EISPIRATEN

Nightmare Gulch is a colorful and highly scenic canyon, a must-see cross-country route in Red Rock State Park. The gulch is filled with lots of slot canyons, hoodoos and cool rock formations. The best time to experience this area is after the rains like we did.

I took a day off of work and met my friends in Santa Clarita. Then we carpooled to Jawbone Station for a short break before driving half a mile north of the entrance to Red Rock State Park. We parked at a small turnout on the east side of the highway.

We started our route to the left of the trail sign and after walking a short distance scrambled up a steep ridge 1000 ft, so that we could continue a cross-country route up a couple of ridges. If you go right at the trailhead signs, you can follow a couple of jeep roads and hike a counter clockwise loop. The route we hiked allowed us to get gorgeous panoramic views of Nighmare Gulch and the canyons below.

This was the first ridge we approached after scrambling 1000' ft.

After the first ridge we had to descend a couple of feet before we approached another ridge.

A view of the area we would eventually be hiking to get to Nightmare Gulch.

A close up view of Nightmare Gulch.

We eventually descended the ridge route and crossed paths with a jeep road, but instead of continuing on the road we went off trail and scrambled down a gully where we found lots of colorful and cool rock formations.


We found our way back to the road for a little bit then crossed some private property where we found an old campground.

We ate lunch and sat on an old foundation. After some exploring, we spotted a mine across the way. We hiked back down to check it out. The mine wasn't that deep but was filled with water, so we just peeked in.


To be continued...

We then continued on through a few more canyons before entering Nightmare Gulch. These rocks look like neopolitan ice cream.


This rock had a face. Last Chance canyon is closed between Feb. 1st and July 1st because birds of prey, raptors, nest in these rocks.

After hiking for about 6 miles or so, we finally entered Nightmare Gulch and its name speaks for itself. This canyon meanders for miles with lots of slot canyons. The entire area is known for the many minerals that can be found. There is a ton of molten lava rocks, clay and in some areas quicksand to walk over. There was a good amount of water in the canyon. We had to be very careful because some of the rocks just crumbled as we climbed over to get around the water. There were some scary moments where our feet sank in the ground. However, the canyon was so beautiful, it contained many colorful rocks and dripping water above us.
Overall, this was an outstanding hike! We ended up hiking 13 miles. I am not sure of the elevation gain. It's normally an 8 mile loop.

Is it called "Nightmare Gulch" because of the quicksand?

Sean wrote: Is it called "Nightmare Gulch" because of the quicksand?

Who knows why it's called Nightmare Gulch because it's so beautiful. However, I suppose it can be a nightmare if you couldn't navigate your way through. As I was hiking through I started to doubt if we would find our way out. After exiting we still had a bit more off-trailing to do before hooking up with the road again back to our cars.

Sean wrote: Is it called "Nightmare Gulch" because of the quicksand?

I found out why its called Nightmare Gulch. it is because a lot of horror movies have been filmed there