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| Hiking | 8.34 Miles |
1,586 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.34 Miles | 3 Hrs 13 Mns | | 2.59 mph |
| 1,586 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was wife & I's sixth romantic, early Christmas, Las Vegas getaway in the past seven years. We don’t gamble much, but usually manage to come away with a small profit ($60). Mostly, we visit family, take in a museum, see a show and, for me, hike. This year, it was the National Atomic Testing Museum, Dave Landau (a hilarious comic: http://davelandau.com/ ), and the White Rock – La Madre Spring Loop.
(Before the shooting, we had considered trying out Mandalay Bay, but now that would be bad juju. We did check out the Ri Ra Irish Pub, though.
I again hiked clockwise, as I prefer to warm up my legs for a mile or two before I begin climbing.
I stopped by White Rock Spring. the spring box was full, and fairly clear, with some floating greenery of the non-slimey variety. Possibly the most interesting thing I saw all day were the seeds / eggs along the edge of the cement box. They looked like large tomato seeds. There were tons of them.
The petroglyphs I expected at the Willow Creek Picnic Area, and which signage indicated should have been directly in front of me, at the base of White Rock Hills, were not there. And I took my time looking. Apparently, the Petroglyph Wall Trail (.25 miles, 25 AEG), on the south side of Rocky Gap Rd. has petroglyphs. If I had known that at the time, I would have checked it out. Instead, I was bummed.
I made the mistake of trying to follow a trail out of the picnic area, and ended up in a small wet land, inadvertently threatening some protected snail species or another. Sacre bleu!
A quarter mile short of La Madre Spring, there are two old ranches. All that remains is the foundation and a bit of piping. Looks like they had indoor plumbing via the spring. It's a shame the feds tore them down, instead of renting them as cabins, because they had sweet views.
La Madre Spring was flowing pretty good, and the water was clear. But I am a wuss, so I didn't drink it and forgot to dip my toes in it. I was focused on taking photos & video. La Madre Spring had plenty of wet land type grasses, and even an old dam. Getting down in the creek, and improvising a rocky 'tripod' got me some decent flow video.
It was a short jaunt back to the loop trail at the base of the White Rock Hills. I passed seven people on their way up, so figured if I was to take a trailside pee, I best do it now, before the circus showed up. Good call. I encountered several dozen more people the final 2.5 miles back to the White Rock Trailhead.
On the 40 minute hike up to the saddle at the north end of the White Rock Hills, the junipers were loaded with berries. I spent most of that time closely scanning the skyline and crevasses of White Rock Hills, hoping to see some big horn. No such luck. Struck out two straight visits. Still the only big horn I’ve seen in Nevada was a male crossing the road in Valley of Fire.
At the saddle, even though I was on a high point, with clear line of sight towards Las Vegas, I had zero bars Verizon reception. Tweeting some hike pix would have to wait.
On the way from the saddle down to the White Rock TH, there some decent views of the Calico Hills and, in the distance, Blue Diamond Hill. but for the most part the scenic stuff was behind me. Speaking of which, there were zero flowers on this hike, not even on the few cacti. (Nevada hiking is much less stabby than Arizona.)
After a shower, it was off to the MGM Grand, fighting through the rodeo finals crowd, to see Dave Landau. My wife died laughing. 
Hike Video: [ youtube video ]
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La Madre Spring |
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| | | Going pretty good. Loud in spots. Clean since there's nothing upwash. | | _____________________
| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
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On the shadier part of the loop, there was more snow than when I was here 2 weeks ago - not enough to be dangerous or difficult, just a fun change of pace.
