A Late Goodbye Hike: Ice Box Canyon at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

 

Date: December 31, 2020

Place: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas, Nevada

Coordinates: 36.150162, -115.484015

Length: 3.1 miles

Level: moderate to strenuous (reaching the end involves rock scrambling). 

 

The Icebox Canyon Hike was the last hike we planned on our second day visiting the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. This beautiful park was the main destination of our 2020 winter family vacation, when we got to explore nature around Las Vegas.

The trailhead of the Icebox Canyon Trail is only a short distance south of the Lost Creek Trailhead. We got there in a couple of minutes drive, parked, and started up the trail, heading westward into the Rainbow Mountains.

Our hike as captured by my GPS

 This time it was easy to see where we were going - the Icebox Canyon mouth was straight ahead of us and there was no meandering of the trail.

Icebox Canyon Trail

On our way from the road to the mountains we crossed again the big dry wash that collected all the creek tributaries coming down the La Madre and the Rainbow Mountains and spilling southeast towards Las Vegas.

Between the big wash and the Rainbow Mountain were the mild slopes of the alluvial fans - the soil and stones carried down the mountain by the creeks, when they flowed. This alluvial fan was certainly stable enough to support a nice array of plant life, of mostly low shrubs and cholla cacti.

The trail cut straight ahead through the alluvial fan into the canyon mouth. We walked fast as usual with myself at the rear. 

Every now and then I paused to take a closer look at a plant or at an interesting rock, and then I would have to hasten to catch up with the rest of my family. 

Mohave Yucca, Yucca schidigera

I do not have much knowledge in geology but I do know enough to tell that the lines on this huge boulder that we saw just outside the canyon are a telltale of short (in geological time) periods of shallow flooding that formed thin sedimentation layers where this rock was formed. 

I looked north at the gathering clouds. Was it raining on the La Madre Mountains? The clouds were very low but also very local. 

The Icebox Canyon walls funneled outward before us. There were many more large boulders here, and also thicker, taller vegetation. The trail started zigzagging between the rocks and the bushes and although I was trailing behind, it frequently looked like I was hiking on my own. 

Icebox Canyon Trail

Some of the tall bushes in the Icebox Canyon were in fact the same species of small trees that I've seen before in the earlier hikes in Red Rock Canyon NCA - they were junipers and pinyon pines. The junipers were laden with berries - they had a good year.

Juniper

Some of the pinyon pine trees were actually a real tree-size trees, not merely tall bushes. Other tall plants lined up the canyon, looking healthy and well watered. I wondered if the prolonged drought did not affect this area at all. Seeing how local the weather could be there in the high desert, that might have been the case. 

I turned around and looked behind me, to the northeast. A thin strip of sunlight was illuminating the foothills of La Madre Mountains and the peak of Turtlehead Mountain that peeked from behind another, cloud-shaded hill in the foreground. 

Turning my attention again to the cliffs of the Rainbow Mountains. For most of this cloudy day the rocks looked gray and dreary but up close I could see the red sandstone layers below, caved in by water erosion.

Although I took many photos on the way, it actually didn't take long al all for us to get level with the Icebox Canyon mouth. From that point, we would walk right between these tall rock walls, all the way to where we couldn't continue anymore without a rope.

Icebox Canyon

From that point however, the hike became much more challenging. The trail was all but gone. Instead, we were walking in the wash bed, having to go over and around rocks and boulders that grew bigger and bigger the deeper we went inside the canyon. 

This part of the hike necessitated careful attention of each step. Some of the rocks on the way were worthy of close attention for reasons other than simply being in the way.

Layered Rock

The rocks were getting larger and larger as we penetrated deeper into the Icebox Canyon. More and more we needed to use our hands to scramble over massive boulders that looked as if they fell off the canyon wall only recently. Sadly, some of the boulders were defaced with ugly graffiti.

The canyon narrowed and the rock walls closed in on us. The clouds settled right over head, darkening the sky and diminishing the light inside the canyon. Other than a few other hikers, the place was very quiet - there was no wind inside the canyon, and we saw no animals, and heard no birds. 

I enjoyed the beauty of the rock layers, exposed by the carving of the water when it flower in the wash. The rest of my family however, seemed oblivious to the sleek rocks and moved along without giving them a second glance. 

There was no more trail. Not even a hint of trail. Going up the wash became more and more challenging. Pappa Quail wondered aloud how far should we go. There was a dry waterfall at the end of the trail and I wanted to go all the way there, but people whom we saw coming down the canyon told us the ascent was becoming more difficult. 

We came to a canyon block made of two huge boulders. Behind them I thought I could see the end of the trail and the dry waterfall. It took us a few minutes to find a way to get up and over the boulders but by the time we started climbing them the elder chika said she was done going up. She was still sour about missing that juniper titmouse bird at the Lost Creek trailhead, something which took much of her excitement from this hike. She said she was tired and that she didn't want to go on. The rest of us did want to continue to the end so we asked that she'd stay by the large boulders and wait for us there until we returned. She plopped herself below the boulder, sitting with her back to the rock, facing the canyon mouth. I left a bottle of water with her and we commenced climbing up the canyon. 

A short distance past the large boulders we came upon a dry waterfall. It seemed a bit small to be what the hike's description said. the riddle was solved when we saw a couple of hikers coming down from above - this wasn't THE waterfall, just a small one on the way. 

The rock of the dry waterfall was very sleek and smooth. It took us some feeling around to find the proper hand and foot holds and climb to the ledge above it. 

At the top of small waterfall I turned around and looked at the way we walked from where we left the elder chika. The vegetation looked much thicker from above than it was when we walked through it. 

Past the first, smaller waterfall I took the lead. The next bit of climbing looked even more treacherous - it involved going on a thin, sloped line up the side of a very sleek rock, smoothed by water and many other visitors' feet. I suggested to my younger chika who always was hesitant when it came to rock climbing to remain below this one, but to my surprise she came up that path without hesitation. I thought it a good lesson to not second guess what affects people who are not me. Pappa Quail came up the rock behind our chika.

We made it to the end of the trail. before us was a large, dry waterfall, narrow, smooth and beautiful. I don't know how large is the watershed of the Icebox Canyon, but at a large enough precipitation event, a powerful flush flood would push a big volume of water through this very narrow passage, generating an immense erosion force. 

I contemplated climbing further up but Pappa Quail dissuaded me. I might have been able to go up but coming back down would have been problematic. I have no doubt that other people have climbed all the way up, but I was not a rock climber. That was where we turned around and started back down the canyon.

From the higher rock ledge I had a good view of the Icebox Canyon below me. From this point of view it was clear how the 'box' part of the canyon's name came was inspired. I could only guess that the "ice" part of the name came from times when the depth of this canyon was the coolest place in the area to hide from the desert heat.

I regretted that my elder chika didn't come all the way up to the dry waterfalls. She usually enjoys very much that kind of multifaceted hikes with variable terrain. She however, was completely fine with not having gone there. When we returned to the large boulder where she was waiting, we found here in a much better mood, all relaxed and chatty. She had the opportunity to make friends with a number of hikers and discuss birding with them. When she saw us she was definitely ready to head back out of the canyon.

Now familiar with the path obstacles, we made it back to the canyon mouth fairly quickly. There was no more stopping on the way - now we were racing the sunset.

The Calico Hills were straight ahead, east of the Icebox Canyon. Pausing at the canyon mouth, I took a moment to admire the late rays of the sunlight shining on the distant, colorful rocks.

Calico Hills

There was still more colors right below our feet - in this case I believe the orange and yellow lines are not of different sedimentation but of mineral leaching during flooded times. Another possibility is that these colors have a biological source - bacteria or lichen, but I had not the knowledge to tell.

By the time we were out in the open the sun was already setting, illuminating only the higher cloud mass on the east. Turtlehead Mou8ntain and the pyramidal hill obscuring most of it were already in the dusk.

I had enough light to take a good photo of the very healthy looking cholla cactus near the end of the trail. It wasn't even 5 pm yet, but winter days are short and it was getting dark and very cold. It was time to call it a day and head out of the park.

Cholla Cactus, Cylindropuntia sp.

The Icebox Canyon hike was the last of three hikes we did that day in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, and the fifth altogether in this park. I can say that we covered most of this park's interesting trails, but there are more to hike next time we'll be visiting this place. This was also the last full day of our 2020 winter family vacation. On the morrow, on New Year's Day of 2021, we would visit the Clack County Birding Center for the second and last time, then take off on the long drive back home, to shutdown California, hoping for a better year to roll in on us.

 

 

 

Finding the Lost Creek and the Petroglyph Wall at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

 

Date: December 31, 2020
Place: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas, Nevada
Coordinates: 36.161113, -115.498838
Length: 2.2 miles
Level: easy

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a big enough place to merit more than a single day's visit. On our winter of 2020 family vacation to the larger Las Vegas area we visited Red Rock Canyon NCA twice. On the first visit we hiked the Calico Hills Trail and the Calico Tanks Trail, and in the morning of our second visit we hiked the Keystone Thrust Trail, a nice hike that ended with a bit of a weather damper. 
The weather cleared up fairly fast after our morning hike. We ate a picnic lunch at the Petroglyph Wall trailhead where there was a picnic area. Then the elder chika spotted a little bush bird in the nearby Juniper and got all excited. She thought it was a Juniper titmouse - a lifer for her, and wanted to get the bird's photo. She an Pappa Quail were busy for many long minutes trying to spot that bird again. Eventually they gave up, hoping that they'll see it, or more of its species on the trail we were about to hike. 

I was content with the place's geology - the beautiful rock formations and the colorful boulders that flanked the picnic area. 

The Lost Creek trailhead was about half a mile down the road but there was a trail going there and back on both sides of the road so we didn't need to move the car or walk on the asphalt. We started hiking the trail that run northeast of the pavement, going southeast. 

The trail that paralleled the road on the northeast was a nice gravel path with open views down to the valley. It was easy to walk on and we made good, quick progress.

As usual, my family walked ahead and I fell behind, pausing here and there to check out the local vegetation. It didn't matter that I've already seen these plants many times on other hikes in this park. 

Pine, Pinus sp.

Especially I enjoyed the cacti that grew there between the other shrubs. More than any other plant perhaps, the cactus symbolizes the desert to me. The plant that stores so much moisture inside its stems and protects it with those nasty thorns. Yet when it blooms, the cactus has the most gorgeous and accessible flowers. We weren't hiking there during the bloom season, so I enjoyed seeing the cacti without their flowers. 

Cholla Cactus, Cylindropuntia sp.

It didn't take long before we made it to the parking lot south of where we parked, where the Lost Creek trailhead was. There was very little traffic on the road. We crossed it and immediately went on the trail to the Lost Creek. 

The Lost Creek Trail was leading us directly to the Rainbow Mountains. I couldn't tell which creek opening was the one we were going too - there were several of them coming down the mountain ahead of us. 

Lost Creek Trail

Like the cacti, yucca plants are also very much a symbol of the desert. They too are  succulent but their thorns are not covering the entire leaf surface. Still, not many animals eat the yucca leaves for their moisture. 

Mohave Yucca, Yucca schidigera

Unlike the Keystone Thrust Trail, the Lost Creek Trail had plenty of information signs along the path. It was nice to read about the nature and the history of the area as we moved along the trail. 

Lost Creek Trail

We crossed a large wash before delving into the mountains. The wash was flanked by large bushes and shrubs. The wash bed was littered with large stones, indicative of its flow power when it floods. Thick clouds hung by the La Madre Mountains on the north, where we had hiked earlier that morning, though it didn't look like any precipitation there would result in a flow down where we were. At least, not at that time. 

We saw the information sign posted by the spring of Lost Creek before we saw the water. The sign said that this spring was flowing year-round. The flow was well hidden beneath the vegetation, accessible to animals only. The sign also said that the area had been replanted with native species after much damage cause there by humans trampling around the water. The information sign told us about an endemic and endangered species of snail that lives in the spring water of Red Roc Canyon NCA, including at Lost Creek. We didn't get to see the snails.

Lost Creek Spring

It looked like we were getting to a dead end of the trail. We had to do some scrambling through thick riparian vegetation but right ahead of us were sheer rock cliffs and no way up for regular hikers who don't practice rock climbing. 

When we emerged from the vegetation we found ourselves at the bottom of a dry waterfall. The only way up that would be with climbing gear. That meant, not us. The rocks above us carried the marks of many years' seasonal water flow. 

Rock climbing is practiced regularly at Red Rock Canyon NCA. Another sign posted by the Lost Creek Trail informed us that this locale is one of the popular climbing sites in the park, but we haven't seen any rock climbers there that day. 

We looked around for a while, but eventually we turned around and started back down the trail, plunging again into the thick bushes that thrived on the underground moisture of the creek. 

Once outside of the vegetation and the mountain part of the Lost Creek we started northeast on the trail that paralleled the road on the south. This trail stretched below the foothills of the Rainbow Mountains and the rock formations along the path were very pretty. More information signs were posted along that trail, some of them telling about the native people of this area and their traditional, pre-contact practices. 

From this part of the trail we had a very nice view of the Turtlehead Mountain on the east side of the park. The peak of the mountain was brightly illuminated. 

Turtlehead Mountain

We walked past an area that was marked as prehistoric kitchen, where the native people dug large pits where they roasted agave cores. I would love to try roasted agave if I only knew where to have it. 

We continued along the large wash that we crossed when we started on the Lost Creek Trail. Many of the stones that littered the wash bed had some very interesting patterns that looked almost like they were drawn by a human artist. 

Going north, we now had the view ahead of the La Madre Mountains peeking through between the sandstone hills that flanked the wash we were walking on. The clouds were still hanging over on the north, but they seemed to be receding, revealing mire blue sky.  

To balance off the emerging blue sky on the north, more clouds were gathering south of us, moving slowly over the Rainbow Mountains. 

We reached the Petroglyph Wall Trail and took it right to the dark rock wall that was inscribed with numerous petroglyph images. Many of these symbols were completely abstract to me, although some of them reminded me the petroglyphs that we saw at Sloan Canyon on the first day of our trip. 

The wall was covered all the way up and down, left and right, but much of it was obscured by the vegetation, and it was clear that the park's authorities didn't wish for people to get too close to these artifacts. 

At least in one of the corners of the rocky canvas it was clear that it wasn't human hands that damaged the paleolithic art - a piece of the outer rock had eroded away. 

By the time we finished admiring the petroglyphs and got back to the outer, large wash that separated us from the parking lot, the clouds had moved away again. 

The elder chika wanted to stay longer at the parking lt, hoping to see the elusive juniper titmouse again, but we had about three hours of daylight left and we decided to move on immediately and hike as far as we could into the Icebox Canyon, which a bit further south if the Lost Creek Trail.