Lake Mead Natl Rec Area

[Bluegreen kayak]

Last fall, instead of staying only a night at Lake Mead on my way to DV, I decided to try some of the trails there. I had done part of the Historic Railroad Trail before, and the River Mountains Loop was too long, so I hiked the remaining seven on the handout from the visitor center. I started with the farthest north trail and worked my way down (lots of driving). There are great geological features as one might expect in this close to the Valley of Fire; here's some colorful hillsides I spotted from the road.



[img]Colorful mtns by road by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]



The first was St. Thomas trail, a loop through a town that was flooded when the dam was built and has reappeared. It had interesting ruins and educational signs.

Next was Redstone Dune Trail, wandering amid gorgeous red sandstone. Folks have explored all over the area so much that instead of one track, there are myriad threads all over the place. I liked this one a lot; it was like a playground for exploring.

[img]Redstone sign by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Redstone area by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Redstone rock 1 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Redstone rock 2 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Redstone rock 3 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Redstone rock 4 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]

Continuing south, I climbed Northshore Summit. It was only 1/4 mile to go 200 ft up, but very steep and loose rocks. The view was excellent.
[img]Northshore Summit sign by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Northshore Summit view by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]


I finished the first day with the Wetlands trail - very short with lots of birds and bugs. It always amuses me to find water in the desert.
[img]Wetlands trail by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]


Second day, I went straight to Owl Canyon, which I had been told had a slot section. It's not very long, but if you're in Las Vegas and want to show someone what a slot canyon is, it would be quick. Trail starts with a steep descent but the rest of it was easy.
[img]Owl Canyon sign by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Owl Canyon trailhead by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]

(There's only one slot; the numbering is for the pictures.)
[img]Owl Canyon slot 2 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Owl Canyon slot 1 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Owl Canyon slot 4 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Owl Canyon slot 5 by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]

Part of the way through you take these culverts under the road. They're large; even a tall person wouldn't be able to reach the top.
[img]Owl Canyon tunnels by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]

I continued a long way up the canyon where it was much wider, just because I was happy to be out there, and was rewarded with interesting rocks, including a hill top that looked like the dog from Disney's Lady and the Tramp.
[img]Owl Canyon rocks by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]
[img]Lady from Disney film by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]

I hiked the Callville Summit trail, but didn't care for it much. I think my son would express it as "Meh." The last trail was Bluffs, which was a delightful walk across the high ground, out and back. This is the view towards the end point.
[img]Bluffs Trail view by Patricia Boylan, on Flickr[/img]

It was a nice delay and a good warm-up before the real hiking in DV. I hope the pictures come through better this time; they looked okay in preview.

[Kauri]

Beautiful photos!! Thank you for sharing this trip report.

[GowerGulch42]

Very cool! Looks like a very interesting area!

[netllama]

Thanks for sharing. I, too, only did the short railroad trail a bunch of years ago. Definitely need to check out more of that area when i'm out there next time.

[MojaveGeek]

Nice pix, thanks! Lake Mead does have a lot to offer and close to LV. There's a lot more out there too! Jim's site, birdandhike.com, has tons of info. I really like Bowl of Fire and just across the road Mt. Hamblin. Your photos do the place justice, and thanks for the Redstone ones, I've not been there (yet)