Page 12 - fall 2018

12 Friends oF red rock canyon Friends oF red rock canyon 13

Take a Hike (continued from page 10

There's usually water in the creek here, and it can be slippery going
with wet boots. There is a climbing wall on the left side of the trail.
It's heavily coated with desert varnish. If you're here when someone
is rock climbing, you can watch them and wonder what they were
thinking.

Wherever you make your turn back to the car, First Creek is an
By Norm Kresge enjoyable, scenic hike. Make it as long or short as you want.

ne of the most popular trails in Red and going into an area where a fire did much
ORock Canyon is First Creek. It is an damage. Keep walking the trail and enjoy the Getting there:
easy/moderate hike that has little eleva- view of the Red Rock Escarpment and look
tion gain. Be aware that the trail is rocky to First Creek Canyon. First Creek is the last parking
in places; in others places there are uneven area along the Escarpment on
sandstone layers that need to be hiked over. In about one mile, there's a junction in the SR 159 before you get to Spring
This should not be a problem if you take your trail. If you want to see the usually dry wa- Mountain Ranch State Park. It is
time. terfall area, take the right fork and it will lead outside the fee area. If you go on
to the edge of the wash where First Creek a weekend, go early. The parking
From the trail- comes alive when it rains. There is a trail spots fill quickly.
head along SR along the rock wall leading down to the falls.
159, go through The best time to see water is in the winter and
the animal bar- after a rain. The waterfall can be very nice,
rier fence and albeit not that tall.
Volunteers dedicated to the preservation of Red Rock Canyon
follow the well-
defined trail into After coming out of the wash from visit-
the wash and up ing the falls, get back on the main trail. From
the other side. If there is running water in the here, the rest of the hike is up to you. Most
wash, do the hike a different day. This is not people turn around after seeing the falls and it
a place to be if there's a possibility of flash makes about a 2.5 mile round trip hike. If you
flooding. continue into First Creek Canyon, the going
gets a bit rougher but you can continue for
On the other quite a distance.
side of the
wash, the trail is If you go far
defined by some enough, you
large wood posts come to an area
that have heavy where you have
wire running be- to rock scramble
tween them. The and work your
idea for this was way around large
to keep people boulders. This is
from explor- for the hiker with
ing off the trail experience.

“Lost Creek” by Cheryl Hobbs

the Rock - Volume 9 Issue 1 FALL 2018