Goldstrike Hot Springs

A contingent of our "old" hiking friends from Southern California were visiting Las Vegas and took us up on an offer to see the wilder side of town. We were joined by some hiking friends from the local area and embarked on an adventure trek to Goldstrike Hot Springs.

Our group assembled at what used to be the Goldstrike Hotel and carpooled down a dirt road to the trailhead. What serves as a "trail" through the canyon is moderately level except where rock jambs have backed up the silt and created drop offs and dry falls that add an appropriate level of interest to compliment the beauty. Along the way we stopped to check out the remains of a recent suicide plunge that left a new sports car upside down on the side of a cliff. There are still a lot of salvageable parts to be had, including the blood stained leather seats. A bit farther down the canyon we saw a triple arch and named it Dragon Rock.

The drops began fairly gently. Someone once said that there is no RIGHT way to get over rock falls but there are a lot of WRONG ways. At the more significant drops, unnamed parties have painted arrows on the wall to help travelers avoid the wrong way. Ropes have even been placed in a few spots to provide a measure of security. As always, group dynamics (and a few hairy legged guys) provided the best assist.

begin the drops

follow the arrow

everybody helps

or everybody cheers

A few descending opportunities later we reached the main pools. There are several pools at this site with dramatically different water temperatures. The deepest pool was a foot lower than normal due to a leak in the homemade dam that dates from the time of the "real" dam builders. One of the shallower pools was much hotter than the others but provided welcome relief with the air temperature in the mid-50's.

A few of us continued down the canyon to the Colorado river. The rock scrambles and roping opportunities increased dramatically as we descended. A mere 100 yards from the relative safety of the deep pools we encountered a rock that looked rather intimidating from the top. Since we had been walking through water, our boots or sandals made the descent quite slippery. But we all made it (some with more gusto than others). At the bottom of this drop was a natural hot pool wedged in a crack in the rocks. After we slid into it, we started wondering how we were going to climb out since the steep sides were really slippery when your whole body is wet!

We all made it

With gusto!

From the bottom
it looks doable

But how do
we get out?

We made it to "the river" and thought about hiking upstream to the sauna cave. Roger climbed the cliff to look for a route and announced that it would be impossible without swimming (upstream against a STRONG current in BONE CHILLING water). We decided that the hike back would be adventure enough.