Mt. Charleston Wilderness Hike

Clark County

June 16, 2007
 

Nine adventurous folks hiked up to the "Raintree", a 3,000 year old bristlecone pine tree to make sure it was still hanging out.  Sure enough we found it alive and well firmly planted into the ground of the Mt. Charleston Wilderness Area.

Hiking up to the "Raintree" was one of many reasons that we headed out of Las Vegas for a hike in the wilderness area.  The most welcoming was leaving the valley heat and climbing up to over 8,000 feet in elevation to the trailhead.  Our hiking continued up to just under 10,000 feet making for pleasant temperatures but short breaths.  We found the ground covered in beautiful wildflowers and the fragrant ponderosa pine offered shade.

Once we had our photo-op with the Raintree, we headed to see Mummy Spring.  To our surprise there was some snow still present but little water trickled down.  Nevertheless, green vegetation caught our eyes and so did the steep avalanche shoots we hiked by. 

  Our descent was quick and peaceful since we were able to let the gravity pull us back down.  Waiting for us was a cooler of ice cold drinks that we fully appreciated while writing hand written letters to the politicians encouraging them to protect more areas as wilderness in Southern Nevada.