Overton, Nevada: Valley of Fire; St. George Utah: Red Hollow and Snow Canyon (March 2016)

Windstone Arch (destroyed in 2021).

UPDATE, 2021: Windstone Arch has been destroyed. It seems likely that this was done by vandals; see https://justinmcaffee.com/famous-windstone-arch-destroyed-at-valley-of-fire/

Sunday, March 13, 2016: Valley of Fire: The Fire Wave

Friday/Saturday: I drove to Overton, Nevada, and Larry Carter and Jeanne Ferrante met Joan at the Las Vegas airport (she had been in Palm Springs) and drove in with her. We stayed at the North Shore Inn at Lake Mead, in Overton, which was a fine place. Conditions in Palm Springs were hot and Joan appreciated the moderate temperatures of the week to come.

We started with the short hike to the Fire Wave, which provided superb color and shape. Then we headed to the White Domes loop, which had some remains of a movie set (many movies have been filmed at Valley of Fire) and a very nice short slot canyon. And we finished with a hike to Rainbow Vista, which provided an extensive view of a trailless section of the park that would be amazing to explore some day. All the sandstone here is Aztec Sandstone, which looks like other types I was familiar with, but yet erodes very differently.

Monday, March 14, 2016: Valley of Fire: Windstone Arch, Prospect Trail

Some years ago photographer Andy Waddington told me about Windstone Arch. His photo of it is fantastic (and he sent me a print). For me finding Windstone Arch turned out to be much more difficult than I expected. I relied on my memory from photographs and advice from the rangers, but the scale in my mind was completely wrong. It is very small. Fortunately Larry found it after we had spent about an hour wandering around various beautiful outcroppings. This is all Aztec sandstone, and the way it weathers is quite different than other sandstones I am familiar with. Sadly, this beautiful arch was destroyed in 2021. Culprits unknown.

Here is the iconic view of Windstone Arch. The tafoni in rear is fantastic.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016: Red Hollow with Todd Goss of Paragon Adventures

My stay in St. George started with a day of guided exploration and climbing. Todd Goss, owner of Paragon Adventures, picked me up at 7:30 and then we picked up Eric, a second guide. Two guides? That is so that one can manage the rappelling (pulling the rope from below as a safety measure) while the other focuses on photography. This is unusual and certainly great for the client. We drove a long way out of town to the Red Hollow area and spent the day in that maze of Navajo Sandstone, where Todd had cleaned and bolted some very nice sport climbs, as well as set rappel anchors for a half-dozen or more rappels. I had never climbed like this on Navajo sandstone before (really, I have never sport-climbed before) and indeed it was quite good and fun, as the desert varnish makes for good holds. A few small sections were at 5.9 or 5.7, but mostly it was sustained 5.8. And the day ended with a free rappel over an arch which was fun. The climbing pictures here are by Todd Goss or his assistant Eric.

CAPTiONS

This next climb, the second of the day, started with an easy stem of two walls, but the space expanded and one had to move to one wall. Interesting.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016: Snow Canyon

Thursday, March 17, 2016: Snow Canyon

We did a short walk on the Red Sands Trail, and then made the long drive home, finishing in a blizzard over Vail Pass.

Joan and Stan at the Fire Wave.
The Fire Wave.
The White Domes slot canyon.
And the view from Rainbow Vista. Exploring the wild area visible from this point would surely be fun, and it seems easy to access.
Cholla cactus.
The iconic view of Windstone Arch. The tafoni in rear is fantastic.
Reverse view.
We then looked at the Grand Piano rock, and then Larry and I were dropped off at White Domes and we did the entire Prospect Trail (5.5 miles) which was quite spectacular. Unlike other trails in the park this one sees few visitors (we saw two parties coming in the opposite direction). The whole trail is interesting, but for small erosional features, the southern part is better.
Here is Larry at the hardest scrambling section on the Prospect Trail.
Prospect Trail features.
One feature of the Aztec Sandstone is the prevalence of elephant-trunk formations, such as the one in center here.
At the end of the day we visited some interesting striations just south of the junction of the White Dome Road and the Rainbow Vista trailhead.
Beavertail cactus were prevalent, though rarely in flower this early in the season. We saw one flower.
This next climb, the second of the day, started with an easy stem of two walls, but the space expanded and one had to move to one wall. Interesting.
The terrain was varied, with a couple of little caves. Earthquakes are very rare here!
Lots of good tafoni.
We finished the day near Lone Pine Arch with very nice one-pitch climbs, and then a rappel off the arch. The desert varnish provides remarkably good holds on the Navajo sandstone.
On the drive back to town we detoured to visit the Naming Cave, a cave with a rock inside it, well-protected, with ancient petroglyphs by Ancestral Pueblans. The writing is on the flat surface of the large boulder in the cave.
A wonderful thunderbird.
A large part of the slab.
Outside the cave are several petroglyphs, like these very very old sheep.
On Wednesday we hiked a bit on the Gila Trail, and then Joan and I investigated some nice petrified dunes on the Petrified Dunes trail.
We did a short walk on the Red Sands Trail, and then made the long drive home, finishing in a blizzard over Vail Pass. Here is a nice Cholla from the hike.