Blue Diamond Hill is located on BLM land across the road from Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, so there are no fees for day use activities. The Hill contains numerous hiking and biking trails that are accessible from a parking lot adjacent to Nevada State Highway 159. And, for those that are not interested in hiking or biking, horse rentals are also available. Since the canyon trails often have Class 3 pour-overs that horses can not negotiate, hiking in the canyons is preferable because you are less likely to step in something that you will likely regret -- the horses generally stay on the ridge trails.
Near the parking lot is the home of "Jackson" and his friends that are from the Red Rock Herd Management Area. "Jackson" was a wild burro (donkey) adopted in 2012 as a nuisance burro from a pack of animals that were turned loose by miners over a century ago. Occasionally wild burros and horses can still be seen in the area and they are protected by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
The horse rental corrals are just a short distance up a gravel road at the entrance to Fossil Canyon.
A short distance up Fossil Canyon, Cave Canyon drainage enters the wash from the left (east). Just before we reached the junction, a number of wild burros greeted us with all kind of sounds that I will not go into. We also saw burros on our return trip to the parking lot.
Cave Canyon received its name because several caves are located in the canyon. Over the years the caves were vandalized, so the entrance gates on the inside of the caves are now locked. The gates also protect the bat populations and Desert Woodrats that live in the caves. Consequently, because of these cave dwellers, there are large quantities of midden in the caves and it is not healthy for humans to breathe the dust. (You do not want to know what is in the midden.)
There is considerable banding on the canyon walls and interesting fossils from the Paleozoic Era can be found throughout the canyon.
Part way up the canyon is a former Class 4 pour-over that has been changed to a Class 3 climb by some ambitious hikers that built a platform several feet high to make the climb easier.
January is not the prettiest time in the desert because most plants and grasses are dormant -- come February, things will start to change!
After arriving at the top of the canyon, we followed a "Trail" that did not lead back to the parking lot as we had anticipated, so we did some cross-country hiking, ended up in Fossil Canyon, and followed it back to the parking lot.
Although the hike was only a little over five miles, with all of the rock scrambling it seemed a lot longer. We even found some words of encouragement just before reaching the parking lot!
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