I sent a text to a friend to see how he was doing and asked if he was interested in going on a hike. He replied that he had COVID-15. Somewhat puzzled, I responded asking if COVID-15 was a new strain of COVID-19. He then responded that COVID-15 was not a strain of COVID-19, but an effect - he had gained 15 pounds by not getting out and exercising for the past nine months. He was definitely interested in going for a hike!
When we arrived at the east side of mountains, I did not even recognize the place. What I remember as a remote desert area was now filled with houses and other developments. The dry wash that had been used as 4-wheel drive trail was fenced to keep vehicular traffic out and there was a paved traihead parking lot with restrooms. My friend said that he and his son had been hiking in this area about 2-3 years ago and they had to park in a dirt area along the side of the road, so the parking lot improvements must be fairly new.
A USGS 24K Topographic Map of the area indicated there was one main trail that went up the dry wash and the trail connected to a few other trails farther up the canyon. Now there are several trails that start from the parking lot and each trail splits several times and connects with numerous other trails. Actually, the area is now a large maze of interconnecting trails. It was obvious this area is popular with hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrian people. The trails now even have names. It was obvious that USGS needs to update their Topographic Maps!
Having several trail choices, we decided to follow The Burbes South Trail on the south side of the dry wash that ran westward into the mountain range.
Within a short distance from the trailhead we passed by a new housing development and then the trail meandered in and out of several small canyons. There were a number of caves in the canyon walls, but the caves were shallow and appeared to be used as animal shelters.
After we had traveled about 2.5 miles when we came to several rock-scrabble areas in the canyon. Since it was getting late, and my gps unit was not working, we decided to backtrack to the junction with the Black Friday Trail for our trip back.
The Black Friday Trail ran north out of the wash and then soon started a gradual downhill decent paralleling the main dry wash. While following the Black Friday Trail it connected with several other trails as we made out way back to the parking lot and our vehicle.
On the hike we had observed several other trails and canyons that looked inviting, so we will probably return sometime to try other trails in the area.
Kolohe was teaching school and missed this hike; thus, no bonus pictures.
 |
| Looking backward (east) toward Las Vegas |
 |
| Large Cave Entrance |
No comments:
Post a Comment