Bristle cone Trail-Mt. Charleston, NV

Bristle cone trail at MT. Charleston goes in a loop. and it has some great scenery.

The following information about the trail was taken from the US Forest Service site at

http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/recreation/hike_backpack/smnra/bristlecone_trail.shtml

Bristlecone Trail

LENGTH: 5.2 miles round trip
ELEVATION: 8,470 feet to 9,380 feet
USE: Hiking, pack & saddle, biking
ABOUT THE HIKE:

• The beginning of the Upper Bristlecone Trail winds through a picturesque forest abundant with fir and large quaking aspen. As you climb out of the canyon, the vegetation becomes sparser due to harsher conditions and shorter growing season found on these more exposed slopes. It is here that you reach the rugged, stands of ancient Bristlecone pines.
• After two miles the trail widens and follows the abandoned WPA road. Follow this road for the remainder of the Bristlecone Trail.
• The route passes the junction with the Bonanza Trail then descends into a canyon as the Lower Bristlecone Trail. Stay on the abandoned road, pass through a small grove of aspen, and continue on until the roadbed ends at the lower Bristlecone trail head.
• Walk south up State Route 156 for ¾ mile to return to the upper parking lot of Lee Canyon Ski Area.

DIRECTIONS TO TRAILHEAD:
Upper Bristlecone Trail head

• Travel southwest on State Route 156 for 17 ¼ miles into Lee Canyon until the road dead ends in the upper most parking lot of the Lee Canyon Ski Area. The Upper Bristlecone Trail head is located on the west side of this lot.

Lower Bristlecone Trail head

• Head southwest on State Route 156 for 16 ½ miles into Lee Canyon . Turn right onto Scout Canyon Road 140 ft. north of the McWilliams Campground to reach the trail head. Ample parking is available at this trail head.

It was a great hike with wonderful scenery.  As a matter of fact a little off the trail at one spot there was a little log shelter that it most likely used by skiers and snowboarder in the winter time.  Considering that the upper trail starts at a ski area.

 

Archway on the trail

 

 

Along the trail

 

Thistle along the trail

 

Log Shelter

Inside Shelter

 

View from High point in the loop

 

Natalie On the trail

 

Another view

Once again it was a great hike.  Although the whole thing was over 5 miles.  So considering the dryness of the air and heat in the summer of this region.  I encourage you to make sure you bring enough water.  Especially since there is none in the summer time near the trail.

More hikes and Photos coming soon.  Thanks for reading.

Caves at Red Rock Nevada

Exploring caves is fun.

My friends Ben and Justin where coming to visit for a while and we thought it would be fun find some caves that I heard about in Red Rock. Unfortunately I am not going to say the exact location of the caves because over the years they have received much damage from visitors. There is a lot of trash and spray paint all over the walls and floor. So, in order to preserve what is left of them I don't want to be responsible for sending many other people there.

I will say that if you are planning a trip to Red Rock, their location can be found elsewhere on the Internet and judging by the amount of spray paint on the walls there are quite a few people from Las Vegas that know about them as well. Enough of my rambling though, lets get to the trip.

The trail to the caves

There was a very nice trail that took us most of the way there. The trail is actually where they take people horse back riding around the area.

View Back Toward The Road (almost to the caves)


Closer To The Cave

It was all an easy trail up till about this point. We knew the caves where around that area. But we didn't know exactly where. But, whats the point of exploring if you know where your going. Unfortunately the exploring let us up a cliff. It wasn't anything you need rope to climb, but it wasn't completely safe ether.

Justin Before we climbed


On The Way Up


(Ben, Me, Justin, Natalie) Close To The Entrance of one of the Caves

We finally found both caves. The photos are a mix between both. One of the was basically one large room. While the other drops down several times and had many rooms. It only went back and down though so it was impossible to get lost.

Entrance To Cave

Ben, Me, Natalie Eating Lunch in Cave


Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

Inside cave

One interesting thing we found was that when you hold a black light up to the rocks in the cave, little speckles glow on them.

That image is also a good example of how dark it is in a cave without lights.

You can see what I mean about the spray paint. It really detracts from the cave. We did manage to get all of our cave exploring in before the sun went down.

Right outside the cave

I hope you enjoyed the post and Photos. As always, Comments are welcome. So is subscribing to this blog.

My Ranting Note:

If you do visit a cave or anything in nature I stress once again as I have before, Please take you trash with you. And try your best not to F#!k up the place with a can of spray paint, no matter how much self control you have to exhibit at the time! Thank you.