Advertisement
Published: March 2nd 2009
Edit Blog Post
Our target - Bridge Mountain
It is the right peak, the white-ish one Thursday 29th January 2009 I met Tom on a hike to Goldstrike Springs the day before and he had offered to hike Bridge Mountain with me the next day. I had heard great things about this hike and it was on my wish list before I even got to Vegas. I was pleased to have a 'veteran' to go with on my first hike up there, especially in the icy conditions we faced.
Tom picked me up and we drove in to the Red Rock Canyon. Part way round the scenic drive is a track called Rocky Gap Road. It is a 4x4-only track that heads northwest from Red Rock. It took about 30 mins to get to the point to start the hike. We headed out from the car around 9.30am. It was a nice sunny day, with little wind, but there was snow and ice on parts of the hike.
We first headed up through woodland to a ridge. From that point we could see the summit and beyond that Red Rock Canyon and the city of Las Vegas. We hiked along the ridge and at one point turned off the ridge down towards a rocky area
4x4
First we had 30 mins drive down a 4x4 only track - thanks Tom & good driving! without much foliage. As we walked down we lost sight of the city and then the summit itself at one point.
We picked our way down often very steep rock faces with deep ravines to the side. It was a bit precarious, especially with the ice. Poor Tom slipped at one point, landing on his back. It occurs to me now that shortly afterwards he started to ask if I could smell a funny smell... Not long after that he opened his backpack to find the insides coated in tuna salad - his Tupperware had exploded when he fell :-( Poor 'Tuna Tom' smelt of tuna for the rest of the day LOL.
We then started to approach the main face to be climbed - it looked like a sheer wall of rock - I could see no way of climbing it without ropes! Tom pointed out the route and still I could not believe we would actually make it without climbing gear. But as we got to the bottom of the rock face it became clear it wasn't completely vertical. We started to climb up a crack that allowed us to wedge knees, feet, hands etc as
we climbed. I just kept thinking "Don't look down" and "I have no idea how I will be able to climb back down!"
We finally got to the top which flattened out and came in sight of the 'bridge'. It was an amazing sight! It was the side of a tinaja (spelling?!) or natural water tank that had one wall eroded away making the bridge/arch. As we looked in to the tinaja we discovered it was full of frozen water - creating a natural, hidden and exclusive ice skating rink! At the far side was a large tree that had fallen, but still alive, leaning against the far wall. There was also another dead tree leaning against the wall and Tom later used it as a ladder to climb back down. To climb up we used the rock to the side. Once on top we could look down in to another tinaja and had an amazing view of Red Rock Canyon and Las Vegas. We explored a bit and had lunch up there. There is a hidden forest up there that is only visible from that angle. Plus the summit itself whose rock formations look like scales. We found
out later that the summit is climbable without gear - so next time!
After lunch we reversed the route. Getting back down in to the tinaja and then down the steep face was a challenge but not as scary as I was expecting - lots of sliding on my bum! :-) We raced the sunset back to the car. We drove out of Red Rock in the dark. What an amazing hike - thank you Tom! I would never have done it on my own. Looking forward to returning with Lisa and sans the ice!
Next time: to the summit and with snap-lock Tupperware! ;-)
Video of the hike:
Advertisement
Tot: 0.277s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 14; qc: 81; dbt: 0.1045s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb