Yesterday I hiked down (or up, if you happen to read the altimeter along the way)one of my favorite trails at Red Red Canyon, La Madre Springs. You may remember it from my post in May, complete with many photos.
No need to post photos of the same area twice, but I do have some new ones to include here. On the first outing, I, and my friend Gary, only hiked about 1.2 miles out, and the same distance back to the trailhead. This time, with a hiking partner who didn't give up, I made it all the way to the abandoned miner's cabin, which is about 1.8 miles from the trailhead.
The homesteads about 1.2 miles into the trail are not exceptionally old. I suspect, because of the indoor plumbing shown here, they were built 1940's or later. Only the foundations now remain.
Dried up berries on California Juniper.
Stephen approaches the watering hole at the small concrete dam on creek flowing from the La Madre Spring.
Prickly Pear Cactus
Stephen pauses in reflection beside the serene watering hole at the La Madre dam.
A group of butterflies were flitting around at the watering hole at the La Madre dam. This one paused long enough to pose for a couple of photos.
Another shot of the photogenic butterfly.
Despite the desert all around, the year-round water flowing from the La Madre Spring creates a lush riparian habitat, and creates amazing sites like this hillside covered with tall grasses.
Desert Thistle is fairly common in this area of Red Rock Canyon.
The spring-fed creek flows down the valley between two hills, sometimes cutting channels into the limestone, and sometimes cascading over boulders into small pools. Here I stand for a photo opp beside one of the small pools.
The same pool in the photo above, only with Stephen instead of me, posing beside it.
A special treat for the wildlife that calls the La Madre Spring area home, these grapes grow wild on the vine in the thick vegetation surrounding one of the pools of water along the creek.
Around a few of the pools of water, grasses grow so thick as to make travel through them impossible, and so high as to dwarf Stephen and me.
La Madre creek flows down between two hills in the La Madre Wilderness area behind Red Rock Canyon. This photo is looking uphill, towards the source spring.
The trail steadily climbs in elevation, gaining about 1,000 feet over 1.8 miles. This view faces east, towards White Rock Hills, from the La Madre Spring trail.
Past the dam, the trail sees little use. It is narrow, crosses the creek a couple of times, and requires a little bit of rock scrambling. The vegetation is thick, often growing over trail. I have never seen anyone this far along the trail, but Stephen and I did see footprints in one muddy spot along the way, so somebody had been there in the last few days. A few hundred feet from the abandoned miner's cabin, the trail veers away from the increasingly steep ravine through which the creek flows. On the hilltop, away from the creek, the vegetation is more sparse. Here, Stephen walks up the trail towards the cabin.
Just off of the narrow path, about 1.8 miles from the trailhead, is an abandoned miner's cabin. I'm not sure as to the original date of construction. It was torn down by vandals, and has since been partially reconstructed.
The walls of the stone hut are only about four feet high, with the walls of the adjacent courtyard three feet high. The roofed portion is covered, sparsely, with logs.
Once we reached the cabin, after a leisurely two-mile uphill hike, we rested for about twenty minutes. Stephen grows weary of my many photos....
Inside the stone hut is a dirt floor, and in one corner a small fireplace.
Don't expect any protection from the weather in this cabin! Though it doesn't rain often in the desert, a roof is definitely necessary to protect from the blistering sunshine. I'm sure that, when originally used, the view up from the dirt floor wasn't quite so full of blue sky.
After our brief respite to enjoy the mild temperatures, the sun started to dip below the mountain peaks behind us. Even under a full moon (which it was), hiking after sunset on the upper part of the trail would be very difficult! I packed away the camera and we headed back down the hill toward the Jeep.
