the way down we stopped to investigate one of the two concrete pads (Fig. 09) that bordered the trail on our way up. These are the remnants of the Las Vegas Archery Club that closed in 1975 when the BLM acquired this land for an expansion of Red Rock Canyon NCA. Looking back about three-quarters of the way down, I caught this glimpse of blue sky (Fig. 10) just before the heavens opened. We hiked the last 1/2 mile in a torrential downpour that soaked us to the bone by the time we reached the van.

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