[yew]

Part One Down in northwest Arizona to visit family and do some hiking and camping and get a break from wet, gloomy western Washington weather. This hike is White Rock Canyon in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, east of Boulder City, NV and east of Hoover Dam. It's one of the only official trails in the Rec Area. Unfortunately, I only had enough time to hike down about 1.5 miles into the canyon wash before it was dark.

The canyon wash scenery improves as you get closer to the Colorado River because the canyon walls get higher.

If you're into geology, this place is great! So many rocks, and they are exposed. Many inclusions, mineral streaks, different rocks layers and most is very old igneous rock. A few wildflowers were blooming but the light was not good so I didn't post them.

This is not a good place to be during a summer thunderstorm due to flash fllod potential as evidenced by polished dry waterfalls. It was about 75 degrees and sunny, dropping to 40 degrees at night. Read it and weep, suckas! If all goes as planned, the real hiking has yet to begin. That's why this TR is Part 1. And, how could I forget? People in Las Vegas drive like total maniacs.

[TrailPair]

We like the desert hikes. Way alien to what we usually see in the mossy NW.

[Quark]

I'm ready for Part Two.

[Damian]

Not so fast Quark. I'm still weeping.

[Oren]

[Tazz]

[Dean]

Sure yew_betula, you had to go bring up the nice dry weather of NW Arizona (and southern nevada for that matter). I got snow on my trip to Las Vegas last month (see Hayford Peak TR) and you get sun. Where is the justice? And yes, Las Vegans drive like idiots but I think the drivers in Salt Lake City are worse. Scares me every time I go through there. I'm looking forward to part 2. Some neat peaks in that area are Spirit Mountain (near Searchlight), Haulapai Peak (near Kingman) and just about anything else (at this time of year) Have fun and stay dry.

[yew]

Part Two: Arrastra Mountains Wilderness Spent 4 days exploring the Arrastra Mountains Wilderness. This area is the largest Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wilderness Area in Arizona. It is where the Sonoran Desert meets the Mohave Desert so there's saguaro cactus as well as yucca, paloverde, cholla and Joshua trees, plants more representative of the Mohave. Backpacker magazine has an article on this place. The first day, I tried to make it to the lower end of Peeple's Canyon (Peoples?) from the junction of the Santa Maria River and Hwy. 93. The rental car company gave me a little Yellow chevy with California plates (color & make to discourage theft but plates to encourage vandals?). A truck with WY plates pulling a horse trailer pulled up. I parked then walked down a sandy wash parallelling the road to Shiprock. Shiprock is not in the Wilderness Area but is close.

From there hiking was on a sandy jeep road toward the Santa Maria River. Saw a lot of Gambel's quail and 2 burros. I think this area is Black Canyon Wash but I could be wrong about that. Made it to an old mine then cut upstream and saw a dead cow in "the river".

Made it to the end of the sandy jeep road and the Wilderness boundary which was still atleast another 2 miles from the bottom of Peeple's Canyon which I had to forego. It took a lot longer than I expected to reach this point and I got a late start so looped around the hard way, cross-country via a high ridge below Ives Peak, scrambling on rotten rock at times to avoid the jeep road on the way back. Had good views down to the river on the ridge.

Burro trails are the way to go on ridges to avoid the cholla, catclaw and other spiky plants. Crumbly, loose rock in places. Then down the other side for different views of Shiprock.

Saw 2 burros on the way out. Next day, I awoke to rain - exactly 24 raindrops over 4 minutes. Quite a deluge. drove to the other side of the Wilderness near Signal but not all the way. The 17 Mile road is passable by a passenger car if you drive slowly and carefully. I hiked over, on and down many arroyos, ridges and washes to Hackberry Canyon as recommended in "Exploring Arizona's Wild Areas" by Scott Warren. Hackberry Canyon is particularly interesting where it becomes "deeply incised".

The deep incision shows the geologic layers very well. Even a geology layperson such as myself can marvel at the many differing sedimentary and igneous layers. Hackberry Wash mellows out lower down and that is where I saw ATV tracks which are illegal in this Wilderness Area.

Made it to the bottom of Hackberry Canyon to the Big Sandy River and took this shot which is just like the one in Mr Warren's book.

I was dismayed to see even more illegal ATV tracks running right up the mudflats in the Big Sandy River.

On the way back, I veered a little off-course and saw a desert tortoise shell. A live one would've been much better. Next day, it was time for a real hike, an overnighter down to the Big Sandy. I walked up the 4WD road that cherry-stems south into the Wilderness to Arrowweed Spring. This 4WD road would make a great mountain bike trip; it is winds up and down and side to side and is up on the plateau for great views for miles. Here's the Poachie Mountains.

Headed into the Wilderness at the end of the road and followed a wash over to a side canyon of Government Wash. The geology was cool here. Could see more alternating igneous and sedimentary layers, breccias, inclusions, etc.

Government Wash is pretty big and wide. We'd call it a "coulee". It was starting to get hot and sunny. You know it's hot & sunny when you see a lot of lizards darting around. ATV tracks in Gov't Wash, miles deep within the Wilderness boundary . My feet started to hurt. They've gotten awfully soft and white over the winter. Made it to the Big Sandy, about 2 miles downstream from the mouth of Hackberry Wash. Very nice. Quite the oasis of wildlife due to the riparian area with cottonwood trees, willows and cattails. ATV tracks straight up the river bottom, in the mud, over grass. Beautiful verdant green riparianess and associated biodiversity in the desert with ducks, minnows, algae, a toad or frog, butterflies, a big yellow beetle, many insects and Gambel's quail. Made camp about 1/2 mile downstream up on a sandbar and walked around barefoot on warm sand. While washing dishes, I heard a snort noise and footsteps. I thought it was that huge, longhorn bull I saw earlier so I said "Whoa, cow!" to avoid a goring surprise but instead I saw a little black pig, a collared peccary a.k.a. javelina. It snorted and thrashed off into the brush after we watched each other for a few seconds. There was a lot of wildlife activity that evening. Bats circled around, many songbirds, toad croaks that almost sound like screams ans quails with comical chirps, peeps and fluttering about. Unfortunately, I could not sleep out and had to set up the tent due to mosquitoes and gnats.

Next morning the sun hit Artillery Peak

and the mountains across the river

for some nice colors. Here's movies from the campsite: It was hot on the way back up Gov't Wash. Got a mild sunburn and drank all 3/4 gallons of my good water just one hike back. I filtered water from the Big Sandy with a bandanna and gave it a double dose of Aqua Mira but it was still cloudy and upset my stomach. The 4WD road walk from Arrowweed Spring to the 17 Mile Road wasn't as much fun in the heat and sun and since it's a road. Not done quite yet. To be continued...

[Magellan]

Wow, bravo! I'm glad you didn't have to go to jail for clocking ATV riders.

[yew]

No, they weren't around, Thank God. They should go to jail for such blantant violations of the Code of Federal Regulations. Too bad there's no BLM officer for miles and miles and miles.

[Elliott Haybaler]

Yew, did you see any scorpions or snakes? I was hiking around in Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire last week (awesome!!!!) and that was on my mind a lot, especially because I was in alternating sunny and shady areas. That would be my one concern about sleeping in the desert......scorpions! Interesting pictures and story! Thanks for sharing....

[yew]

Part Three The last hike before heading home was Hualapai Mountain Park. Hkr Dean mention this area on a post. I would've liked to hike out to Wabayuma Peak in the namesake BLM Wilderness Area but it requires driving 5 miles of rough 4WD road. And, Hualapai Mountain Park is higher and more timbered with easy convenient access, a nice detour hike if you're just passing through on Interstate 40. Paid the $5 daily fee. What a bargain. Down below the park entrance is pinyon pine/juniper/chaparral with some ponderosa pine. It's a county park and is well-developed with picnic tables, water spigots, trashcans ,etc. Saw some pretty cool, rustic old cabins for rent in the campground. Too many communications towers in various spots in and around the park. The hike starts at a gate at the top of the campground. A gravel road runs to through the park, up into the mountains to the top of Hualapai Peak which has a lot of towers on it. A trail system forms a loop and avoids the road except for a few crossing. The road looks like a good mountain bike trip. The trail switchbacks uphill into ponderosa pine/gambel oak forest/ White fir (similar to grand fir) starts to appear. So do scattered patches of snow since this slope is north-facing. 4 mule deer. Oak leaf duff smells nice. Curve around to the south side and hit the trail up to Aspen Peak through chaparral. Good view of Hayden Peak

Scrambled over boulders to the top of Aspen Peak over 8000' elevation. It was in the 50s and windy so it was a little chilly. Wow! what a view. Back down and over to Mt Tipton Overlook, then Dinosaur Rock Overlook (1 other hiker here) through snow patches mostly in quaking aspen

and some dendroglyphs that I date back to the 1980s

I didn't know Basque sheepherders listened to The Cure. Trail goes through a patch of New Mexico walnut. Dinosaur Rock Overlook high on a shoulder of Hayden Peak has good views to the west ot Mt Nutt, Black Mountains, Kingman, Golden Valley grid spawl and rest of the Hualapais like Wabayuma Peak.

This hike was longer than I expected with all the detours to overlooks and the Potato Patch Loop so it was dumb not to bring a lunch, as dumb as not bringing sunscreen to the Arrastra Mountains. My favorite part was east and north side of Aspen Peak. For a little bit there, I forgot I was in Arizona and had a brief flashback to the ponderosa pine forests of central Oregon. On the north side, the trail passes through a ravine choked with granite boulders and tall, granite crags of Aspen Peak high above.

with the snowpatches, small ridgetop meadows, ponderosa pines, fir trees, reminded me of mountains to the north in summer (Aahh, summer...). Hiking is over. Back home then back to work. Alfonso's Mexican joint right off the interstate in Kingman on Stockton Hill Rd is great after a hike. I hope you all find these TRs helpful so if you ever travel down to Arizona you'll have some decent info.. There's not all that much "good intel" for desert trips down there. Rumpus Doodle: Surprisingly did not see any scorpions or snakes at all. Not hot enough yet and they're still in their burrows? Nice red rocks where your were.

[Dean]

Great report/pics and glad to you got to the Haualapai area. One note though is that Hualapai peak doesn't have any towers on it, nearby Hayden Peak does. It is a neat area so close to Kingman. Here's a shot I took of Hualapai when it had some snow on it during April of 2005.

Hayden Peak would be to the right and just out of the picture in pic (left) and the pic on the right shows the actual summit area of Hualapai peak. There is a benchmark on the very top. Cool 360 degree views from up there.

[yew]

[Bloated Chipmunk]

AWESOME. I'm from southern AZ and just about this time of year (after tolerating several months of this cold/rain/darkness) I *really* miss the hiking to be had down there! Thanks for the eye candy!