There are numerous unnamed arches between Las Vegas and Valley of the Fire, many of which are unknown to most people and some yet to be discovered. The BLM Wilderness Specialist told me about a nice arch that was near Colorock Quarry and recommended that I make the trip sometime. So one day, when it looked like rain and it did rain (but not too hard), we started the hike from Colorock Quarry. The hike can also be started from the Bitter Springs Trail Back Country Byway, but it is probably a little longer hike.
There are no established hiking trails in this area, so we followed a dry wash for the first part of the trip and while in the wash we noticed some rock art panels that were not too far from where we parked our vehicle. Usually rock art includes animals and wavy lines, but these panels contained a face and what looked to me like a field of flowers. There were also patterns that were made with a red pigment.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Along the way there were a number of unusual rock formations and we noticed that the Rockpeckers were also at work in this area. Kolohe even found what appeared to be some type of a web that was covered with rain drops. The web kind of reminded me of a black hole in outer-space.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
We were told that we could not miss the arch because all we had to do was look for a rock formation that was somewhat isolated from the other rock formations in the area. Surprisingly, as it turned out we were able to find the arch without too much difficulty. If this arch was located in any other state beside Nevada, Utah, or Arizona, it would probably be a national monument. Instead, there are so many arches in this area that it does not appear on any maps and it does not even have a name.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
BONUS PICTURE
Colorock Quarry is located just off of the Bitter Springs Trail Back Country Byway on a small rutted trail with a washboard surface that will rattle your teeth and test the shock absorbers on your vehicle. However, the side trip is worth it to see the beautiful and unusual rock patterns. My one picture is shown above and all of the other pictures shown below were taken by Kolohe.
BONUS PICTURE
The Bitter Springs Trail Back Country Byway runs between Interstate 15 and Lake Mead Northshore Drive, with the south end of the trail being about four miles north of the turnoff for Cleopatra Wash. (The Byway can also be reached from Bitter Springs Road about 4 miles west of the turnoff for Cleopratra Wash.) Although it is only about 20 miles as the crow flies between the two roads, it is about 30 miles when driving on a mostly single-track dirt trail. A high-clearance four-wheel vehicle is recommended for this trip.
There are many things to see along the way, so this is an all-day trip and many people come back multiple times to see the things that they missed or areas that they want to explore in more detail. On my first visit I started at the north end of the trail (Valley of Fire Exit off of Interstate 15) and when I came to an unmarked junction in the trail, I turned right when I should have turned left, and missed traveling on half of the byway.
I later made the entire trip with a geologist from the U.S. Borax Boron Mine (now Rio Tinto Boron Mine) located near Boron, California (about 35 miles west of Barstow). U.S. Borax owned patented mining claims on mineral deposits along the Byway that had been worked decades ago but were now becoming more of a liability than an asset. There were old structures and pits on the site and people were known to trespass and explore the private property.
The current Rio Tinto Boron Mine in Boron is the largest open-pit mine in California and the largest borax mine in the world, producing nearly half of the world's borates. The geologist I was traveling with estimated that they would be mining at the Boron facility for at least another 75 years, so they were were interested in selling the Bitter Springs mining claims. At the time, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had funds available from the sale of lands as part of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA), and since this was an inholding of private lands surrounded by Federal Lands, BLM agreed to purchase the lands if U.S. Borax would clean up the facility and fill in some of the pits, which they did and the sale was consummated. When driving on the Byway it is still possible to see the old mine site.
During the winter and spring months of the year there are always a number of wild flowers and blooming plants along the Byway.
BONUS PICTURE
