More Hikes in Cathedral Gorge & A Nearby Colorful Oasis - Nevada

Panaca, Nevada

Cathedral Gorge State Park 

Beautiful Cathedral Gorge State Park

Our favorite hike in the park was the Miller's Point via the Juniper Loop Trail.

The water Tower was constructed by the CCC in the 1930s as part of the water system for the park.  It was gravity fed from above but due to high alkali content it was eventually capped and abandoned.

Hidden back in these stacks are some really neat slot hikes.  That'll be the next post. Crazy cool stuff so don't miss it!

After a short ways, the trail forks off and then takes you through the cliff walls. 

The pinks, oranges and grays are so pretty.

You hike along the wash at the bottom and then there are scattered steps and stairs that take you up to the top to the lookout.

Some of the stairs.

The views are incredible every way you look! 

The final staircase to the top which sits at about 5000 feet elevation.

The final push.

Miller's Point was named by the Union Pacific Masonic Club in 1935.  Cathedral Gorge Park was named by Mrs. Godbe in 1894, designated a state park in 1926 and created as a state park in 1935.

Gorgeous, right?!

Heading back down.  It was a pretty warm day and this hike is the only one with a little bit of shade.  Besides the caves and slots, this is a Must-Do hike!

After our hike we took a drive back in to Caliente for a bit of exploring.

Since it was the end of October there were quite a bit of Halloween decorations including this cute house.

The Caliente Station was built in 1923 to serve the railroad between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.  The bottom story was for passengers and offices while the top was a hotel.  Service was closed in 1997 and it is now used as city hall, library and an art gallery.

 

We had a delicious lunch at the Side Track Cafe on Clover St. and had delicious 1/2 lb. Angus burgers and fries.  I had ordered an Iced Tea but later saw the Mimosa's were only $2.  Well I had to have one of those too!  Everything was delicious, fresh and inexpensive.

There really isn't much in Caliente, but they do have a nice sized medical center.  We headed just out of town to visit another of the 5 state parks in the area.  Kershaw-Ryan State Park has a small campground with pretty gardens and a couple of little hikes.  The gardens were donated by the Ryan family and then became a state park.

I think we were at the perfect time.  Most of the flowers still had some blooms and the trees were in their fall glory.

The CCC built picnic tables, a bathroom and a rock caretakers' cabin.  The old bathroom is all that is left of the original park as a heavy flood in 1984 washed out the others.  There are covered picnic tables, new bathrooms and a small Koi Pond.

Walking past the garden and over a little bridge is a small hiking trail.

An Ivy tunnel.

The ivy was turning deep red and grew up some of the trees and bushes along the way.

Then is climbs up a bit leaving you with a fantastic view of this little oasis.

The spring greens up this little bowl.  All this color in the middle of all the desert cliffs.

Back down towards the parking lot and small grass area this loop ends.

We rested on the lawn as Hurley loves a good Roll-Around on grass!

A short photo shoot and we went back to camp for dinner with Lee and Trace.

While there isn't much to do here, it would make a nice stop-over for us when we leave Arizona to head back to California.  The cell service isn't strong enough for Steve to work so it would have to be a weekend stay.  There is a nice paved bike trail that would take you back to Caliente.  So this would be a fun stop to ride bikes, hike the other short trails and just kick back.  

Back at camp Trace made some delicious Huckleberry Margaritas.  We have a long-standing joke about Everything Huckleberry going back to when we camped together at Glacier National Park.  We picked up some Huckleberry candy and soap for them to go with some cute socks that I had Jack's picture put on.  We then had a great Tri-Tip (provided by Lee & Trace) that Steve grilled up.  We didn't get any pics of our delicious meal or the goodies though.

Thanks Trace!  They were so good!

The next day was a 4 mile group hike on the Juniper Loop Trail.  After Miller's Point this one was kind of a let-down.  There were some pretty parts but it doesn't compare to walking right through the spires on Millers.

It was a warm and windy day and the trail, while flat, felt pretty hot.  Even Jack took a break or two.

We ended the day with dinner back in Pioche after showing Lee & Trace some of the highlights.  The Alamo Club and Liquor Outlet had just started serving dinner once again.  There is a sandwich spot and the Overland Hotel offers pizza, but we were told this was the better option.  They do have some interesting history here.  It was built in 1886 and originally served as the Wells Fargo Freight Office and later the Pioche Bank.  Apparently, the original vault is still here.  Somehow that tidbit escaped me.  I would've loved to have seen it. and The Alamo Club Bar was nicknamed the Bucket of Blood Saloon back in the day and Doc Holliday and Butch Cassidy spent a lot of time in here.

 

We saved the amazing slot canyons/caves for our last day.  Stay tuned!!