ADAM HAYDOCK

Ron Davis in Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

Nevada has over 300 documented springs that seep or recharge water with a temperature range from just above freezing to right around the boiling point of water.   There are a number of crystal clear spring pools but unfortunately only one of these springs that I have seen have been able to be pushed  by diving into the spring itself.

Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

The Springs could be the result of the elastic yet stationary "thin" crust that allows water to be heated and rise from water pressure to the surface through fissure cracks in the basins of Nevada.  There is a theory that the geothermal caves and springs can be traced from northern Utah in a southwest directional line down into Mexico and further south into the volcanic belt of central America. This all great for us as we are able to enjoy some fascinated 90 degree warm springs with crystal clear blue water to soak in while we enjoy the day. 

Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

One spring in particular is the Big Spring in Duckwater Nevada.  There are two springs in this area as well as a rim stone travertine waterfall where the spring water cascades over a hill. This waterfall was a visit in itself and worth the extra five minutes of driving around to locate the falls.

Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

The big warm springs is the popular visit for this area and is also apart of the Duckwater Shoshone Reservation.  This spring is a sacred place for the Shoshone and also a critical habitat for the Railroad Valley Spring fish.  This fish is native to the regional springs in close proximity to the big warm spring. 

Ron Davis at Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

Francesco Sauro, Daniela Barbieri, Ron Davis, Laura and I grabbed some breakfast in Ely, Nevada and headed out southwest to the town of Duckwater where these two springs are located. The Little warm spring has a few boils but it not that swimmable, especially when a human goes through the spring and disrupts the environment that that fish live in.

Ron Davis at Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

On the other hand, the Big Warm spring is a large spring pool of 90 degree water with a resurgence in the crack about 18-20ft underwater. The spring pool appeared to be 40-50ft in diameter with a river running down stream.  We all got in the lightly scented sulfur water and it was really relaxing and nice to get into these crystal clear blue waters.

Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

 Of course I brought a couple masks snorkels and a dive light to see if getting into the resurgence was feasible, more on that later. We all continued down the springs noticing the schools of railroad valley spring fish swimming through the cattails and the occasional boils of water coming up form the ground.  It was a nice and enjoyable experience for everyone to get into the water and enjoy the hydrothermal activity that provides us with a nice natural pool of water. 

Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

Now for the resurgence.  There was a lot of gravel that would stir up and tumble as rocks were moved around from the entrance. There was a lot of breakdown that I could see but I could not get past the entrance resurgence.  The rocks could be moved in theory but how far down you would have to go to find a corridor is a mystery and with the moving of the rocks would introduce sliding gravel that could close up the entrance once again so it would take a considerable effort and could be potentially dangerous.

Big Warm Spring Falls. Duckwater, Nevada

On another serious note, the Shoshone reservation has built a nice park around this spring and has been offering the opportunity for open access to the springs for people to respect and enjoy themselves in so a official request would have to be granted in order for any special use can be considered. Nevertheless, this place is a real treat and a charming place to visit so I recommend visiting this spring if you are in the regional area.

I am not sure why I find that there are some interesting canyons around the Las Vegas area but they indeed exist. The black canyon area have some very interesting canyons that take people through hot springs and opportunities to even rappel down into pools of hot spring water! This canyon is located in the Calico Basin side of The Red Rock just 10 minutes outside of Las Vegas.

Not to my Surprise, we had to park on the side of the street as the parking lot was full of rock monkey, trail hikers, and boulder grabbers though out this 3.5 mile loop trail.

We headed out on the obvious dirt trail passing by groups of climbers bouldering on the 2 story stones located just off the trail.  The bouldering routes appeared to range in difficulty as the climbs grunted and cheered when one of their own broke through a crux.  

What is nice about this location is there are a lot of routes and admission appeared to be free. So a nice Sunday afternoon hike or a climb can be found here in the Calico Basin and going through gateway canyon was easy to find and follow as we worked our way up through gateway canyon itself.

I brought my older camera with me as we started to work up the canyon, the sand stone layers turned into ice cream swirls of red, pink and a cream colored white like a mosaic of paint swirling around like paint on a spin art machine. This was surprisingly interesting to see how the layers of sandstone petrified into the rock to create these designs as we climbed up tot he top of the canyon. Along the way we met a British Air Force REPR pilot that joined us for the hike through the canyon. 

Eventually we could see some climbers on a few fixed routes to our right as we neared the top of the canyon and the most interesting part of the hike.

The canyon came to a dry fall that we climbed around and we soon found ourselves in a rather beautiful candy cane like canyon with clearly defined colors of red and white in a smooth meandering but very short slot.

We reached to the saddle after enjoying this candy store canyon we just walked through for a view of the valley below and a piece of Las Vegas that could be seen from where we were standing.

The canyon took a couple hours of hiking with some stops that we made along the way but overall, the canyon route is a great way to get out and visit some interesting and colorful red rock.

We will have to come back shortly and get a grip on some of the boulders for a Sunday afternoon workout.

We wanted to check out something a bit more localized and different so I did a little research and found a place called Hidden Canyon, which promised to be a few hours to run and a geology makeup of limestone.

 We have been running a lot of sandstone canyons and it was interesting to visit a Limestone canyon and being cavers, we enjoyed our pleasant Sunday afternoon in this limestone cave with no ceiling which has been named, Hidden Canyon.

 once we got to the top of the mountain, we could see where the drainage headed down into a canyon with polished limestone and a tight corridor.

 It was nice to not have anyone here where we could enjoy the canyon and take our time a bit because we were literally still in the city of in las vegas.

 The beta mentioned that there were three drops but when we went through the canyon, we noticed four rap stations.   All of the raps were 35ft. or less on a sloping descent which was not difficult to work our way down.

 A couple of the drops had some interesting light stained walls with a flowstone like mold starting to form and other drops had some interesting fossils embedded into the rock which we were not able to  identify.

 I would rate this canyon as a 3AII for it straightforward descent and ease of navigation but the hike to and from the canyon can take a bit of time to get to. I can imagine this route being a boiling inferno in the summertime so I think a good time to check this one out is in the fall, winter, spring time.

 This was a great way to get out and get some exercise on a Sunday and seeing some interesting limestone features.

Englestead Hollow Canyon is a Zion classic with its 290ft entrance drop and a straightforward stroll through some nice canyon passage that spills into Orderville canyon.   this route is a 4AIII because of the 290ft entrance drop but pretty straightforward after the first drop. 

I met up with Mike Green and his fiancé Lindsay Hansen on their weeklong vacation trip to Zion National Park. Laura could not make it so the night before, the three of us stayed at the Ponderosa ranch and I got the worst sleep due to some kind of generator oscillating noise throughout the night.  There was a point where I did fall asleep and a second or two later, it was 6:30am and time to get everything set up for the day.

We packed everything up and headed out to the Trailhead of Englestead Canyon while the sun started to peak over the ponderosa Pine ridge at around 7000ft of elevation.   It was a bit cold out but as soon as the sun peaked through the pine needles, the heat started to rise quickly. 

Soon after scrambling down an obvious trail and following a wash that apparently has been travelled quite a bit, the crack into the earth known as Englestead Hollow Canyon started to emerge.

It was quite impressive as most entry point canyons are in Zion, but this canyon offers a bit more of a ride on 330ft of rope to get down into the canyon.

I like to look at it as a right of passage and a good introduction to the big 300ft+ drops that are starting to emerge out in the Western United States. Yet this ride is in a park that is starting to be overrun by mountainous numbers of tourists and people from all over the world, sort of like Disneyworld......complete with a trolley, and you have to bring your own equipment to enjoy the rides.  Sarcastic as it may sound,  it appears that Zion is turning into quite the world attraction as it is a beautiful place overrun by tourists.

Back at the canyon, We rig to the right and rope up into a face level webbing anchor with 330ft of rope.  We found that this drop is a total of 290ft. so the 330ft. of cancord 9mm rope was the perfect rope to use.

Mike drops into the canyon first and Lindsay goes down after mike so I can get some photos of them going down the drop.

I got on rope and brought all of the pull cord with me so we could have a nice pull being LMAR. On the way down I noticed a few rap stations where people could set up hanging belay stations (if needed) but at around 200-220ft, there is a large ledge with another rap station that would allow for a nice rig point to the bottom of the canyon.

Once at the bottom we pulled the rope and continued to head down canyon with a rapid fire sequence of rappels that we encountered along the way.  Mike has the 45L Rodcle pack and I was impressed with the build and the design of this backpack.  One of the key differences between this pack and other canyon packs on the market is that it stays wide open when it is put on the ground which allows easy access for packing the rope into pack itself other than the pack flopping over or concaving on itself, consequently having someone hold it open.

The canyon walls were pretty impressive as the corridor leading down to Orderville Canyon had a twilight effect at the bottom with hints of a firey color fading into the upper reaches of the smooth cut slot canyon.

The 290ft entrance drop was the most impressive out of all of the drops in Englestead.  After the 290, there was a 40 footer through a keyed in rock which was interesting, than a tiered drop that came out to be around 160ft in total length.

We had a 330ft rope and we just barely had enough rope to double up and pull the 330 down. 

Once we came down the first sequence, the canyon opened up a bit to the fall colors and the leaves changing which was a nice variation to the towering walls of reds and oranges.

Zion in the fall is a great time to visit and I think that since it is ideal weather conditions, dry, and the leaves are changing, makes this national park a great time of the year for a visit.

After hiking through the canyon for a bit, to our surprise, the canyon closed up again and got narrow with a few more drop of less than 50ft for each drop.

Once we worked through a few of these drops and through a small natural arch, we dropped into orderville canyon just in time for lunch.