Overton is a small town, less than 2000 population, in the Moapa Valley of Nevada. Its main attraction is off-roading, with lots of desert, adobe hills and sandy washes available for use. Like most of the Las Vegas region, Moapa Valley gets little more than four inches of rain annually. I read about a day in August, 1981 when a sudden storm brought 70-80 mph winds, then dropped 6.5 inches of rain in an hour. All the washes coming out of the Muddy Mountains were soon flooding at incredible rates. The Muddy River went from ten feet under the bridge to six feet over it. In places, water twenty feet deep came crashing through, no doubt carrying lots of sand and rock with it. Hundreds of homes, especially mobile homes, were damaged, many destroyed. Roads and other infrastructure experienced severe damage, taking years to fully replace. I think about that every time I drive in a wash, keeping an eye on the sky for possible storm clouds.
While in Overton last March, I learned of Arrow Canyon, a scenic place with some rock art. With little in the way of directions, I set out to find it and was successful (
Arrow Canyon). I also learned that below a dam was a slot canyon that also had rock art. Since then, it has been on my list to find and visit Lower Arrow Canyon.
With better directions this time, I easily found the road to the lower part of the canyon, but it wasn't as easy to get there. A scant trail, very rocky in places, crossed a deep wash several times in the two miles from highway to trailhead. I wanted to make a video, but the GoPro battery was dead. So I took a few photos, although not of the worst spots (when I was too busy negotiating the wash).
Hiking to the dam and back is a five mile round trip. Since I'm a bit out of shape for walking, it was not a goal to reach the dam, but to use good judgment about how far to go. The first mile is an open canyon, ranging from 50 to 150 feet wide. The canyon appeared to be an anticline, where the earth's crust was broken and slabs set on edge, tilted skyward at about 45 degrees. The floor of the canyon was mostly rock of various sizes, making it very uncomfortable to walk. On the other hand, sandy areas along the sides were full of cat's claw acacia, a nasty plant that snags clothes and skin. I wore shorts for the visit last spring and my legs paid the price.
Approaching the narrow part of the canyon, I found some very nice panels of rock art, maybe eight panels in total. Here are a few.
Entering the narrows, which range from 20 feet to perhaps 50 feet wide, it became quite dark. High walls, from 100 to more than 200 feet high, allowed little sun light to enter, even though the sun was still high in the sky.
High on the wall, I spotted a "cave".
Farther on was a tinaja, a pocket in the rock wall that would catch and store any water running down from the canyon rim.
This is not at all like the sandstone slot canyons that bounce reflected light all around. This is hard rock that sucks up the light.
The walls contained many foreign objects, such as iron deposits and fossils. I'm not sure what this is, but thought it was interesting.
The rock art I found was a combination of ancient Indian drawings and more modern graffiti. In some cases, it was hard to tell the difference. I have no objection to people making their marks on rock walls (they have as much right to do so as the Indians), but they really should find new space and not damage the original inscriptions.
With aching feet from walking on the shifting rocks, and thinking how bad a twisted ankle would be in this place, I turned back shortly before reaching the dam. On the way out, I met a nice young man on his way in. A rock climber from CA, his rock-climbing "bible" led him here. It also told of a "swamp cave" near the dam, of which I had not been aware. Darn, I should have gone to the end.
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