Boulder City Part 4

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By reserving a campsite in Death Valley National Park, we are down to just 10 more days here in Boulder City. Our next hike will be back to Lake Mead. The Lovell Wash and Anniversary Narrows sounded quite interesting. The trail as listed in AllTrails was about 10 miles and 1400 feet of elevation gain. That’s a bit longer that’s we want to tackle but since it is an out and back hike, we can control how far we go before turning around. There is a large parking area just off Northshore Road and we start the hike from here. The first 2 miles of the hike follows the wash and was fairly easy hiking. There was one geocache along the way that hadn’t been found in over a year but we had no issues with it. Surprisingly, there was actual pavement along the latter portion of the wash. It was in rough shape but must have been used to haul out the ore from old mines mines along the way. As we approached the start of the “Narrows” portion of the hike, we could see several Jeeps parked nearby. In hindsight, we would have had no trouble driving our Jeep this far and would have cut off over 4 miles of hiking.

Starting Out in Wash

More Like A Road

Old Pavement Section

Overlooking Wash Down from Narrows Entrance

After a quick lunch, we headed down into a different wash that leads to the narrows. It’s a little over half a mile up the wash prior to reaching the narrows. The terrain here is much more challenging with rocks and ledges to get over. There were a couple of geocaches along the way and also a few old mine shafts. It seemed like one of the caches was hidden inside an old mine. Since the fence keeping people out had been knocked over, we could easily have climbed over and gone inside to look for it, but decided not to risk it.

In Wash Below Narrows

Old Mine Entrance

Tunnel to Nowhere?

Overlooking Wash From Mine

The last tenth of a mile of wash closes in quite quickly at the narrows and a dark crevice is all there is to welcome us in. Once inside the narrows, the whole feeling changes. Much of it is narrow enough that I can touch each side wall with my outstretched hands. And the walls are beautifully sculpted. But it isn’t necessarily an easy walk. There are plenty of spots with obstacles to overcome.

Approaching Narrows

There is the Entrance

Into the Slot Portion

One of Many Obstacles

Some of these challenging spots are simply a matter of finding the path of least resistance and climbing up and over. There are a few spots with very smooth surfaces from years of water erosion. These are quite difficult. A few of them have rocks piled up below them in order to get the first few steps up a taller ledge. There were even a few spots where a small pool of water need to be cautiously stepped around.

Up and Over

Looking Back Down Another Climb

Loose Rocks Piled Below to Help Climb

Gravel Lined Trail

It’s hard to say how long the narrows portion is because it took quite some time for us to make it thru. But once we were out, the canyon opened back up again much like it is in the other end. We knew we still had a long walk back to the car so we went less than another quarter mile simply to find one more geocache before heading back into the narrows.

Out from the Narrows

View from Last Geocache of the Day

The sun was lower on the horizon and in spots did a nice job of lighting up the canyon walls. It was kind of surprising just how much thick gravel lined the bottom of the narrows. Coming back down some of the spots proved to be even more difficult. The trickiest spots were at the smooth rock and small pools and the 8 foot tall climb. There is some sort of bent pipe that is wedged into the narrow opening which can be used to help make the descent. I had less trouble since my legs are much longer than Chris’ legs. I was just praying she didn’t slip and get hurt since it was a very long way back to the car.

Chris Contemplates Her Next Step

Once out of the narrows, it became a relatively easy walk down the wash. As we approached one curve, we hear an unexpected noise. It sort of sounded like a car door closing but we knew there was no possible way a vehicle could have made it back up this wash. But as we rounded the bend, there was a seriously modified truck with massive tires. The couple had shovels and picks so I’m guessing they were planning to head into the mine shaft in hopes of getting rich.

Unlikely Place for a Truck

As we continued down the wash, there were plenty of spots that seemed to be impassable to any vehicle, yet we had seen it with our own eyes. Back at the point where we were to come out of the wash were three more trucks attempting to make it down into the wash. One had made it and the drivers for the other two were placing rocks at some of the really tall drop offs in the hopes of making it down without damaging their trucks. I suspect AAA doesn’t come out here to rescue stranded vehicles. Once we were out of the wash and back onto the road which turns into Lowell wash, it was an easy but very long walk back to the car. The Narrows were really fun but if you have a vehicle that can handle the drive back here, you wouldn’t need to do a nearly 8 mile hike.

Even though we had worn ourselves out on the hike, we had one more thing to do during the early evening hours. About two dozen boats were participating in the Parade of Boats out on Lake Mead. All the boats were decorated with lights and other Christmas themed items and would parade past Boulder Beach. We headed into Lake mead and followed the line of cars down to the beach. Since we hadn’t seen this area in the light of day, it was somewhat tough to figure out the parking situation but we ended up with a front row seat for the event. We pulled our chairs out and had a seat while we waited for all the boats to head around the loop.

Very Bright Boat with Santa and Rudolph

Sailboat

The people in the truck next to us gave us the link to a website where we could vote for our favorites and even see pictures of the boats, but we were having a hard time figuring our which boat was which. We did see some boats had large numbers lit up but we didn’t see them on all the boats.

Big Boat, Many Lights

It was easy to tell which ones were sailboats since the lighting was strung up and down the lines to the mast. There were quite a few large party boats that had thousands of lights hanging all over them and down the sides. We were out there for well over an hour and really enjoyed the parade.

We took a couple days off from sightseeing and let our bodies rest a bit. I managed to get the new Jeep waxed for the first time so it was looking quite shiny. Our next trip would be to the west side of Vegas to another place we had visited three years ago but we knew there was more to see. Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area has a visitor center, a 13 mile scenic drive and numerous hiking trails. It’s also a very pretty location. Our national park pass would get us in to this park, but they now require a timed entry permit as well. It’s not like they are all that expensive ($2) but when we were looking at the website for the possible dates we would be going, there over 100 spots available for most time slots. We picked a time, got our ticket and headed there on Tuesday morning.

Once we were past the entrance booth, the scenic drive becomes one way so you must plan which hikes you want to do and hit them in the order they occur around the loop. We had stopped at the visitor center during our last trip here, so we felt we could skip it this time. We did stop at the Calico Hills parking are just to take in the beauty of the rock formations. We spotted a sign at the parking area we hadn’t noticed before. I don’t think I would have considered looking for a tortoise under our car!

Beautiful Calico Hills

Tortoise Warning

We drove past the Sandstone Quarry lot having done the very good Calico Tanks Trail that starts out of there last time. Near the north end of the drive is the High Point Overlook. We wanted to check out the views and also find a geocache hidden nearby.

Nice View from High Point Overlook

Newly Waxed Jeep

A little past the overlook is a dirt road back to the White Rock parking area. It’s only about half mile and while it isn’t in the greatest condition, most cars could make it. If not, there is a parking area just after turning which will work but add a mile total to your hike.

Keystone Thrust Trailhead

View Along Trail

The trail was in good shape and we had a handful of geocaches to find along the way. It was a cool day, and when we saw some clouds hanging over the nearby mountains, we wondered if we had picked the wrong day for a hike. Fortunately we didn’t get any rain just an overcast day. This trail is by no means the highest in the park but does top out at nearly a mile high so the views along the way and at the end give an excellent perspective of the park and surrounding areas. The patterns in the rock formation are impressive as well. Maybe not quite as good as Valley of Fire, but not bad. One of the geocaches was a puzzle cache which had the final location along the White Rock Loop Trail. This detour did add a half mile or so to our hike but wasn’t to bad.

Amazing Patterns in Stone

Ominous Clouds

After lunch in the car, we drove to our next hiking destination. Ice Box Canyon Trail is listed as 2.3 mile out and back hike with almost 600 feet of elevation gain. It starts out easy enough with just a slight rise as we head into the mouth of the canyon. Stopping occasionally to take in the views, looking back behind us provides a rather dramatic view of the park.

Ice Box Canyon Trailhead

Heading Towards Canyon

Jagged Cliffs

View Back Over Valley Below

Not Quite in Canyon

As the trail progresses, it stays to the north and above the dry stream bed. At one point we heard voices below and spotted a family hiking down in the base of the canyon. They asked where the trail was and we told them we were on it. They were about 50 feet below us and the sides of the hill were not going to be easy for them to climb up. They wanted to know if they could get out the way they were heading. We couldn’t give them a definitive answer but they were at least heading in the direction of the parking lot. As the canyon narrowed down further, the trail eventually dropped down into the dry stream bed. I suspect this is the turn the family missed on their way back to the parking lot. We take a mental picture of the turn so we don’t end up making the same mistake. 

The Beginning of the Fun!

By now the canyon is probably only 100 feet wide at the base and there seemed to be constant obstacles to get past. Some of the boulders were a good 20 feet tall. Other spots had piles of boulders, live trees, dead trees and other things to get around. Some spots we were able to climb up and over, but other spots were too challenging. In those spots we usually found a small foot path to the left or right of the obstacle that managed to get us beyond and above each one. We got to one point where Chris had met her match. Based on our trail map, we only had another few hundred feet to go before the end of the trail, so I pushed on and she waited patiently. When I got to the end, there were a couple other groups taking pictures at the stopping point. I’m not saying I couldn’t have made it farther but decided I was close to my limit as well and turned back.

Large Boulder to Get Around

At the End of Ice Box Canyon Trail

Chris Waits Patiently

The hike back to the car was slow going. Coming down all the obstacles wasn’t much better than going up. It was after 5 PM when we got back to the car. It was already past sunset and would be getting cold as well so we headed out. This park has so much to see that we likely could come back several more times for other hikes if we only had the time this trip.