Keystone Thrust Fault

During the "rainy" visit to the western desert a few years back (see First Creek Canyon) we took the time to check out a few of the easier trails in the low desert of 'Red Rock Canyon'. They were threatening flash flooding again this day, so we decided to stick to slightly higher ground away from the major washes. The 'Keystone Thrust Trail' sounded pretty cool. It's a 0.8 mile "out & back" that hikes into a geologic feature known as the 'Keystone Thrust Fault'. The 'Thrust Fault' occurred 65 million years ago when "plate tectonic earthquake activity" thrust the older, 'Cambrian Limestone' bedrock up and over the older the younger 'Jurassic Sandstone', creating the 'high country' to the northeast....

... wanted to avoid any 'flashflood' activity - here's a good example - a tour bus, traveling from Arizona to Las Vegas, that got caught up in one just last week (photo swiped from CBS news - don't know who the photographer was)...

... lookin' back into the 'canyon', the skies look a little threatening - those are the 'Wilson Cliffs' - world class multi-pitch climbing...

... view from the trail - was actually the last day of rain, which ended earlier that morning before we arrived...

... lots of 'desert shrub' and 'pinyon-juniper woodland'...

... not sure exactly what this plant is - nested in the red 'Aztec (Jurassic) Sandstone' - nice contrast in colors...

... again, some green 'desert lichen' contrasting with the red sandstone...

... think this is called 'Pancake Prickly-Pear Cactus'...

... an ancient human 'shelter' nested amongst the sandstone... 

... "ditto"...

... viewing toward the south - that's 'Turtlehead Peak' (stay tuned) - elevation around 6,000ft...

... here's the actual 'Thrust Fault' - blue-gray limestone and red sandstone - 'Keystone Canyon' beyond...

... another angle - sandstone left, limestone right...

... last one...

... a final sweeping view of 'Red Rock Canyon' and desert wilderness before returning to the trailhead - definitely not a "wasteland" as typically portrayed in movies and on tv - sadly the majority of the populations only-ever exposure to places as such... probably a good thing (again, sadly so) - they'd just "f*k it all up!"....