Hike to La Madre Spring

David, Henry and I hiked La Madre Spring. This hike, as you can see in the map below, is in the very northwest corner of the park. I hadn't really explored this area before, so it was pretty exciting to see some new parts of the park!



It was a Bea-uuuutiful day. It was one of the last weekends of the year where it's still cool enough to hike without breaking much of a sweat. There were tons of people out and lots of dogs. One person quipped in passing, "There are more dogs than people out here today!"


Near the trailhead

The hike was about 2.5-3 miles round trip. It's a hike-in, turnaround, hike-out trail. It's uphill almost the entire way in, sometimes the steepness reaching like 30 degrees, which is pretty damn steep! It was a hard climb, even for a coolish day. Henry kept making us stop while he would plop himself in the cool shade under a juniper tree.


I like the blurriness of this photo..it adds a painterly quality

The trail is 4 wheel drive accessible, which I have on my Rav4, but I think its more fun to walk it.




Some nice flowers and cactus I saw along the way. There was quite a bit of this kind of cactus on the trail, more than I've seen in other parts of the park.



Henry under a juniper tree

Didn't see any significant wild life, which was kind of sad. A chatty Canadian couple we passed a couple of times told us they saw a rattlesnake, and I was SUPER disappointed I hadn't seen it.


A ways up the trail revealed some of the calico rocks...very pretty.

We finally made it to the top of the trail were the spring was. It looked fresh and cool, but the sign said the water wasn't tested, so we didn't drink it. But it supplies the animals in the mountains with water, so I figured it was probably safe. I let Henry run around in it to cool off. He hasn't really played in water before, but seemed to enjoy it. The water wasn't that deep, and for most of the springs, it came halfway up his legs. He'd walk through, and occasionally dip his wiener in the water to cool it off, which we thought was hilarious.


Thinking about dipping his wienie

The spring wasn't much to look at, however. It was small and a little ugly. But it's still neat to know it's there for the mountain animals.


La Madre Spring

We passed an old homestead--now just the foundation--but there's no information listed about it on the Red Rock website. You can see what was left of the floor in the photo below.



The trail took about 2.5 or 3 hours, and I enjoyed it for what it was worth. Don't know if I'd hike it again, although it turns out that there's more of a trail beyond the spring that leads to a dam. We didn't walk that far, but someday I'd like to see it so maybe I'll go back. I don't think I'd bring Henry again on this trail unless it's an overcast or chilly day; it seemed a bit too much for him. But I think other dogs, ones with longer noses and better sinuses would do fine.


Here's a picture of him with his giant ladel-like tongue by some of the many pricly pear cacti we saw along the trail.





It was a good hike and we certainly got our day's exercise! This might be the last hike we'll take for the season, now that the major heat is coming on, at least in Red Rock Canyon. I think we might still be able to hike Mount Charleston trails, but, we'll be staying out of Red Rock until it gets cool again in the fall.

Here are links in my blog to other trails I've hiked and noted in Red Rock Canyon:

Ice Box Canyon Hike
Pine Creek Canyon Hike


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Currently listening to Gulag Orkestar by Beirut