The Spring Mountains are a small mountain range that sit directly in the eastern rain shadow of California’s Sierra Nevadas. This mountainous terrain that descends into dry desert creates a unique transitional area between higher alpine environments and arid hills. The nature of the transition represents an analogue to the ecosystem convergence we discovered at Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota, but with a greater degree of aridity, or dryness, to the transition. The main ecological system, taking the place of the Ponderosa Pine and Oak forests found in South Dakota, is rather the western edge of the Mojave Desert, and is populated with Joshua trees, juniper trees, and Creosote bushes. In the shaded areas and highest elevations here, which sometimes contain hidden spring oasis’s, we actually find Ponderosa Pine! Generations ago, this area was just so slightly wetter and supported an entire forest of Ponderosa, as we see in South Dakota’s Black Hills and parts of Colorado and California. Here, they can only thrive in the cool, moist crevasses of the rocky desert slopes.

The main dry ecosystem, along with significant evidence of geologic activity, can be found in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area found at the base of the Spring Mountains. Take the scenic loop through the park and you can find the creosote bushes in the distance. If you go in the winter, you will see their yellow flowers blooming. The creosote bush works opposite the traditional temperate plant yearly calendar, in that it blooms in winter and becomes dormant in summer, turning a brown color. Despite the seeming desolate nature of the place, there are hundreds of species that are only found within this park!

I highly encourage stopping at some of the scenic overlooks along the drive to take in the views and read the signage to learn about the local ecosystems. One such pull off, called the High Point Overlook, points out the wildfire scars you can see across the landscape. There have been three major fires below the overlook in the past 20 years, and the landscape, being one of slow plant growth and recovery, still bears distinct coloration differences from the untouched land around it. Normally, fires rarely occur in such a desert ecosystem, because there just isn’t enough fuel in the landscape to ignite and sustain them. It’s a plethora of invasive grasses, recent newcomers to the desert, that will readily ignite and spread fire, often caused by lightening strikes. This increased fire risk represents a significant risk to the existing desert flora, who aren’t adapted to fire regime conditions.

The park is also a bit of a bucket list destination for geology enthusiasts. It is one of the few places on earth where we can directly observe the shifted layers of a thrust fault above ground. Thrust faults occur when two tectonic plates collide, causing one plate to slip up and over the other, which can result in reversed layering of the rocks. In Red Rock Canyon, we can see an older limestone layer, which formed around 500 million years ago when Nevada lay under a great sea, sitting on top of newer sandstone formations, which appear red from oxidation of the iron in the solidified sediment (we can see the results of a similar oxidation taking place in South Valley Park in Colorado, which we wrote about in a previous article). The sedimentary rock itself was formed from old sand dunes that existed in the area long after the sea had disappeared.

We ran into vehicle issues on the way to the park and were not able to get out and hike before the winter desert cold set in. Nevertheless, there is a very easy, low elevation gain hike that you can take to get your bearings in the area, called the Moenkopi Loop, which is accessible from the scenic loop and is about 2 miles long. From October through May, you will need a timed entry pass to enter the scenic loop, which you can purchase at recreation.gov.

If you choose to go hiking, keep in mind that the desert is a land of extremes. Winter daytime temperatures are mild and great for hiking, but the sun and dry air can still cause dehydration, so bring plenty of water. Bring a hat and sunscreen to protect yourself from the sun. Also be on the lookout for rattlesnakes and tortoises. Sightings are rare in this area but give them a wide berth if you see them. Rattlesnakes can be dangerous if they feel threatened, and tortoises will urinate in fear and lose their precious internal water, which can cause them to die. If coming in the summer, the prior all still applies, but sunrise and sunset may be better times to hike due to the extreme midday heat.