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| - La Madre Spring Hiking Trail
- Sun, 11/04/12
This beautiful, tranquil La Madre Springs Trail (3.5mi RT from Willow Spring Picnic Area) is a popular one for locals and visitors alike, especially during autumn and cooler winter/spring months.
- The hike can also be extended to 6+miles via the White Rock Loop, whose upper trailhead is near the top part of La Madre.
I love La Madre Spring trail for its tranquility and the magnificent, wide open wilderness! Its moderate climb is good for body and soul! During autumn and winter, La Madre Spring is my favorite trail to hike on!
Now, you can skip reading the following, just GO TAKE A HIKE(!) on this nice, quiet trail, and/or the White Rock Loop. You'll like it, too, I'm sure!
YELPY DETAILS:
- La Madre Springs is very popular but never crowded; short in distance but could be a bit strenuous, for its constant climb of 700+ ft elevation gain over a short distance of ~1.7mi.
Its base trailhead is conviently located at the beautiful Willow Spring Picnic Area off the "13mi Scenic Drive" [- Follow the Willow Spring sign, turn RIGHT into the 2-way drive].
- The trail is a 1.75 mi long
[1-way], moderately pitched, wide-open, gravel/dirt "road" (covered mostly by egg-sized rocks), with spectacular views of the La Madre Mountain Range and valleys it towers over below!
At the "end" of the trail is the famous La Madre Spring, where you'll find a beautiful, SMALL "Pond" covered by a layer of green water plants. This pond is formed by the flowing spring, which is not very visible, but you can hear its soothing musical sound! This is really NOT the end of the trail! From here, one can hike further on a VERY NARROW PATH (at times muddy), along the mostly hidden spring, crisscrossing over it a few times, to small water falls. Holwever, over the years hiking, I myself have never hiked far enough to see the water falls.
Yesterday, I had a wonderful time hiking on this trail, happily soaking up the sun and taking in the gorgeous views of the mountains and valleys! I parked at the beautiful Willow Springs Picnic area, and walked 0.25mi up the Rocky Gap Road to the upper trailhead. From there, it was only 1.5+mi to the spring. The last 0.5mi was a series of climbs on moderately pitched slopes covered with small rocks. It could be a bit strenuous due to the pitch and higher altitude, but it was absolutely worth the climb, especially after you reached the SMALL pond formed by the hidden spring! Although the tiny spring itself was mostly hidden, the SOUND of its FLOWING stream was audible and soothingly therapeutical!
A young couple told me that some kids told them they had spotted a tarantula around the pond earlier! Well, that tarantula was too smart to stay around for me - it was long gone when I got there!
It was such a gorgeous afternoon by the pond, I took extra time to relax over my trail mix and water before moving on. I walked along the narrow path along the spring for a short distance, but it was too challenging for my tired old legs! I'd have to come back another day to explore further up, where I knew there were a couple of small waterfalls. Going back down was easy, but those small rocks could make the path a bit slippery at spots. Do be careful!
So, GO TAKE A HIKE on this trail and/or the White Rock Loop. You will see hikers of all ages there, many with pets, and some older ones with walking canes! I am sure you'll enjoy the hike, too!
NOTE:
- BTW, hiking up yesterday, I saw several pink-colored "super jeeps" (from Pink Jeep Tours) climbing up Rocky Gap Road heading up to the summit! It looked like fun! I myself have not taken one in Vegas, although my wife and I did have a thrilling pink jeep ride on Sedona's steep rocky boulders!
For those interested, here is their weblink and some reviews on them:
http://pinkjeeptours.com/
https://www.google.com/search?q=pink+jeep+tours+las+vegas&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#mldd=0
Peterskis, Nov 2012
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