Lower Bristlecone Trail

We drove up Lee Canyon to Forest Road 72 in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area to hike the Lower Bristlecone Trail, 5.4 miles round trip with 800 ft f gain. It was nice to be up above 8,000 ft where it was cool on a very hot day.

The first mile is along a closed forest road, we had some nice mountain views.

Most of the aspen trees had lost there golden leaves already.

 We saw some bristlecone trees among the many pine trees.

Nice rock formations

zoom looking down the mountains to the hot desert below

Views of the Lee Canyon Ski Area

Lovely mountain views

Current end of the trail at 9,200 ft, due to storm damage.

We enjoyed the views again on our way back down the trail.

We were surprised to find some wildflowers still in bloom today:

  

 
 

Fletcher Canyon

We drove up Kyle Canyon Road in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area to hike up Fletcher Canyon. We hiked beyond the spring to the seasonal waterfall about 4.5 miles round trip with 1.050 ft of gain. This was a wonderful hike in the canyon with wildflowers, a waterfall and a spring coming out of a rocky cliff. Fletcher Canyon starts out wide with some great cliff views.

After a 1/2 mile or so, the trail enters the Mount Charleston Wilderness.

There is lots of vegetation in Fletcher Canyon, including Ponderosa Pines.

The trail follows alongside the seasonal creek bed, crossing it many times. In some areas the creek bed was dry, other areas had running water.

I love the colorful cliff walls.

Interesting rocks

The higher the trail climbed, the narrower the canyon became.

Looking up the cliff walls

Beyond the spring (the end of the regular trail), the canyon continues to narrow into a slot canyon.

We stopped when we reached the seasonal waterfall, about 7,900 ft of altitude .

More views of the slot section as we hiked back down.

A small cave high in the rocky cliff

As we neared the spring, we walked under this overhang, where water was dripping from underneath.

The water from the spring emerges from this hole in the bottom of a rocky cliff.

View across the valley as we neared the trailhead on the way back.

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail this morning: