Photoshoot in Red Rock Canyon and Pine Creek Canyon

We had a wonderful day hiking through Pine Creek Canyon. There was enough water to make for some great photos, but not too much to make it difficult to get around.

I believe all the waterfalls are flowing as I type this (we could see Lost Creek Waterfall from the car) and they should be flowing for sometime to come. I am guessing this has been the most water Las Vegas has ever received in a two month period.

 I got a great photo of Turtlehead as we drove the Scenic Loop. The sun was perfect highlighting Turtlehead while Calico Hills stayed mostly in the shade.

Since I was into taking photos, we stopped at Willow Springs where I walked the trail about a hundred yards and took a nice photo of Boot Boulder against the snow covered limestone.

We finally made it to the trailhead for Pine Creek Canyon. It was a great day for photos with the clouds hiding the sun and then letting it shine down illuminating the water. We hiked into the south, south fork with the intention of continuing beyond the turnoff for Terrace Canyon. (We had just hike Terrace Canyon a few weeks ago.)

Our plans changed when we saw this waterfall and decided to scramble up to it via the route to Shark Boulder.

 We followed the route up the slope to the normally dry and fairly easy 8 foot climb onto the wide ledge that goes past the waterfall in the photo above. However the wall was wet making it nearly impossible to climb. I gave Kathy a boost, but I didn't bring a rope. Now what to do. The solution was simple, but took some effort and time to make.

 

It worked and I was up, though a little tired from carrying the rocks and building the steps. 

They say timing is everything and I agree. If I would have brought a rope, I would have been up sooner and probably missed this incredible photo!

The tree was actually highlighted by the sun. This is not a Photoshop trick. We both stared in amazement. This was one of the best photos I have taken in Red Rock.

We scrambled up into an unnamed canyon, but it soon became obvious we were not going to climb out of it with water running down near vertical walls. We turned around and started descending through Pine Creek.

Notes: There still a lot of snow on north facing routes in Red Rock. It looks like anything above 6,000 feet got snow last night.This is Bridge's North face. The Scenic Loop at Red Rock Canyon now closes at 7 pm.