PONDEROSA & PRICKLY PEAR

I haven't kept up very well with recording our hikes, but for the most part we have kept up with actually doing them. In September it was still cooking hot-fry an egg on your face kind of hot. But, our brains told us that since it was Autumn virtually everywhere else in the world it was safe to hike at Red Rock Canyon once again. Mind over matter.

We opted for the Pine Creek Canyon Loop, since the thought of actual trees and shade was all too inviting. We set off on the trail with the Mescalito rock formation towering in front of us. At the start of the loop we were surprised to find that our path wasn't lined with the usual desert brush. Instead juniper, cholla and prickly pear cactus, and even wildflowers that had somehow evaded being scorched by the sun, were growing in the arid desert soil.

The trail continued West as we walked alongside the Ponderosa Pine Forest, from which the Canyon earned its name. A remnant of the last ice age, these trees grow where Ponderosa can't normally survive and tower over the mouth of the Canyon. It was lovely to see some green, and to have the shade we'd been looking forward to.

Amongst the Pine Trees we found the cement foundations which mark the remains of the home built by Horace Wilson in the 1920's. He homesteaded the Canyon (or tried to; he wasn't there for very long) and built his house amongst the grass and the trees with the Canyon as his back garden. Here, the vegetation was lush and green but we didn't have to walk far before we'd left the little oasis behind.

As we entered the canyon the plant life we'd been enjoying gave way to the usual half dead sage brush, and the soil was so dry it became dust. The trail went from well marked to difficult to navigate as it dropped down into the dry river bed; We would lose the trail before eventually picking it up again as we scrambled over boulders and the sloping sides of the dried up creek. The canyon is narrow so it's supposedly difficult to get lost, but after walking in circles time and again we eventually bagged it and went back the way we came.

Scenery wise this trail was pretty amazing since, on one hand you have the desert landscape, but you also have the wildlife that is normally found at higher elevation. It was interesting to see those two worlds side by side. Some signs marking the trail would be a nice edition though, we just felt like we were milling around with no idea where we were going once we hit the river bed. I guess the 'comprehensive hiking guide' doesn't have all of the answers after all.