Last 2.5-miles of trail under construction

Grading Trail tread near Lake Las Vegas

June 2, 2011 —  The last segment of the River Mountains Loop Trail is finally under construction. We refer to it as Segment #14, a 2.5 mile section along the Lake Mead Parkway frontage past Three Kids Mine and entrance to Lake Las Vegas. Work started in late April and is progressing rapidly. This segment will add a “little sister” to the Three Sisters and two tunnels under Lake Mead Parkway. Looking at the rough grading this trail segment will offer some interesting views and challenges .  This last segment is due for completion sometime in late July to Mid August 2011.

First tunnel being assembled

The Photo here-in and in the gallery show the progress to date.  You can find more photos on our Facebook page plus daily updates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Gallery:

Grading Trail tread near Lake Las Vegas

First tunnel being assembled

Heavy Equipment working “Little Sister” segmetn #14

Trail rough grading & views east into Lake Mead NRA

Trail alignment look west

Rmlt tunnel assembly

Tunnel #2 pieces prior to assembly looking east Lake Mead NRA

 

Best Place to Ride a Bike – 2011’s R.J. Best of Las Vegas

March 27th, 2011 –  We made it…..The Review-Journal’s  2011 Best of Las Vegas  “Best Place to Ride a Bike”  R.J.’s choice.   They didn’t list the entire trail, but that is probably because the writer-rider hasn’t ridden the entire trail system as yet.  I concur with this selection from Railroad Pass east to Boulder City as it has much to look at from a views point-of-view; plus you have the historic train rides on the weekend to look forward too. You can find the write-up online by following this link, then paging to page 71 & 72. Link: http://www.reviewjournal.com/ads/_adOps/BOLV-2011FlipBook/   

Trail Bridge route to Boulder City from RR Pass

You will also see that the River Mountain Trail is selected as “Best Place to Hike”; this  is actually a different trail but shares a trailhead in Boulder City. This trail was built by the CCC many years ago and is a six mile round trip hike to the top of Red Mountain in the River Mountains.  You will find a more detailed write up elsewhere in this BLOG Link: https://rmltman.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/the-original-r…irca-1935-1937/

Wildflowers of Railroad Pass, Nevada…..April 24, 2010

April 24th, 2010 Earth Day  Weekend –  The photo’s posted herein were taken on Saturday April 24th, 2010.  We were doing our “Trail Watch”  work along the trail from Railroad Pass Casino (MM 0.0 east to MM 32.5).  We started early at 6:30 a.m. to beat the heat and to get the best color contrast for photos.  We found the best flowers not far from the trail and best over the first mile over to the Cascata Bridge.  We also parallel the railroad tracks for most of the first two miles also.   With camera in hand, a five gallon bucket for trash, grippers, and a small street broom for sweeping rocks we set out….while picking  up trash along the tracks & trail the sun on the tracks called out to me…..  

Rails to Boulder City early morning 4-24-10

Beaver tail cactus were all along the trail most with just a bloom or two opening the best yet to come.  We also noted up on the mountain side in gullies and drainages lots of yellow brittlebush in full bloom, the entire area yellow from a distance…. the yellow contrasted with the dark brown and black volcanic rocks were awe-inspiring. 

Cresote Bush in bloom with Brittle Bush on hillside 42410

Along with the wildflowers we found the droppings  of nature’s worst insect, “The Litterbug”.  In our opinion the trash came from the freeway and not trail users based on location and droppings found.  The worst item repeatedly found this day was t-paper, unrolled and stuck in bushes, you ever try to pick up t-paper?  This stuff was not used, but allowed to unroll in the wind of a speeding car then let loose…  Here is a photo of the days “litterbug’ harvest… 

Litterbug droppings harvest along trail 42410

 Despite the litterbug sightings we did enjoy all the wildflowers along the way.  The “Stone Hedge” trailhead at Bootleg Canyon proves to be a very  interesting photo backdrop along the trail.  We discovered several small barrel cactus in full bloom on our way back to Railroad Pass…..they were on the uphill side of the trail. I’ll include one here and more in the photo gallery below.  There is much color to be seen out there and you have two weeks before it has peaked (Mothers Day); so get your camera, your hiking boots on and get out there.  Don’t just take my word for it… 

Barrel cactus two blooms RRpass 42410

We finished our day by viewing the Southern Nevada Railways train pulling into Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino at 10:20 a.m. followed by a great breakfast at the hotel coffee shop.  Saturday mornings  in  the April desert don’t get any better….:) 

Photo Gallery of Desert blooms Railroad Pass, Nevada:

Rails to Boulder City early morning 4-24-10

Cresote Bush in bloom with Brittle Bush on hillside 42410

Litterbug droppings harvest along trail 42410

Barrel cactus two blooms RRpass 42410

Barrel cactus top view 42410

Globe Mallow & bike rider on trail 424210

Beaver Tail cactus bloom & Railroad Pass mountains backdrop 42210

Stonehedge rocks at Bootleg Canyon Trail head 42410

 

 

Wildflowers – “Take Photos, Leave only Footprints”

April 17th, 2010 – This quote applies to wildflowers, too.  Which means take pictures and do not pick!  This a.m. on an early morning trek on the River Mountains Loop Trail within Lake Mead National Recreation Area, we came across a nice collection of Giant Sunrays, Enceliopisis argophylla, when to our amazement we saw where someone had picked at least ten (10) flowers out of the grouping of three or four plants.  What a shame and waste….not to mention it is illegal to pick and remove any wildflowers or shrubs from a National Recreation Area.  Here is a photo of the Giant Sunray: 

Giant Sunray, Enceliopsis argophylla, April 17, 2010

This April morning was just perfect for wildflower viewing.  My wife and I entered the trail at Mile Mark 12 near the NPS fee entrance station on Lake Mead Parkway and walked east along the trail taking photos and enjoying the morning. We hit the trail at 6:15 a.m. just at sunrise so shadows were long and contrasts were good.  The creosote bush was dark green and full of yellow blooms everywhere along the trail.  We came up on a Pigmy Cedar, Peucephyllum schottii, all covered in this yellow/orange web stuff called “dodder” which is a parasite.  Here is a photo of cedar and “dodder”: 

Pigmy Cedar, Peucephyllum schottii, with "dodder" parasite growing April 17, 201-

 

WE found the desert about as green as it has been in recent memory and its sparse at that.  the soils are very harsh so plants  have to produce quickly before the summer heat cooks them.  We found lots of yellow flowers, several in the white and one in purple which I’ll identify in the gallery that follows.  We hiked in 2.5 miles and turned around at Mile Marker 14.5 which offers a grand overlook of Lake Mead from the Las Vegas Wash/Marina area.  The Muddy Mountains are off in the Northeast some 15-miles, Lava Butte just north about 4-miles, and southeast across the lake is Fortification Hill and Mt. Wilson.  During our 2.5 hour adventure we greeted 27 cyclists on the trail, one jogger, and one walker.  No dogs, no coyotes, no snakes, no tortoise, but it was very quiet.   I did note a lot of scat on the edge of the trail, mostly coyote I would guess. 

PHOTO GALLERY OF APRIL 17TH, 2010 WILDFLOWERS: 

Pigmy Cedar, Peucephyllum schottii, with “dodder” parasite growing April 17, 201-

Rocks & Blazing Star, Mentzelia tricuspis, Velcro Plant April 17, 2010

Desert Goldpoppy, Eschscholzia glyptosperma April 17, 2010

Notch-leaf Phacelia, Phacelia crenulata, April 17, 2010 JEH

Globe Mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua, April 2010

Pigmy Cedar, Peucephyllum schottii with ‘dodder” parasite growing April 17, 2010

Giant Sunray, Enceliopsis argophylla, April 17, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bicycling Routes, Lanes, Trails on Google Maps “How to Find”

April 2010 – How do I find the River Mountains Loop Trail?  Where are the trail heads? Where are there connecting trails and bike routes or lanes?  Where can I see photos taken along the trail? Google Maps has the answer.  I have enclosed a power point presentation which hopefully walks you through the process.  It is still a work in progress, but it gets you out there on the trail.  Once you master this you can go anywhere across the country and try it out.

Step one:  get to Google and select Google Maps.  Step Two: Select Satellite (my preference)  Step three: search maps for ‘River Mountains Loop Trail, Henderson, Nv. 89015’    Step four:  select more and on the drop down menu click on photos & bicycling; green lines should appear indicating trails and bike routes along with photo icons.

Now the fun begins. To view the photos, place your cursor over a photo and click; photo opens with title and owner; click on by nevhiker(owner) or view in Panoramio to see larger photo and more…

Trail Heads:  To find trailheads and other points of interest go to the “New” button in green, click and a drop down of new features appears; scroll down and enable “What’s Around Here?” Little dots and buttons appear along with a listing down the left side of your screen.  you can move around the map and along the green trail and different points of interest and trail heads will appear.  click on a lettered button or a round dot to see what is there. The example in the Powerpoint (slide three) shows trail head information for “Historic Railroad & River Mountains Loop Trailhead“.  From this pop up you can get directions, link to web site, read reviews or write them, plus get additional information(slide 4).

Finally try it out and experiment  on your own and enjoy.  It is a great trail tool. Reminder Google is Beta testing this feature so it could change at anytime or even just go away.

Link  Powerpoint:  RMLT google maps – trails-bicyling march 2010