First Creek Canyon (RRCNCA) - Summary Page

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This page last updated on 03/07/2019

(Fig. 01)

(Fig. 02)

Destination: First Creek Trailhead Distance from Point of Origin: 26.5 miles. Estimated (One Way) Travel Time: 35-40 minutes. Directions: Directions: From the Stratosphere Casino, take a right onto Las Vegas Blvd south (the Strip) to Sahara Ave. Turn right onto West Sahara Ave (NV-589) and continue to follow W. Sahara Ave for 10 miles until it turns into Desert Foothills Drive. Continue on for about 4.5 miles and turn left onto NV-159 W. Charleston Blvd. Continue to follow West Charleston Blvd NV-159 (which becomes aka Blue Diamond Road) west for about 9 miles and turn right to the trailhead and parking area (Fig. 02). Note: The trailhead can be reached from the south by driving west on Hwy 160 (Pahrump Highway) to Highway 159 (Blue Diamond Road). Turn right onto Highway 159 and drive north for about 7 miles, passing the entrance to Spring Mountain Ranch to the parking area on the left.. Area Description: This hike is wrestled between Oak Creek and Spring Mountain Ranch (Fig. 02) in the middle of the desert Cottonwood Valley, beneath the towering red-and-white Wilson Cliffs in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.. From the trailhead, the first part of the hike runs thru and area that was burned in a wildfire. However, further out the landscape is heavily vegetated with Mojave Desert Scrub vegetation. At and intersection, the main trail leads (left) into First Creek Canyon; a less defined “use-trail” heads (right) toward a small waterfall and plunge pool (when in season). Special Attraction or Point of Interest: First Creek Canyon is home to a very well known secret: the waterfall. But most people will never see it because it’s quite well hidden. Turning right at the junction (Fig. 02), the “use-trail” trail ends at a little waterfall that is surrounded by cottonwood trees, desert willows, and other shade trees around a large plunge pool cut into the surrounding conglomerate rock.  Primary Activity: Hiking and Photography Secondary Activities: Bird watching. Also be on the lookout for wild burros. Elevation: The elevation at the trailhead is 3,661 feet. Elevation at the waterfall is 3,831 feet. Best Time To Visit: Early Spring. Hike Description: This is a out-and-back hike. The hike to the waterfall is 1.2 miles. The trail that continues into First Creek Canyon and the First Creek Spring will add another 0.5 miles that requires some moderate boulder scrambling. Difficulty: Hiking across the well defined trails across the desert valley are considered easy. Once you reach wash in First Creek Canyon there will be some moderate to difficult scramble-ups depending upon how far up the canyon you hike. Facilities: None Estimated Round-trip Time: The complete round-trip hike to both the waterfall and into the canyon is about 3.5 miles and will take about 2 hours, depending upon how much time you want to spend taking pictures and enjoying the solitude and beauty of the surrounding area.  .

For more detailed information on the Wilson Cliff and Cottonwood Valley go to … Wilson Cliffs & Cottonwood Valley.

(Fig. 03)

03/07/2019 Trip Notes: Today, after a few days of heavy rain, Bob Croke, Harvey Smith, Jim Herring and I decided to attempt to hike the First Creek Trail in spite of flood warnings. For some of us this was our third visit to this trail, and we were so glad we decided to ignore the warnings. The waterfall was great. Click here for pictures and a description of this hike ... First Creek Canyon - 03/07/2019 Trip Notes. 03/03/2016 Trip Notes: Today, Robert Croke, Blake Smith and myself decided to return to First Creek Canyon in the Red Rock National Conservation Area for a second hike in hopes of seeing water at the location of the creek's waterfall. Unfortunately, even though there was considerable water flowing down First Creek, and the "plunge pool" below the area of the creek's "pour-over"/waterfall contained much more water than on our previous visit, there was no water flowing over the pour-over area. This was still yet another great morning hike, and provided many more additional picture taking opportunities. Click the following link for pictures and a description of this hike ... First Creek Canyon Hike - 03/03/2016 Trip Notes. 12/01/2015 Trip Notes: Today, Blake Smith, Robert Croke, Ron Ziance and I decided to head out to Cottonwood Valley to hike the First Creek Trail. At the trailhead (Fig. 02) the trail winds through a gate (Fig. 03), then bends southwest and crosses Oak Creek Wash. From the trailhead, seen in (Fig. 01), Indecision Peak (6,240) is on the left; in the middle at the back of the canyon is First Creek Peak (5,990); and on the right is White Pinnacle Peak (5,550). Heading westward across the gently sloping valley, about 400 feet after crossing the wash, the trail enters an area that burned in a 2006 wildfire (Fig. 04). Though some vegetation is growing back, most of the Joshua trees and other shrubby vegetation is gone. Beyond the fenced burned area, the trail begins to wander through a variety of shrubs, Joshua trees, Mojave yucca, creosote bush and blackbrush (Fig. 05). We even began to spot birds taking refuge in some of the cactus (Fig. 06). Click here to read more about this bird ... Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus). When we looked to the north (right), we could see First Creek Wash a few hundred yards in the distance.  About 0.4 miles out the trail crosses a north-south trending use-trail. The trail south leads to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, and the trail north connects with a network of trails in the Oak Creek Canyon area (Fig. 02). As the trail generally runs straight towards the mouth of First Creek Canyon, it slowly angles closer to the wash. About a mile out you encounter a junction. The main trail runs (left) toward First Creek Canyon. At the fork, take the use-trail northwest, to the right. Follow this trail about 0.10 mile toward the wash and the waterfall. Once we reached the top edge of the wash (Fig. 07), trying to ascertain exactly what the “trail” is became quite difficult. As you can see from (Fig. 07) First Creek is quite deep and wide. As it turned out, we bypassed a steep trail that led down into the bottom of the wash. (con’t below)

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05) (Fig. 06)

(Fig. 07)

Instead of heading down into the wash, we continued to follow the top south edge of the wash which eventually let us to the upper edge of the falls. Standing here, Bob peered over to take a picture (Fig. 08). By peering over this 20 foot ledge, you could see where the large plunge pool area was located, which actually had a little water in it (Fig. 09). After taking in this area we decided to continue following the upper wash area towards the mouth of the canyon (Fig. 10). Along the way we spotted a variety of interesting items; some extremely water eroded trees (Figs. 11 & 12), some unusual rocks and formations (Figs. 13 & 14), as well as some lizards and rabbits. Just as we neared a place where we thought we might be able to climb up out of the wash, we came upon the First Creek Spring (Figs. 15 thru 18). We were quite surprised that the water was actually running down the wash at a steady clip. Several pools of water were so wide and deep, that we had to do some rock hopping to cross the area without getting our shoes wet. Even for this time of year, it was amazing to us that this area was still so lush and green. It seems obvious that during the spring months, when water from winter’s melting snows is flowing, this desert area must be blooming with color. Eventually, we had to work out way up and out of the wash (Fig. 19) to find the trail leading back to the trailhead. Another trail hiker we met that was returning from deeper into the canyon informed us that he had spotted a herd of 12 Bighorns up on the cliff of the south wall of the canyon. He even show us some of the pictures he had taken. Even with this disappointment, we all had a great day and can’t wait to go back here in the Spring.

(Fig. 08)

(Fig. 09)

(Fig. 10)

(Fig. 11) (Fig. 12)

(Fig. 13) (Fig. 14)

(Fig. 15) (Fig. 16)

(Fig. 17) (Fig. 18)

(Fig. 19)

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Clicking the picture-link below will open OneDrive in a new window and a folder containing 16 pictures taken hiking all three visits to First Creek Trail. To view the show, click on the first picture in the folder and you will get the following menu bar:

Clicking the "Play slide show" will play a fullscreen window of the slide show.

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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.

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Death Valley National Park - Summary Page

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This page last updated on 03/06/2019

Billie Mine: Located in the center of the main borate mining district of Death Valley, just outside of Death Valley National Park, the now shut down Billie Mine was one of the largest Borax mines in the Ryan District. The actual national park boundary runs along the west side of the wash and road here, making both the Billie Mine site and the abandoned mining town of Ryan visible in the near distance to the south just outside of the national park. However, the shafts of the Billie mine ended up running under and into the Death Valley National Park.

The Ghost Town of Ryan: Ryan Company Town is one of the best preserved ghost towns and mining camps in the state of California. This ghost town epitomizes what the “Old West” was all about. Built in 1914, it was a company mining town built in a remote and rugged area on the side of a steep mountain on the eastern edge of Death Valley National Park that served several borax mines. Its railroads, the Death Valley Railroad and the Baby Gauge Railroad, transported the Borax ores out of the area for processing.

Dante's View: Dante's View is a viewpoint terrace at 5,476 feet on the north side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains. Overlooking Badwaater Basin and the inferno of Death Valley, it is without doubt, the most breathtaking viewpoint in the park. Both of Death Valley’s elevation extremes, Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level and due west to Telescope Peak, 11,049 feet above sea level, can be seen in a single glance.

20 Mule Team Drive: The area surrounding the 20 Mule Team Drive was created by the remarkable effects of wind, rain and erosion, this scenic drive through multicolored badlands, situated in the old Monte Blanco mining district, provides views of the stunning topography of Twenty Mule Team Canyon in Death Valley. It is a one-way, single lane road through the northern end of the Black Mountains, it goes through the Death Valley badlands area; an area of quickly eroding, soft mud mountains which were actually once the bottom of a seasonal lake a long time ago.                                                                    Zabriskie Point - Badland Loop Trail: This past week, Blake Smith, Robert Croke, Ron Ziance and I decided to drive to Death Valley National Park to hike the Badland Loop trail at Zabriskie Point. Zabriskie Point itself is an elevated overlook of a colorful, undulating landscape of gullies and mud hills at the edge of the Black Mountains, just a few miles east of Death Valley. The Badland Loop trail is a 2.2 mile hike that puts hikers right in the center of some of the most desolate, barren terrain on earth.

Furnace Creek Area: This link to the “Furnace Creek Area” is a summary page that encompasses additional links with pictures and information on many of the area’s better known sites, including but not limited to: 20 Mule Team Canyon, Zabriski Point, Harmony Borax Works, Borax Museum, Golden Canyon, Artists Drive, Devil’s Golf Course, Natural Bridge Canyon, Badwater, and the Ashford Mill Ruins.

You can view pictures of some of the wildflowers I’ve captured at some of these sites at the following page …   Death Valley National Park Flora.

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Play a Slide Show

Clicking the picture-link below will open OneDrive in a new window and a folder containing 165 pictures taken on various trips to the Death Valley National Park. To view the show, click on the first picture in the folder and you will get the following menu bar:

Clicking the "Play slide show" will play a fullscreen window of the slide show.

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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.

Valley of Fire State Park - Summary Page

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This page last updated on 03/06/2019

(Fig. 01) East Entrance

(Fig. 02) General Visitation Info: The view in (Fig. 01) is at the east entrance to the park. If you are new to the park, you should stop at the Visitor Center. Not only are there displays and vast information available, park rangers can provide detailed information on specific locations and hikes. The map in (Fig 02) shows the general location of the park’s most noted points of interest. Winters are mild with temperatures ranging from freezing to 75 degrees. Daily summer highs usually exceed 100 degrees, and may reach 120 degrees. Summer temperatures can vary widely from day to night. Average annual rainfall is four inches, coming in the form of light winter showers and summer thunderstorms. Spring and fall are the preferred seasons for visiting the Valley of Fire. From the perspective of the photographer, allow me to say that you should plan a visit here to obtain optimal sunlight for the part of Valley of Fire that you are interested in taking photos of. Time of year and time of day will have a direct impact on the outcome of your pictures. Try to be at Rainbow Vista between 9 am and noon to capture the direct sunlight on the valley below. After the sun reaches the halfway point in the sky, the shadows are from the west and increasingly obscure more of the area. The Mouse's Tank Trail is best taken closer to noon or when the sun is directly overhead. Because large parts of the trail are surrounded by high canyon walls, they will be in shadow for large parts of the day.

Due to the number of my visits here, this post was becoming quite long and unwieldy. As a result I decided to turn this page into a SUMMARY page, breaking it down into a series of separate posts by trip and location visited. Below are brief summaries of trip notes for each of my visits noting specific points of interest pertaining to the areas visited, followed by a link to the post containing detailed information and pictures for that particular trip. Fire Wave Hike:  On 02/16/2019 Bob Croke, Cynthia Pace and I took a guided hike of the Fire Wave.  Bob Croke, Cynthia Pace and myself drove to Valley of Fire for a guided hike of the Fire Wave. Even though we have each hiked this trail on more than one occasion in the past, this time we had a guided tour by Rosa Prasser, Park Interpreter for Nevada Division of State Parks, Valley of Fire State Park. In addition to this hike we had the unexpected siting of nearly 20 Desert Bighorn Sheep. Click here for pictures and descriptions for each page ... Fire Wave (VOF) - 02/16/2019 Trip Notes and Desert Bighorn Sheep - Summary Page Petrified Logs: On 11/10/2018 Ron Ziance, Bob Croke and myself joined about 12-14 others for a guided tour of an area of petrified logs that is off limits to the general public. After we left the meetup area we hiked above a long wash before descending down into the wash itself. Eventually we came to a locked gated along the fence that surrounded the area. Once inside we walked around and climbed a hillside that was just loaded with thousands of pieces of varying sizes of petrified wood. Click here for pictures and a description of this hike ... Petrified Logs at Valley of Fire State Park. Natural Arches Trail: On 09/08/2017 Bob Croke, Jim Herring and I drove to the Valley of Fire State Park to hike the Natural Arches Trail. Even though it was pouring when we left Las Vegas, the skies somewhat cleared by the time we got to the park. Once we reached the trailhead, we began the "trudge" up the very sandy wash. Even though this hike is called the Natural Arches Trail, it is actually the Fire Canyon Wash. By the time we finished this 6 mile hike we were all very tired from walking in the soft sand. On the return we actually spotted three desert bighorn sheep. Click here for pictures and a description of this hike ... Natural Arches Trail VOF - Trip Notes for 09/08/2017. Rainbow Vista/Fire Canyon Overlook Trail: On 09/09/2016 Bob Croke, Ron Ziance and myself headed out to Valley of Fire to start the first of our end of summer hikes, the Rainbow Vista Trail. This was a relative easy and short hike, however, the big surprise of the day was the spotting of eight Desert Bighorn Sheep grazing along the side of the road. Click here for pictures and description of this great hike ... Rainbow Vista and Fire Canyon Overlook Trails - Summary Page.  Fire Glow Cave: On 04/13/2016 my friend Jim Herring and myself made a trip to the Valley of Fire state park. While there today we visited and hiked three locations; a location off Atlatl Scenic Loop, Elephant Rock and the White Domes. Our goal at the Atlatl Scenic Loop location was to locate a sandstone formation called the Fire Glow Cave seen in the picture shown here. Click here for pictures and information about this site ... Fire Glow Cave (VOF) - Trip Notes for 04/13/2016.  Elephant Rock: Again on 04/13/2016, for our second second stop we hiked a short 1/3-mile at Elephant Rock. Click here for pictures and information about this site ... Elephant Rock Hikes - Summary Page.  White Domes Hike: Again on 04/13/2016 we drove to the White Domes for a picnic lunch. After lunch we hiked the 1.2-mile White Domes trail. Click here for pictures and description of this great hike ... White Domes (VOF) - Trip Notes for 04/13/2016.

• Top of The World Hike: On 02/13/2016 my hiking partner Robert Croke and myself hiked Valley of Fire's "Top of the World" hike for the second time. For today's hike we were accompanied 24 other hikers on a "guided" tour led by one of the parks' rangers. Our main purpose for signing up for this hike was to find out if there was an easier route to reach the top than the one we had previously hiked back in 2013 (see below). Click here for pictures and a description of this hike ...  Top of The World Hike (VOF) - Trip Notes for 02/13/2016. 

Duck Rock Hike: On 01/01/2016 I made another visit to the Valley of Fire with hiking partners Bob Croke and Ron Ziance, to hike the Duck Rock Trail. This somewhat strenuous, 2.65-mile loop hike was an unmarked, off-trail route that was guided by a park ranger. After assembling at the hike trailhead off of White Domes Road, a group of more than 25 headed out into a remote desert area on the northern boarder of Valley of Fire State Park. We primarily followed a series of washes and a few old roads. Click here for a link to pictures and a description of this hike … Duck Rock Hike Petroglyphs - Summary Page.

• Fire Wave and Gilbraltar Rock: On 04/23/2015 I made yet another visit to the Valley of Fire with my neighbor and hiking partner Blake Smith. As it turned out we ended joining the rock-hounds from the Henderson Senior Facility for three stops: The Cabins, Mouse’s Tank and the Fire Wave. When we reached the Trailhead for the Fire Wave hike, six of the rock-hounds decided to join us for this hike. After reaching the Fire Wave, instead of taking the trail back to the trailhead, I decided to “switch things up” by hiking the Kaolin Wash back to mile marker 5 on White Domes Road. Hiking this wash provided some stunning views and turned out to be a great decision. Click here for a link to pictures and a description of this hike … Fire Wave & Gibraltar Rock (VOF)  - Summary Page.

Silica Dome/Fire Canyon Hike: On 01/30/2014 on yet another visit to Valley of Fire State Park with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Senior Facility, Harvey Smith, Robert Croke and I decided to hike the Silica Dome/Fire Canyon at the end of Rainbow Vista Road. Even though it was kind of an overcast day, we were still able to capture a few nice photos of the rather strenuous two mile R/T hike that involved some class 3 scrambling down into Fire Canyon. Check it out here …Silica Dome Hike (VOF)

Pinnacles Hike: On New Year’s Day I attended the “2014 First Day Guided Hikes” here with my hiking friends, Harvey Smith and Robert Croke. It was just a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 60’s. Because we arrived early, we hiked Mouse’s Tank and Petroglyph Canyon first on our own. This hike provided us with a little “warm’up”, as well as hundreds of ancient petroglyphs. Check it out here …Mouse's Tank. Our main hike was a guided 5-mile R/T hike to the Pinnacles, with 15 other hikers in the group. Because we still had the morning sun, I was able to get some very colorful pictures like the one shown here. Check it out here … Pinnacles Hike (VOF).

Top of The World Hike: Today I made another trip to Valley of Fire to hike the “Top of the World Arch” hike. Having failed on my previous attempt, this time I was armed with a group of map printouts, and was determined to find the arch on this trip. I was joined by Bob Croke, one of my rock-hound hiking partners. Even though it took us longer than we expected, we finally made it to the top. Click here to check it out … Top of the World Arch Hike (VOF) - Trip Notes for 12/13/2013.

Click to Enlarge The Cabins: On 12/05/2013 with the Rock-hounds from the Henderson Senior Facility, I hit two spots that I had been to before; a place called The Cabins and a hike to a location called, The Top of the World Arch Hike. While five of us tried to find the trail to the Top of the World Arch, the remainder of the group hiked various locations including the Fire Wave and Mouse’s Tank (scroll down to links below). Before leaving the park for our journey home, we all enjoyed lunch in the picnic area next to The Cabins. Top of the World Arch (VOF) - Trip Notes for 12/05/2013

Fire Wave and Gibraltar Rock: On New Year’s day my friend Harvey Smith and I drove to Valley of Fire for two guided hikes; one to the Fire Wave and one labeled as the “Top of the World Hike” along White Domes Road. This was actually my second visit to the Fire Wave, but got to hike more of the surrounding area on this hike. For the second hike we arrived early at the designated trailhead location and decided to try the hike on our own. Unfortunately we headed out on what we thought was the trail only to discover that it did not lead us to the top of the ridge line that we had picked out.  In spite of this, we still had a very nice 2-1/2 hour hike through some gorgeous desert, dry washes and narrow ravines that led to the base of the mountains. Link to … Fire Wave & Gibraltar Rock (VOF) - Summary Page. Link to ...  Search for Top of the World Arch - Trip Notes for 01/01/2013

• General Sites: This visit was just quick tour with visiting company that included stopping at the parks' most noted sites. Probably the most notable thing about this visit was the spotting of a small herd of Desert Bighorn Sheep just before entering the park’s west entrance. (refer to the map in (Fig. 02) above for their locations).
  Link to ... Bighorn Sheep Sighting (VOF) - Trip Notes for 12-01-2012
  
      
• Fire Wave & Cabins: On 06/28/2012 my neighbor Marc Resnick and I hit two spots that neither of us had been to before; a place called The Cabins and a hike to a location called the Fire Wave. (refer to the map in (Fig. 02) above for their locations).
  Link to ... The Cabins and Fire Wave (VOF) - 06/28/2012 Trip Notes
     
• Desert Bighorn Sheep: On 03/22/2012, After a hike to the Buffington Pockets in the Muddy Mountains, our group drove through the park, making a potty stop at the visitor center on our way home. Just after entering the park from its western entrance, we came upon a lone, rather emaciated Desert Bighorn Sheep.
  Valley of Fire-Trip Notes for 03-22-2012 (Bighorn Sheep)   
    
• Rainbow Vista: On 03/14/2012, today’s visit we lunched with my sister Bonnie and her husband Paul in the picnic area overlooking Rainbow Vista. This is without a doubt the most colorful area within the park and should not be missed.
  Rainbow Vista (VOF) - Trip Notes for 03/14/2012
  
      
• Genera1 Sites: On 01/13/2011, with Connie's brother Rick, we tried to hit as many of the well known picture taking spots as we could fit in. Among others, we stopped at Silica Dome, Rainbow Vista, Atlatl Rock, Beehives, Arch Rock and Elephant Rock. (refer to the map in (Fig. 02) above for their locations).
  Link to ...Valley of Fire - Trip Notes for 11/13/2011 (Atlatl Rock, Elephant Rock, etc.)

In an effort to add a little color to this page, I decided to group some of the plant life pictures I've captured over time. For some unknown reason, I have yet to visit here during the spring months when the plant life would be most prominent. Even still, my various visits have provided me with very interesting rock faces as well a variety of plant life. This coming year I think I will make a concerted effort to visit during the wetter months of spring in hope of capturing more wildflowers and plant life.

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Play a Slide Show

Clicking the picture-link below will open OneDrive in a new window and a folder containing 211 pictures taken of numerous trips to the Valley of Fire State Park. To view the show, click on the first picture in the folder and you will get the following menu bar:

Clicking the "Play slide show" will play a fullscreen window of the slide show.

___________________________________________________

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.