La Madre/El Padre Mountain Southern Notch Passage | La Madre Mountains Wilderness, Nevada
La Madre/El Padre Mountain Southern Notch Passage | La Madre Mountains Wilderness, Nevada | Visit https://lasvegasareatrails.com/la-mad... | Revisit the La Madre/El Padre Mountain Southern Notch Passage in this educational video with Jean-Luc Montagnier, former director of a national park in the French Alps. Jean-Luc explores an ancient Anastazi cooking oven dating back to the 11th century. It’s hidden in plain sight at the entrance of the Turtlehead Peak trail in Red Rock Canyon! Jean-Luc describes how it was created and used over centuries to produce meat jerky that could stay preserved for a couple years as a light food product for Native Americans. There are a series of these cooking ovens spaced at 10-mile intervals throughout the region.
Jean-Luc also points out edible parts of the pine tree from the pinion seeds to the young shoots to tea that can be made from the mature needles. In addition, the sap has antibiotic healing properties for wounds and sore throats.
Jean-Luc describes some geological features in the area and points out an ancient, fossilized sea worm.
Unfortunately, we had problems with the mic and a few segments are silent but annotated.
The route begins at the Sandstone Quarry trailhead area on the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive. This is the trailhead for the popular Turtlehead Peak and Calico Tanks trails. From the trailhead we begin on the Turtlehead Peak Trail but quickly take a left split up the Limestone Trail. We ascend the Limestone Trail to the base of the La Madre Mountains cliffs. There the trail takes a right turn, skirting the base of the cliffs as it navigates a passage into the upper Brownstone Basin. Observe spectacular views of the Brownstone Basin, Red Rock Canyon, the Rainbow Mountains and points beyond.
Once in the Brownstone Basin we locate the El Padre/La Madre Notch ascent gully and ascend about half-way up the gully, zooming in on views of the Notch summit on the near horizon. In addition, there are spectacular views down the Brownstone Basin, Turtlehead Peak, Damsel Peak, Gateway Peak, the La Madre Cliffs and the Las Vegas Valley below.
We’ll return to navigate all the way to the summit of the Notch passage where a left turn takes you to the summit of El Padre Mountain and a right turn takes you to the summit of La Madre Mountain.