Red Rock Trail Guide Children s Discovery Trail Lost Creek Guide Walter Bracken STEAM Academy Parent Training
Children s Discovery Trail Lost Creek Guide Welcome to the Children s Discovery Trail at Lost Creek in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. You are about to set out on a hike exploring with your senses. You will see, listen to, smell, taste, and feel a few of the secrets Lost Creek has to offer. Leave No Trace walk on the designated trail only, whatever you pack in should be packed out, leave what you find (plants, rocks, artifacts), don t feed animals, travel in small groups, travel quietly.
Entrance to Wash Temperature Take a temperature somewhere along this part of the trail. Desert Valley Floor This is the desert valley floor with a variety of plants. Point out the plants and tell a little about each one. Once you tell about a plant, have students call out and point to more examples of that plant as they see them.
Banana Yucca Base on ground Blue-green leaves Leaves used to make cordage for bows, sandals, netting to capture rabbits Winter cloaks weaved with rabbit fur and yucca fiber Roots used as shampoo Fruits used as food
Mojave Yucca With trunk Yellow-green leaves Leaves channel moisture to center Leaf tip histamine (swollen punture wound) Leaves used as combs Fibre used for bowls, skirts, cloaks, cloth, sandals
Joshua Tree Only found in Mojave Desert Slow growing, evergreen Leaves daggerlike with both edges serrated Named by Mormons, appearing like biblical Joshua, beckoning them to promised land
Mormon Tea Jointed fir family (jointed sticks) Stems contain tannin Native Americans and early pioneers boil it for intestinal ailments Also known as Indian Tea, Brigham Tea, Squaw Tea
Desert Trumpet Inflated stem for carbon dioxide Wasp uses cavity to deposit eggs on insect larvae
Indian Rice Grass Made grass seeds into flour Seed head divided into branches Herbage and plump grains high in food value Major source of food for Native Americans and pioneers
Desert Almond Gray intricate branches Half inch long narrow, oblong, dark-green leaves Small quarter inch white flowers (April) Flowers turn to fuzzy, green nutlets Infested by tent caterpillars (large, grey webs among branches)
Pencil Cholla Skinny, green stems Propagates when stems break off and take root Grows 12 to 14 inches tall Needles appear much longer since stems are skinny
Prickly Pear Round, flat pads Three reddish brown spines formed at right angles Many birds, mammals, and insects consume the fruit and pads Herbal medicine uses filleted pad as poultice in contusions and burns
Strawberry Hedgehog Grow in families Strawberry for deep red flowers Calico for colors in spines Native Americans ate juicy, sweet strawberry tasting fruit Birds, mammals, desert tortoise eat the fruit
Creosote Bush Leaves coated with resin to prevent water loss and deter herbivores Extensive root system to get water Secrete substances into soil from roots and leaves to inhibit sprouting and growth of other plants Bees use its nectar Clones younger plants form rings around older plants (12,000 years)
Wash Riverbed What is this? Where does the water go? Flash floods Running water greatest erosional force in desert Less than ten inches a year How did the large boulders and small rocks get to where they are? Keystone Thrust Rock sandwich (limestone, sandstone, limestone) Cookie sandwich model Desert Varnish/Patina Dark brown patches Rock excretes magnesium Clay baked in Native Americans used this to carve petroglyphs
Elevation Change Ground change Brownish then reddish Rocky then sandy Plant change Smaller then larger Scraggly then denser Fewer then more Temperature Change Take a temperature reading somewhere along the higher elevation pathway in the cooler areas
Manzanita Red bark Elliptical, waxy and leathery leaves oriented vertically Evergreen Small bell-shaped flowers Small green or red berries little apples
Desert Willow Grows in dry washes Food for the whitewinged moth (inch long cocoons) Bendable branches
Cottonwood Light gray bark Sharply toothed, heart-shaped leaves Round-topped tree Soft wood (limbs often break with high springtime winds) Home for nest building birds and animals
Sage Nevada s state flower Silvery, spatula shaped leaf with two indentations at tip Aroma of sage with touched Cord, rope, netting made from bark Not true sage not used for cooking
Utah Juniper Berries are really cones, marble-sized, blue Shaggy bark used for rope, clothing, fire tinder, diapers, bedding Often infected with mistletoe
Mistletoe Parasite with round branches By June has pale-pink round berries Berries feed western bluebirds through winter months Birds carry the sticky seeds from one feeding spot to another
Single Leaf Pinyon Pine One of Nevada s state trees One needle grows from needle follicle Produces cones about every third year Native Americans harvested cones and crushed them to obtain the nuts Nuts eaten raw, roasted, ground into flour, or mixed with seeds
Concretions, Iron Oxide Pits Concretions Little marbles Denser than most rock Formed by oxidation of iron sulfide crystals or precipitation of iron oxide from iron rich solutions Makes a red streak Iron Oxide Pits Red dots Pictographs are painted on rock using iron oxide or some other ink
Lichen Algae Fungi Develop slowly Acid etches into the rocks to break them down Do not grow in polluted enviornments
Native American Home Searched for plants to eat Hunted for animals to eat Took care of themselves and their families Pictographs on wall of cave Nice location for reviewing many of the plants already seen
Agave After ten years, stalk grows quickly Major food source Roasted in limestone pit, eat like artichoke Root used for medicine and soap Fibers from leaves for sandals, mats, cord, and rope
Waterfall Take the fork to the waterfall Have students smell the Ponderosa Pine before the stairs Stand at side of rock stairs for student safety Waterfalls cascade down the rocks in the box canyon Enjoy the sights and sounds of the canyon Return to the fork and continue on the trail
Live Scrub Oak Small, shiny, holly like leaves Wildlife eat the acorns Acorns contain tannic acid (used in tanning hides)
Bridge to Creek and Snails Sit down and close eyes Listen to many sounds, share Wild grapes around the platform Southeastern Nevada Snails in creek (only place in the world)
Ponderosa Pine Take turn off to pine Grows at 6,000 feet normally; 300 years old Remnant of last Ice Age 3-5 inch long needles Bark gives aroma of vanilla, chocolate, or butterscotch
Finish trail Go back to the main trail Finish off through the wash pointing out anything missed previously Board bus for lunch