ADAM HAYDOCK

Little Jamaica is a surprisingly beautiful oasis just outside of Mesquite at the Nevada / Arizona border.

 Warm spring water comes out of the ground with a high calcite content that turns the hillside into a gorgeous karst feature of active flowstone and rimstone dams, some of which have pools of water big enough to swim.

Hanging gardens and flow stone formations hang from the ceiling as water drips down while surrounding yourself with a beautiful green room of water and ferns.

Unfortunately, the close proximity to the highway and the ease of access has started to turn this lovely gem into a trash ridden and filthy place.

Broken glass and garbage pile up in the parking lot and drift through the gardens with such a foul presence, that it leaves a human element of disregard to our environment and respect for one another. .

It is a shame to see this unusual anomaly and rare natural occurrence treated like a public bathroom so please take your garbage with you and appreciate this place as it was a piece of your property. 

I highly recommend visiting the falls and enjoying the water as it is a warm and refreshing place to stop or stay at for the day. 

be careful walking on the rim stone dams as they are slippery. 

Nights pit is a very small karst feature in one of the limestone regions of the southwest United States

The high entrance is a hole in the ground about 6ft by 6ft and drops into a hole around 30ft down to a breakdown floor.

There are some small popcorn features on the walls but other than that, this feature is without any formations or other noteworthy items.

There is a large second entrance that quickly exits the cave so vertical equipment was not needed to visit this feature.

It appears that some mammals live in this cave due to the fecal matter but it was not actively occupied.

I am looking forward to visiting some of the other caves in the area of Nights Pit but I am not sure if this region will give any extensive cave passages.

The incredible meandering sandstone walls of the Zion Narrows have become one of the worlds most sought after attractions within the continental United States. 

Natural spring water feeds into the canyon depths which brings crystal clear water flowing and echoing in reverberation through the 1000ft. walls. Lush green ferns and other plant life bring an abundent color to the red, maroon, and fireliek colors that hue the walls above. 

Drainage's from Orderville canyon, deep creek, and Kolob canyon continuously feed into the canyon along with its massive expanse of drainage it provides the region above Zion including the ceder breaks region. This means that substantial snow water runoff and flash floods can turn this Gothic experience into a potentially deadly situation. 

Many technical canyons pour their last raps into the Zion narrows and it has always been a sign of home when we have previously heard the rumbling water and the meandering deep canyon floor.

From the years that I have been visiting Zion, I have seen an increase in the amount of people that attend the park and the amount of people in the narrows has increased substantially, almost to a point where a lot of the charm can get lost with the presence of people yelling, drinking, rolling their ankles, and not begin prepared for that they are about to endeavor when they step into the river. 

I am of the opinion that everyone should have the opportunity to experience the narrows yet the experience can be yielded by a permit system that allows people enter from the bottom of the narrows but also allows people enjoy the prestige of the narrows. 

Regardless if you are coming in from the top to camp at one of the campsite, canyoneering and coming out the narrows, or just hiking up and back out, please keep the Zion narrows a prestigious place by carefully traversing the slippery conditions and consider everyone else in the canyon is looking to have a beautiful experience in this wonderful place.

 Telescope peak is the highest peak in Death Valley national Park.  The towering ridge provides a beautiful 360 degree view of Death Valley and other surrounding ranges.

From Maghoney Flats, you start off by passing by pinyon pines and climbs through the forest into a grassy meadow with great views of the valley floor.

 After the first mile, the trail rises to Rodgers peak and continues to follow the ridge. 

 The ridge flattens out and continues to meander around the ridge passing by limber pines and providing sections of great camping for backpacking trips on the ridge.

 About half way up the trail we pass by some Bristlecone pines which have been documented to live in excess of over 1000 years old.

 These incredibly solid trees have stunted growth so they are a bit thicker in size than height, given their life expectancy.

Once we approached the ridge, the trail narrows a bit and steadily climbed to the final ridge and the top of telescope peak.

We had some fantastic 360 panoramic views of Death Valley, Mt. Charleston, and the Eastern Sierras.

We hung out at the top of the peak for an hour to take in the wonderful views and hang out with the other hikers that made it to the top.

There was a guy that started at -260 feet belwo sea level in Badwater basin and hiked up to the summit, he started at midnight and had a long day ahead of him with the heat rising to 115 degrees.

There was another guy that was communicating with a mobile radio tower and he was able to communicate with people over 100 miles away. 

We could only imagine what the temps were in the basin but the cool breeze and the great conditions made this a fantastic day!

It took us a casual 4 hours to get to the summit and another three hours moving at a casual pace to get back down to the camp site.

We stopped for a bit to enjoy the beautiful bristle cone trees and the flowers that were blooming on the meadow ridge.

The hike back down was very straightforward and the trail to the peak was really easy to follow. 

I was surprised to see so many people at the campsite and on the trail but I can understand why this peak is sought after due to the relative ease of access to the trail head and to the peak. 

We enjoyed the meadow hike and the trail overall had a lot of variety as we meandered around Rodgers peak and up tot he ridge of telescope peak. 

There were also a lot of people that brought their camping kits to the ridge to camp at the top for the night which looked like a very nice option and something that I would like to experience in the future.

We got back pretty early so we had a bit of a relaxing afternoon and took off the following morning.

Viewing the sierras ignited our deep interest to visit the snow capped peaks in the summer and we are looking forward to making our way out west.

telescope peak.

The road leading up to the flats was a 2WD high clearance road. We did not have any issues getting up to the top campsite. There is one section with some deep ruts but it was maneuverable and easy to get around.

view of telescope peak.

 Big falls is a short technical canyoneering route that is located within a large valley just below Mt. Charleston in Nevada. This limestone alpine terrain is a relatively small but beautiful region of land that is just outside of Las Vegas.

Hiking up to the top of Big Falls Canyon.

Beautiful limestone cliffs and bristle cone pines landscape the Mt. Charleston region.  There are also some fantastic trails that lead to the peak and also lead to more remote corners of the Charleston range.

Heather in the valley at the top of Big Falls Canyon

Last year, we checked out Little falls canyon which was a nice half day run through another seasonal drainage so if you are ambitious to make a day out of this range, you can grab both Big and Little Falls canyon in a day.

The top of Big Falls Canyon.

In my opinion, I think the addition of flowing water makes these canyons fantastic so I recommend going just after the roads open up in the spring run off.  You will need dry suits but you will also get some C class fun.

On this run that we had we encounters dry conditions as explained below but this section of the Mt. Charleston range was really nice and a great change of scenery.

get an early start for the threat of afternoon thunderstorms and for the volume of people that show up as the day goes on.  We got here at around 9 AM and there was plenty of parking at the Mary Jane Falls TH.

There are some routes within this region and Big falls is one of the more popular routes due to its ease of access and short but dramatic route.

The hike takes less than an hour to reach the bottom of big falls and another half hour or so, we are at the top of the technical route.  Seasonal water runs through this canyon but we got here just a bit late for the C class spring snow run off from the ridge. 

We brought wet suits but did not use them. There are between three and four drops before the long drop of 180ft. I brought a 210 ft rope to make sure we had enough and the rope bag reached the bottom. 

 The last rap is free hanging for between 160-170ft which was fantastic and would have been even more interesting with all of the water that would flow through this route in the spring. 

We will have to try our luck next spring, right after the roads open to get the best run off.