Overview

This short route runs about 800 feet up a wash to a spring with velvet ash trees, desert willow trees, cattails, and other wetland vegetation. The spring is located in the desert flats below the Red Rock Escarpment, west of Blue Diamond (south end of the Red Rock Cliffs). Access is from Highway 160 using Black Velvet Road and Lone Grapevine Road, both of which should be suitable in a carefully driven sedan. This is a quiet place to stop, relax, "smell the roses," and listen to the songs of frogs and birds.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this hike is short and safe with no unusual hazards. Without a high-clearance vehicle, be sure to drive carefully.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, even though this hike is short, be sure to bring what you need of the 10 Essentials.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in Red Rock Canyon NCA, but not in the Scenic Loop fee area.

From the Red Rock Visitor Center area, drive west then south on West Charleston Blvd. (Hwy 159) past Blue Diamond Town to Highway 160. Turn right onto Highway 160 and drive west for 4.7 miles to the paved Late Night Trailhead on the right. From the end of the paved parking area, follow Black Velvet Road for 1.3 miles to either of two roads to the left. These roads are two forks of Lone Grapevine Road. Follow Lone Grapevine Road west for 0.5 miles to a 2-3 car parking area (Site 1084) on the right at the edge of a bluff overlooking the wash. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 01), the route runs down off the bluff on either of two use-trails to the west. On the flats below, the use-trails fade and the route drops into the wash. During cooler months, water flows past this point.

Following the wash upstream, the sides of the wash steepen, and then the route passes a red mud-cliff on the right. At the base of the cliff, notice a hard layer of white rock. This layer is impermeable to water, and hikers may see water seeping out of the red mud at this point. Impermeable rock layers like this usually are the cause of springs at Red Rocks, and at this point, the process is more visible than elsewhere.

Continuing a few steps past the red mud cliff, the wash bends to the left. At the base of the brushy cliff to the right, notice the moss, rushes, and other riparian vegetation tucked among rabbitbrush. This is Mud Spring No. 2. The riparian vegetation ends (Wpt. 04) just a minute or two upstream from the spring.

When ready to head back, follow your footprints in the wash back to the trailhead, but while out here, consider visiting other springs in the area, such as Lone Grapevine Spring and Wooden Fence Spring.