GPS trace of route, from Nick.

Hidden & Monument Peaks

in Red Rocks Park, Nevada, west of Las Vegas

December 15, 2002

Route developed and described by Branch Whitney.

Click on each small picture to see full-sized image.

View WNW from parking lot; mountains are identified in the caption at the bottom of panorama.

1. View W. There is a 30' drop behind Nick; this is a good time to blind him with my flash.

2. View SE. Dave is stuck between a rock and a soft place.

3. Branch drinks some Ketracel White; Dave pots some petunias; Bonnie and Judy look on from below, amazed.

4. Looking SE. Dave and Richard trudge on.

5. Panoramic view east from Hidden Peak. At right is Black Velvet Peak, made famous by Alannah Miles [ 1 ] [ 2 ].

6. On Hidden Pk, Harlan tries to coax some of his cerebellum back from vacation.  This was my 1st class 3/4 hike since losing part of brain 9 months before.  I wasn’t used to partial paralysis, and kept ripping my right hamstring.

7. SSE from Hidden Pk; Bill, Bonnie, Branch and Nick huddle.

8. Descending NW, on south side of Monument.

9. View E, now on the north side of Monument, looking toward Blue Diamond. Vegas is visible in distance.

10. Same viewpoint as in 9, but view down.

11. Same viewpoint as 9, but view W. From left: Branch & Nick; Bonnie, Judy & Dave; Richard.

12. View W from top on top of Monument. From L to R: Judy, Bonnie, Dave & Bill discuss "Alive" by Piers Paul Read.

13. Panoramic view east from Monument. Spring Mt Ranch is visible in left foreground; Bonnie Springs is to its right. Behind Bonnie Springs is the Blue Diamond Gypsum Mine.

14. Looking E, on descent. Bonnie ponders why there is a Bonnie Springs Ranch, yet there is no Harlan Springs Ranch.

15. View east over Judy, to all sorts of brightly-lit junk. Branch tells us: most climbing accidents happen in response to gravity and an unyielding hard object that causes sudden deceleration.

16. Now we're south of Hidden Pk again, descending to SE. This gully is full of loose junk.

17. View SE of Bill's back, in a tight crack, as he starts a bushwhack, to the Canyon Black.

18. Judy and Bonnie descend the canyon through a cave. Branch shouts, "Jump, I'll catch you!"

19. More descent in Black Velvet Canyon. Left to right: Branch, Nick, Bonnie & Judy.