you have a high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicle you can drive 0.6 miles farther to the official trailhead.
5 Children’s Discovery Trail and Lost Creek
This is a loop trail with the opportunity to take a short side trip to a seasonal waterfall in Lost Creek Canyon. Besides the waterfall, it accesses a creek, an agave-roasting pit, pictographs made by American Indians, and interesting plant life. With appealing elements for adults and children alike, it makes an ideal introductory hike.
The trip is easy but one must actually hike. Strollers and little ones’ legs don’t work well here because of uneven, rocky terrain, sandstone steps, stream crossings and slippery rocks near the water. Small children need to be in a child-carrier pack of some sort.
From the parking area, take the trail at the far right, well marked as the Children’s Discovery Trail. After less than five minutes you will cross the broad Red Rock Wash. This is usually a dry stream, but if you happen to find a good flow of water here, or even if it rains when you visit, save this hike for another day. This wash is a major drainage, so flash flooding is common, and it is possible to walk across the wash dry-footed, yet be unable to return safely just a few minutes later.
On the other side of the wash, the trail narrows and begins an easy ascent up rocky terrain interspersed with smooth sandstone steps, into a plant community of manzanita, shrub live oak, juniper, and pinyon pines.
For the next quarter-mile the area contains important cultural resources — fragile and non-renewable evidence of prehistoric occupation. This area is known to have provided a seasonal camp for American Indians.
Look for the sign indicating the location of an agave-roasting pit, sometimes called a prehistoric kitchen, near a large pinyon pine. The native people created such pits by burying the basketball-sized hearts of the agave plant, along with rocks heated in a fire, which cooked this favorite food slowly and thoroughly. Vanishing elsewhere, the pits are still common around Red Rock Canyon.
You will find a signed spur trail on the right, to Willow Springs Picnic Area; the side trip is less than a mile one way. Continuing on the main loop, on your right you will notice sandstone cliffs that have many overhangs. Keep an eye out above and around these because sometimes you can see desert bighorn sheep, especially in the early morning.
There also are a few pictographs in this area. They are very faint so it might take you a while to spot them. But they’re worth looking for, as pictographs are not common in our area. Unlike petroglyphs, the more common but equally irreplaceable form of rock writing, pictographs are painted. Pictographs tend to weather away, and both kinds are easily damaged by the touch of human hands, boots, etc.
About one half-mile from the trailhead take the unmarked spur trail on your right, towards narrow Lost Creek Canyon. You will need to make a couple of minor crossings over the creek. The trail also passes by a ponderosa tree, an unusual sight at this relatively low elevation. Because of the water and cooler temperature, a handful of ponderosas grow not only here but also in nearby Pine Creek Canyon. If you are unsure which of the large pines are ponderosas, smell the bark; its scent resembles that of vanilla.
Continue up the sandstone steps, which will bring you under the wedge where two giant boulders have fallen against each other, forming a roof over the trail for a few feet. The trail ends about fifteen yards from here inside a box canyon, highlighted by Lost Creek Falls. About fifty feet high, the falls are seasonal; the best time to see them is usually January through March.
On your return from Lost Creek Falls side trail, continue down the Discovery Trail and you will come to a wooden boardwalk. This walkway and deck serve a higher purpose than merely keeping your feet dry. This is a riparian restoration area, and the boardwalk protects all sorts of plants from getting trampled, including wild grapes, horsetails, watercress, grasses and rushes. It also protects critical habitat for the southeastern Nevada springsnail.
From the viewing deck you can see Lost Creek as it flows under the willows, which form a broad canopy over the creek. Benches are built into the walkway, making this a good place to stop for a while and listen to the gentle sounds of the creek and the local birds, who like this spot as much as we do.
Children’s Discovery Trail At A Glance
Best season: October–April.
Length: 0.75-mile loop.
Difficulty: Easy to moderate.
Elevation gain: Two hundred feet.
Trailhead elevation: 4,460 feet.
Warnings: Flash flooding, uneven footing along rocky trail.
Jurisdiction: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Directions: From Red Rock Canyon’s main entrance, take the 13-mile Scenic Drive for about 7.5 miles and go right toward Willow Springs Picnic Area. Drive 0.2 miles and park on left at signed trailhead.
6 Ice Box Canyon
Ice Box Canyon is always picturesque, especially from January through March when you’ll probably see the seasonal show of cascades, deep pockets of water, and possibly waterfalls among the colorful sandstone bluffs.
Of course, the moisture that makes those months so agreeable also brings the danger of flash flooding. On any canyon hike, get an up-to-date weather forecast before hitting the trail.
Although it’s up to you how far you travel within the canyon, officially it is a two-and-one-half mile roundtrip with an elevation gain of a few hundred feet. You will encounter rocky and slippery terrain, so hiking boots with good treads and ankle support, never a bad idea, are especially in order here.
From the trailhead take the signed path and within minutes you will reach Red Rock Wash, a major drainage. The wash is about sixty yards across and during or directly after rain, can become a raging torrent. If rain threatens, yet the wash looks dry, do not be tempted to cross, for you might not be able to return safely if the weather isn’t bluffing.
As you make your way across the drainage, look for the sandstone steps on the far side, which will take you up onto the natural bench. Travel along the obvious trail and after about two-tenths miles from the trailhead you will come to a signed junction. The trail to the right is called the Spring Mountain Youth Camp Trail, though the camp is now located elsewhere. It leads hikers over to the Lost Creek area. The one going left is Dale’s Trail which leads to the Pine Creek area. For the Ice Box Canyon hike head straight, toward the mouth of the canyon.
As you continue you will find a plant community of scrub oak, desert willow, pinyon pine, and manzanita. There are quite a few social trails along the way, which can be confusing, but staying on the most-worn path and continuing up canyon will take you where you need to go. Some spur trails lead to the base of the steep cliffs and are used primarily by rock climbers. There are more than seventy climbing routes in this canyon alone, and more than two thousand in the park.
You might see white-tailed antelope squirrels, cottontails, jackrabbits, kit foxes, coyotes, or even a bobcat on this hike. Once inside the canyon look along the walls and you might see desert bighorn sheep. Birds here include Gambel’s quail, mourning doves, white-throated swifts, and cactus wrens.
After
