The trail sign
A look down the start of the trail. The Muddy Mountains are in the distance.
The Bitter Spring Back Country Byway is a 27mi long
jeep trail. The trail runs across the Muddy Mountains, through Echo Wash, and on
to the northwest shore of Lake Mead. The US Bureau of Land Management
"maintains" the trail, and I use the term "maintains" loosely.
The start of the trail is the usual washboard graded road, easily passable with
a regular passenger car. As you get up into the Muddy Mountains the trail gets
rougher and rougher, and the trail markers start to disappear. There are a lot
of side roads and forks up there. Luckily I had a GPS and laptop with mapping
software. Otherwise, it would have been pretty easy to get lost.
The trail sign
A look down the start of the trail.
The Muddy Mountains are in the distance.
Buffington Pockets. This is an area of
yellow sandstone formations.
The top of the pass through the Muddy Mountains. This
view is to the east, looking over Echo Wash.
A shot down in Echo Wash
Another shot in Echo Wash
The Valley of Fire state park is about 45min northeast of Las Vegas off Interstate 15 (on NV169). The whole area is composed of red sandstone formations. There is a very nice scenic drive along NV169, with plenty of side roads and trails to explore.
Note how the rock is riddled with holes. It
appears that the holes are caused by the sagebrush. As the sagebrush grows the
roots must exploit cracks in the rocks. When the plant dies it leaves these
holes.
This is part of a formation called the
"Seven Sisters".
