Daytrip - White Owl Canyon

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The Trailhead for the White Owl Canyon is located along Lakeshore Drive in Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the 33 Hole Road turnoff. 33 Hole Road leads to three scenic overlooks, each with a different name. Turn left towards Three-Island Overlook and drive into the parking lot at the end of the road. A trail leads down the steep hill to the flats looking toward the western most edge of Lake Mead. A trail runs south easterly along the flats to what is known as White Owl Canyon. This narrow canyon is over a 1/4 mile long and is known as a roosting place for Barn Owls. Click here for pictures and a description of this hike ... White Owl Canyon - Hike.

Daytrip - Natural Bridge and Spring Hike

A natural bridge is found near the Eldorado Wilderness area just north of Nelson, Nevada. What’s the difference between a natural bridge and a natural arch? Arches are formed by various geological processes, weathering processes but not flowing water. Over time, persistent winds and freeze-thaw action have slowly eroded openings through vertical sandstone blocks. All natural bridges are all formed by flowing water and either spanned a waterway or did so in their past, and hence are a less common feature than an arch. This hike is only 2 miles roundtrip. Click here for pictures and a description of this hike ... Natural Bridge and Spring Hike.

Daytrip - Desert Bighorn Sheep

From US-95, turning left (east) onto NV SR-165 towards Nelson we drove approximately 8 miles to  an unsigned gravel road on the left. There are several areas along this unnamed road that are spots people use for target shooting. Driving past most of them the road splits. We went to the right and followed a very winding sandy wash through what is like a canyon surrounded by mountains on both sides. At about halfway we spotted two large Desert Bighorn Sheep high up on a ridge. Click here for piacures of these sheep ... Desert Bighorn Sheep in Eldorado Mountains. 

Daytrip - Whitney Pocket & Arizona Road

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Whitney Pocket is located at the base of the Virgin Mountains in the Gold Butte National Monument. It is a palette of sandstone color. ‘Whitney” is the surname of an original landowner; "Pockets" is due to the pockets of red Aztec sandstone that has been exposed by the erosion of the lower fringes of the Virgin Mountains. This grouping of yellow, tan and rusty red sandstone outcrops exhibit unusual erosion patterns full of cave-like holes and bowls throughout the monoliths. The area is best know for the Whitney Pocket Dam built between 1933 to 1942 by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). A nearby cave, in a Aztec sandstone monolith opposite the dam, was walled in by the CCC. In spite of CCC and cattlemen’s efforts to harvest the scarce water supplies, this region does not favor successful ranching. The summers are unbearably hot and often the winters are quite harsh. The road runs to the Arizona border. Click her for pictures and a description of this trip ... Whitney Pockets and Arizona Road.

Daytrip - Petroglyph Wash - Arizona

For this trip, go about 36 miles south from the dam. From the Dam drive 19 miles on US-93. Turn left onto the Temple Bar Rd (Mojave Country Rd No. 143). Drive 13 miles until just before it makes a sharp right turn. At this point, leave the paved road and proceed straight ahead (north) towards the lake on Bonelli Landing Road (Road No.74). Drive down and look for AR71, the Cohenour Loop Road. Go left at the fork. Drive west on AR71 for 3 miles. Petroglyphs are on both side of the road where it passes through the rocks and cliffs. Click here for pictures and a description of this trip ... Petroglyph Wash - Arizona. 

Natural Bridge & Spring

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This page last updated on 01/16/2020

(Fig. 01) Picture by Robert Croke

(Fig. 02)

Directions: From Las Vegas, drive south on Highway 95/93 towards Boulder City. Past Railroad Pass turn right onto Highway 95 towards Searchlight and drive south for about 10 miles to Nelson Road (Highway 165). Turn left onto Nelson Road and drive east for about 9.5 miles to the trailhead turnoff. At the trailhead turnoff, either park off the pavement or drive up the fairly rough road for 0.17 miles to the end of the road. There is a circle cleared, park here; this is the trailhead. Sorry, I had problems with my camera. I took pictures of the area, but they didn't get captured.

Description of the Natural Bridge and Hike: The natural bridge (Fig. 01) and spring trail makes for a great winter hike. Natural bridges are rarer than arches. What’s the difference between a natural bridge and a natural arch? Arches are formed by various geological processes, weathering processes but not flowing water. Over time, persistent winds and freeze-thaw action have slowly eroded openings through vertical sandstone blocks. All natural bridges are all formed by flowing water and either spanned a waterway or did so in their past, and hence are a less common feature than an arch.
The hike is a good, but due to the couple of up and down of ridges and the fact that the return is uphill all the way make it a moderately strenuous hike. It is about 2 miles round-trip and requires some rock scrambling, especially at the end near the bridge. The hike is marked by "RED" on the map in Fig. 02. At an elevation of 3,510 feet, it loses about 200 feet in elevation on the way down the wash to the bridge.

01/14/2020 Hike Notes: After leaving the pavement, drive up the fairly rough road for 0.17 miles to where the road ends at a cleared circle. Park here, this is the trailhead. Hike up the first small ridge directly in front of you. From the top of here, head toward the ridgeline on a faint but obvious trail. The trail gently undulates for the first quarter mile. Eventually you drop into a well-defined wash, which will serve as the trail for the rest of the hike. After you drop into the wash, you will go left or downstream. Hiking the the majority of the wash is relatively easy. The further downhill you hike, the more you begin to encounter larger rocks and vegetation closer to the spring (Figs.08& 09). After about one-half mile, you will come to a giant boulder that is about 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide (Fig.10). It seems very out of place and seems to defy gravity and looks like, if you pushed on it, the boulder might fall. In (Fig. 11) Jim and Ron are trying to prevent if from falling.

(Fig. 08)

(Fig. 09)

(Fig. 10)

(Fig. 11)

Notes Continued: Just after the big rock you begin to see signs of water and some more thick vegetation such as healthy and large scrub oak.  The wash gets rockier and the vegetation becomes quite dense as you approach the bridge. Directly before the bridge, you either have to crawl through the heavy brush and drop down about six feet off of some large boulders or slide down between two large boulders that required a drop of again six to seven feet. Neither Ron nor I attempted either of these. Getting down we could have done, but were quite nervous about how to get back up. In the center of (Fig. 12) is the only glimpse I got of the bridge (Its left side). Both Bob and Jim made it and got to the bridge and took some great pictures (Figs. 13 thru 17). Pictures 13 thru 17 were taken by Jim Herring. The bridge that spans over the wash/canyon is about 30 feet across and the opening about 15 to 20 feet high. The last three pictures show ice that we encountered on some boulders and shots of the trail. After we backtracked out of the spring, we drove down highway 165 past the Techatticup Mine site to the Eldorado Wilderness Road to have lunch. This road showed us nothing. We drove about seven miles until we began to see the water of the Lake Mead river (Fig. 21). Because the road ended in just another three miles and we decided to turnaround and return to highway 165. Refer to the yellow shaded road on the map in (Fig. 02)

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(Fig. 21) Pictures taken along the Eldorado Wilderness Road

Cold Creek - 05/01/2020 Visit

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This page last updated on 05/06/2020

(Fig. 01)

Directions: From the Stratosphere Casino head northeast on Las Vegas Blvd about 3 miles and turn left onto US-93-95, keeping on the left for US-95 North towards Reno. Following US-95 North towards the Mt. Charleston area, drive 36 miles, past SR-156, the turn to Mt. Charleston (Kyle Canyon Rd.) and past SR-156 (Lee Canyon), and head as if driving to Indian Springs. Look for a small green sign on the freeway for Cold Creek (approx. 5 miles past Lee Canyon Ski Area Turnoff). Turn west of the freeway onto Cold Creek Road (SR-172) and drive up the mountain past the prisons (State, Federal, work camps) toward the town of Cold Creek (approx. 13 miles).

(Fig. 1A)

Description of Area: It is located at an elevation of 6,500 feet at the base of the northern Spring Mountain Range nestled inside the boundaries of the Toiyabe National Forest. With a serene and breathtaking high mountain desert environment,  This is a place of wide open ranges, wide open spaces and sparse vegetation. The town's backdrop is a north-south mountain range topped by Bonanza Peak with elevations up to 13,000 feet, separated by long narrow valleys ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. Taking Cold Creek Road, Wheeler Pass Road and then Willow Springs Road that all lead west of the town, there are dozens of off-trail roads that that cover a vast area around Cold Creek Springs and Willow Springs (Refer to Fig. 1A). The terrain is mostly hard packed but has some sand and gravel washed and moderate elevations climbs. Vegetation is a mix of Joshua trees and scrub brush on the desert floor and juniper bristle cone trees at the higher elevations.

05/01/2020 Trip Notes: On this date Jim Herring and I decided to visit Cold Spring for a little four wheeling and a picnic. The picture in (Fig. 01) is Willow Peak at the northern end of the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada. Willow Peak towers behind the mountain village of Cold Creek. As you can see, even in May, this peak holds a lot of snow in the winter providing stunning scenery that can be seen clearly from Highway 95. This is because of some fires years ago that burnt down most all of the trees on the summit. We started out by taking Cold Creek Road, then parts of Wheeler Pass Road and eventually Willow Springs Road, driving deep into the wilderness. We took so many roads that I thought we might get lost. The first thing we came to was where the Cold Spring stream crosses under the road, an area that we had hiked on our previous trip. On the return we actually stopped here and did some more hiking. We probably only hiked along the stream for about a half mile. It seemed liked the spring at the beginning had a lot of iron in the water due to the color of the rock bed (Figs. 02 & 03), however this was not the case the further in we walked (Fig. 04). The only flower we found along the way was those in (Fig. 05). After a while we didn't think we were going to see any elk at this time of day, so we turned around and hiked back to the car. (Con't below)

Note: Water is managed by the Cold Creek Canyon HOA public water system and  is supplied from two drilled wells each using submersible pumps. Neither of the two springs, Cold Spring or the Willow Spring, provide drinking water to any of the town's inhabitants. Above-ground storage consists of a 218,000 gallon reservoir. The system is gravity fed and is closely monitored. Disinfections has not been necessary and is not practiced. Waste water is collected from the area is manage through individual septic systems.

(Fig. 02)

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Notes Continued: We then eventually got onto Willow Springs Road and came to a spot where the water from the spring was pouring over the road (Fig. 06). I walked up to what had been a small dam on the upside of the flow (Fig. 13) and took a picture looking back to the road where some others had stopped to admire the flow of the water coming from the spring (Fig. 07). The shot in (Fig. 08) is looking downstream from the tree. We then continued to drive Willow Springs Road that paralleled the stream looking for some trees that would provide a good spot for our picnic lunch. Along the way we spotted a couple of flowers (Figs. 09 & 10). We were surprised that there were so few flowers and that there were no cactus anywhere in the area. We eventually found a nice spot beneath a large shady tree, perfect for a picnic lunch. As I was leaving I spotted a horned lizard (Southern Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum) (Fig. 12). This is only the second time in my 10 years of hiking I have ever spotted one of these. He quickly scampered under a bush and refused to come out again. We then packed up and attempted to find our way back to Cold Creek (Fig. 13).

(Fig. 06)

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(Fig 13)

Go to ... Cold Creek and Bonanza Trail North Trailhead - Summary Page

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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.

Snow Pictures in the Mount Charleston Area

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This page last updated on 03/15/2020

03/13/2020 Trip Notes: On this day Jim and I took an impromptu drive up to Mount Charleston and Lee Canyon. We didn't even have our cameras; all these pictures were taken with my phone. As it was overcast it wasn't a great day for taking pictures. However they give you an idea what it is like up in the mountains after a night of snow. The temperature was just above freezing and the snow on the trees was melting and beginning to fall off the trees. Just 30 miles from the Las Vegas Strip and the valley, it gives you a glimpse of what the mountains surrounding Las Vegas can be like. Despite the poor weather, we still were able to get some fairly good pictures. The last picture, (Fig. 13), was taken of Mount Charleston from the highway a few days later.

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(Fig. 13)

Back to previous page ... Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

Sloan Canyon NCA Hikes - 05/19/2020 Trip Notes

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This page last updated on 05/25/2020

(Fig. 01)

Directions: Refer to ... Sloan Canyon NCA -Summary Page

Description of Area: Refer to ... Sloan Canyon NCA -Summary Page

Background and History: Refer to ... Sloan Canyon NCA -Summary Page

05/19/2020 Trip Notes: Today I once again attempted to make the hike to Sloan Canyon with Jim Herring and his daughter Christina. Same as the last time I attempted this hike back on 6 Feb 2020, I was unable to do much more than a mile. Today, due to the COVID-19 the visitor center trailer had been closed and removed from the site. The .07 mile Nawghaw Poa Road leading to the visitor center was barred and locked. We parked on Democracy Drive and walked up Nawghaw Poa Road. About 3/4 of the way up the road we left the road and walked southeast on a trail that led to the old parking area, and then down into the Sloan wash. We then followed the wash to where it interested with the BLM Sloan Trail 100 (Fig. 03 and 04) and then on to the intersection of the BLM Trail 100 and the BLM Trail 200. When Jim and Christina arrived at the intersection, they took Horseman's BLM Trail 200. After reaching the petroglyph area, they returned by taking the BLM Trail 100. The total distance they walked was 6.2 miles.

At this point the wind was guesting greater than 30 mph and I hiked up the stone steps on the side of the wash (Fig. 04) and headed back. I observed dozens of lizards while hiking. I actually spotted several instances of horned lizards (Fig. 05 & 06). (Southern Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum) These lizards are so well camouflaged that they are almost impossible to spot (Fig. 07). On the way back, between the festination and the wind guests, I fell forward on my face. I sprained my baby finger and bruised a rib, other that that I was okay. It could have been worse. The last 3/4 of a mile was a bitch.

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Sloan Canyon NCA - Summary Page

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.