January 29, 2014 - Nightmare Gulch

Title: January 29, 2014 - Nightmare Gulch

Trail head: Abbott Dr.

Hike Info:

Trail: Nightmare Gulch Trail

Destination:  head of canyon

Distance:  6.76 miles

Travel Time: 4:35 (1.47 mph)

Moving Time: 3:37 (1.87 mph)

Elevation Rise:  1,0000'

Maximum Elevation:  2,834'

Description:
We left Kohl's in Fresno around 6am. Rachel is taking her RV, so we hopped a ride we her, rather than drive the three hours to Cantil, close to Mojave. It is only the second time which we have not driven on our meetup hikes, so riding in Rachel's RV is really going in style for us.

Scenic Cliffs

Another View of Scenic Cliffs

Red Rock Canyon State Park is close to Cantil which 20 miles north of Mojave. We get to Red Rocks Canyon State Park a touch before 10am. After a brief bathroom stop break, off we go to the Abbott Rd parking area. Since October, this area has been closed to motor vehicles. So we pretty much have the area to ourselves.

We start down a moderately taken care of dirt road. After a brief, very brief climb, we drop down into the wash where we will spend the rest of the day. When we reach the bottom, we make a left turn and head north. We pass by our first set of scenic cliffs, which coincidentally is the name of the cliffs. These cliffs are the opening shot of a Huell Howser California Gold episode.  There is a reason why. These red colored cliffs rises 350' above the gulch floor. They are rutted with the years of water cutting curtain-like texture through this soft stone. In a few days, raptors will be mating in the area.

Our Dry Creek

Secret City

Now the edges of Nightmare Gulch start narrowing in. After another 3/4 of a mile, red dropping rock loams to the west of us. We have entered the "secret city". And it does resemble a city of high rises with windows and curtains looking down on us. Some place behind us is a rock called Ronald Reagan's rock. In one of his Western scenes, he was shot from here.

As we continue on up Nightmare Gulch, the dried creek wanders and winds around, where ever the stone would let it. In places the cliff still appear as high, but they are lowering, particularly on the east side of the gulch. But the group still looks up and examines our surroundings. In other words, we do a lot of gawking. There is much speculation on the type of stone we are seeing. There is some volcanic rock and formations which resemble cement castings-my guess this is gypsum.

Lunch Break

We come to an area where the creek head east and we head up. Lunch is held while enjoy the surrounding area. Most of us head off to another outcropping a couple of hundred of yards away. I take the way least traveled, that is going to the top of a ridge and head on down to where everybody else are.  The top gives a good view of the surrounding area.

Maze of Creeks

After our break, Jerry K leads us up another ravine. While there is nothing extraordinary about the ravine, we enjoy a short walk up it. We stop at 1:30pm and start our return trip back to the parking lot. It is the reverse of our hike up. Still good seeing these interesting cliffs from the reverse perspective. The afternoon soon now start to make its prescience known. The direct sun turns several faces red with heat and perspiration. Still it may be only in the upper 70's-what would this hike feel like in June? Of course, the early folks who crossed the desert experienced this-some died.

Hiking in the Creek

We got back to the parking area around. 2:45pm. John and Cathey had arranged a picnic lunch at the Visitor Center-which was closed in the winter and summer. Nice affair. Somehow it was cooler here, with a slight breezing coming through. Then off to Bakersfield. Here we visited Dewar's for ice cream. Tasted soooo good. We finally got back to Kohl's. Around 8 after a good and pleasant day of hiking.