Owl Canyon, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV

Hiked Sunday, February 16. This trail is only a little over two miles long, though you can make it longer by taking any one of a number of use spurs, or by linking up with the River Mountains Loop trail, and taking that as long as you want.

This trail begins near the "left" side of the first picnic area on your left, as you drive into 33 Hole Overlook/Picnic Area. As of the date of this posting, a .pdf for the hike is available here: Owl Canyon.

That's the same flyer they handed me at the Visitor's Center, except mine was black and white. :D

I didn't actually read it much before I hiked. I should really stop doing that.

In any event, from the trailhead, looking northish, you pretty much see what's in the first two pictures. The first one shows the trail, very well-defined. The second is a bit to the east, showing a marsh that I did not visit.

The decent is steep, and you do need to take care, but it did not strike me as especially dangerous, with care and balance and good shoes. The flyer text says it's 75 feet down; the map side says 45 feet down. Either way, it's not sheer drop, so just be careful.

The "main" or actual trail heads over the first rise, then around a second berm. LOTS of dead tamarisk in this basin, so they clearly have this as an invasive species management area.

You keep the small hill on your left and head towards where the wash narrows.

All of this would have been underwater less than 20 years ago, by the way. So the tamarisk is also a relatively recent arrival in this basin, and they are trying to keep it from completely taking over the wash.

The walls here are a conglomerate of mixed-stone sizes, similar to White Rock Canyon, but more colorful (not white!). Maybe more like the stuff that composes the top ofLiberty Bell Arch.

[Both links are mostly of the same hike, but the first one had more pictures of the actual White Rock Canyon].

Because of the narrowness of parts of the wash, it actually gets pretty dark in places. I mean not dark so you can't see were you're going, but dark enough to need to adjust your camera for some pretty long exposures or high ISOs.

On my way through one of the narrower areas, a large led-hiking group was coming down. Their leader pointed out an owl nest, in the wall. He also pointed out a LOT of owl droppings, dripping from the walls.

Not long after the owl nest, I reached an undercrossing. A big pipe went under Northshore Road. Once on the other side, the trail only went a little over a 1/4 mile more before hitting another undercrossing. This time, it was two pipes, going under the River Mountains Loop trail. That's a paved (or at least, mostly paved) trail that circles the River Mountains, which overlook Lake Mead and the Colorado River (Hence, the River Mountains).

I turned around just before the second set of tunnels, on the assumption that I had pretty much seen what there was to see. Also, my wife was waiting by the car (she didn't want to hike; I usually go on my own, but we were spending some time together, and I was hoping she could join me on a short hike, but the initial descent was more than she wanted to do.
So I was initially just going to reconnoiter, but she said to go ahead, so I did.

Returned the way I came. So just two miles for the day. New trail, though. This rail was not mentioned in Lake Mead NRA literature as recently as a few years ago, so this is a new one. I don't know how much of the erosion happened just in the last 3-4 years, or if it was just "rediscovered" and added to the list of hikes, even though it had existed even before the reemergence from the lake.

Easy hike, though not recommended for high summer. If you go in summer, bring lots to drink, and take it easy.