Nevada Charcoal Kilns

Call us crazy, but we found a dining room table on Marketplace and it was located 20 miles north of Pioche, Nevada.  Most people would have looked for one closer to home, but not us . . . no, we're going to "hit" a few spots of interest that we had missed on prior trips to the area.  First up would be the Panaca Summit Charcoal Kilns, that we noticed on Google Earth . . . after we got home . . . from hiking Vada Benchmark, several years ago.  Then after looking at the table, Carl (the table's owner!) suggested a return trip that looped us through Bailey Springs (stagecoach stop) and the Bristol Wells Kilns.  As you will see from the pictures below, this turned our long day trip into a fine adventure!

Just before hitting the Panaca Summit, we headed north for five miles towards Kiln Spring . . .
To our surprise we found the spring was overflowing with fresh cool water

The kilns are located a half mile north of the spring . . . 
These are the kilns we missed when we hiked Vada Benchmark, a couple of years ago
(Click on the picture to enlarge the print)  

The kilns are in great shape

Here's a closeup of the perfectly arranged quarried rocks and blocks 

Can you imagine building one of these beehive kilns and the adding a window to boot?!

Mud and limestone mortar

The backside of the kilns . . . time to move on to our next stop!

After spending some time with Carl and Peggy (and looking at their table), it was time to head back to Pioche.  Carl asked how we were returning and we told him Highway 93.  He suggested, if we had time, an interesting loop that would take us along a portion of the Silver State OHV trail.  Thankfully, he gave us detailed instructions, as there was no road signage along the way.

Here's a BLM map (taken from a sign at the Springs), showing the stagecoach station layout of Bailey Springs 

Dragonfly at Bailey Springs

Remnants of structure 2

A constant trickle of water keeps this wildlife tank filled . . .
You can't see it from this shot, but the tire is completely full of clear, glorious water!
Not just by the spigot, but also the slits where Kent's foot is placed

We came upon this area covered with Globe Mallow on our way to Bristol Wells

Several old structures were found at Bristol Wells . . .
We didn't do any research on them, but we're sure they had something to do with
mining and being on a stage line

This structure was the most complete of the two and had lots of lime green stone used in it's construction

Allison was being "creative" with interesting shots from inside the cabin, when she "happened" to notice
the kilns a few hundred yards away while looking out the window . . .
Otherwise, we might have missed them!

Interesting that the top part of the chimney appears to have been made later, with red bricks

One last view and perspective of the kilns to the old structure

Next to the old building was this well constructed wall . . . possibly an old corral??

Then it was off to check out the three kilns . . .
There is a small berm, and well maintained road, behind them that allows you to drive right up to their backside

A unique feature that we found in these kilns (and haven't seen before in others) was the use of wrought iron for the door and window frames . . . it gave it a nice touch!

This kiln is certainly deteriorating more quickly than the others . . . hopefully, repairs can be made to preserve their history

An interesting shot . . .
This is looking from the inside of the first kiln window to the outside window of the middle one

One last look before we head to Pioche

The kilns and springs turned out to be a welcome diversion to an otherwise long drive between St. George and Pioche.  Thanks so much to Carl and Peggy's suggestion to incorporate Bailey Springs and Bristol Wells in to our travel plans! (Oh, and by the way, we will be headed back to Pioche to bring home our new table in a week!)  Once we left Bristol Wells we caught HWY 93 and headed to Pioche to hike a few benchmarks above town before heading home.

Ice House Trail

In case you haven't heard, we moved!  After considering the possibility of relocating, for over a year, we felt that it was the right time to downsize both our house and property . . . And so, after saying our goodbyes to Hurricane, we moved down the road to Washington, Utah.  Not that Washington is that far away (maybe 10 miles as the crow flies), but after living in the same home for 26 years it was still a major life changing event for us!

Now that we are settled in the Green Springs area, our first "order of business" was to explore one of several trailheads that begin in our community.  Today's pick was the Ice House Trail that so prominently snakes it's way up a mesa viewable from our new home.  It certainly was good to leave the packing boxes behind and get on to another outdoor adventure!

Access to the trailhead is located in the Green Springs Villas neighborhood . . .
 Parking spots have been provided, so you don't have to park on the street . . . very nice!

 The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve offers over 130 miles of non-motorized trails . . . 
You can hike, mountains bike or ride your horse on many of the trails

Today we are taking the trail to the left . . . we'll do Mustang Pass another time

Ice House crosses the Middleton Powerline Trail and begins making it's way up the mesa

Scorpion weed  . . . strange name for a pretty flower

The trail ascends on the southwest side of Broken Mesa

It's a nice gradual climb on what appears to be a very old road . . . sure would have hated
to have been the one tasked with forging the road from all the lava rock!
Rumor has it that this trail was used to bring ice down from a storage cabin near the
Pine Valley Mountains in the early part of the century . . . and thus the name

Looking south, from atop the mesa, toward Green Springs and our new home

We continued north to get nice views of the Red Cliffs

Plains Prickly Pear cacti were just starting to bloom

So delicate yet so prickly

The diverse landscape of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve is unique and special . . .
Kent is planning a future hike that will take us across the ridgeline of the middle portion of the Red Cliffs . . .    they say it is doable . . . we shall find out!

White flowering bush

Pink Sego lily

From our house we can see this bush on the end of the mesa . . . 
We always thought it was a flag someone had placed up there . . .
We were surprised it was only a bush when we hiked along the mesa rim on our way back! 

 We are thankful there are several places in Washington County to access the Reserve . . .
 It goes to show that you only need a couple of hours to see some amazing scenery!

Well, now we know what's on top of the mesa near our new home!  It was certainly nice that it had rained the previous evening and combined with the cool temperatures, made for an enjoyable hike through the springtime cacti and flowers that are now coming into full bloom.  Altogether, we hiked about three miles (r/t) and gained approximately 600 feet of elevation.  More importantly, it opened our eyes to several more hikes that we want to do!

Our Hurricane home (1998-2024) . . . Thanks for the memories!

Our new Washington home (2024-present) . . . Time to make some new memories!

Snow Benchmark

Our friend, Tom, said that Snow Benchmark was a nice hike and provided excellent views of the surrounding area.  Our only hesitation about doing this hike was using the Red Mountain Trailhead to gain access to this Red Cliffs Desert Reserve highpoint.  Several years ago when we hiked to Snow Canyon Overlook we used this miserable, rock strewn trail and we swore we'd never do it again!  Hoping that time might have mellowed our memories of how bad this trail really was, we set out, once again, to give it another try.  Nope, it was just as bad as we remembered!  However, after leaving the main trail at a split about two miles in, the excursion became much better and provided for an enjoyable early March hike.

There it is . . . Peak 5570 . . . better know as Snow Benchmark
(If you want to know what we meant by a "miserable trail," just look at the rocks at Kent's feet!)

Just before we left the trail to ascend Snow Benchmark,
we veered slightly off trail to gain these fantastic views of Snow Canyon

Working our way up the peak . . . nothing too bad

These were the only flowers we saw blooming . . . Anderson's Buttercup

We have arrived!
We are looking east towards the Pine Valley Mountains . . .
Also, you can see where we left the trail for the Snow Canyon overlook (center right)

Here's why we came . . . to recover Snow Benchmark . . . it was placed here in the 1950's

As an added bonus, for our efforts, we were rewarded with unobstructed 360° views in all directions
Looking west toward West Mountain and Jarvis Peak

Kent enjoying the views of Snow Canyon State Park

Time to head back
There's supposed to be another benchmark on the Veyo cinder cone pictured directly above Kent's cap . . .
Looks like we'll have to plan another outing to recover that one!

Working our way back down to the Red Mountain Trail

One last glimpse of Snow Canyon
Now it's time to begin the two and half mile slog back to the trailhead

Did we tell you how miserable this trail was?

One last look at Snow Benchmark
This was taken at the Snow Canyon Scenic Overlook, off Highway 18, on our way back to St. George

This hike ended up being just about 7-miles roundtrip.  If you can survive the first two miles (and the last two!), you will find this to be a very nice outing.  It provides incredible views of Snow Canyon and a good cardio workout as you make the final 800ft ascent up Peak 5570 to Snow Benchmark.  If you'd like a topo map and GPS tracks for this hike you can find them by clicking here.  Thanks to Tom for providing these from his Peakbagger.com post!