For today’s hike we thought we would explore another wash that headed into the hills to our west. We had seen it on one of our earlier hikes. Our hiking trail is shown above, in red. We are hiking from right to left (east to west). The gray lines are our earlier hikes.
This wash was different from the others we have taken in these hills. We frequently comment on how there is no such thing as "the desert." Instead, there are many, perhaps hundreds, of different deserts. And the same for washes. No two are alike, even when they are in close proximity.
This one had a unique type of footing in several places. It looked like rock, but it was actually hard packed dirt. Never seen that before.
We traveled up the wash, with the ascent becoming more and more difficult until we came to our nemesis: a dry fall.
So we headed back. Our failed attempt is the little tail hanging down just left of center of the map above.
Then we went up another canyon, and it was equally unusual. Some different types of rocks once again.
After awhile, we realized we were probably getting close to the top. We were, but the final 100 feet was more of a scramble than a hike. The rocks are looser here than in other deserts. Sometimes we can break away even very large ones. This requires patience, planning, and concentration.
Here I am at the top! Yeah!
And we could see the other side. We could also see down into a plateau where we believe we hiked to a couple of days ago. From the first photo on this blog entry showing the trails we have taken, it appears we were correct. Someday we will come back here and connect these two trails and make our own loop trail!
Here we are at the top:
Here is a shot of the Rattlesnake Mountains from our camper. Where we got to today was the top, right in the middle of the photo.
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