El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve

Distance: 6.0 miles round trip, 3.0 hours

Elevation Change:    600 feet

Level:    Easy

Rating:    3 Stars

The main attraction of the 2,800-acre El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve is the monolithic sandstone formations at the end of the Tafoni trail...the sandstone at El Corte de Madera is composed of a softer, more fragile substance.  You won't find any rock climbers here.

The formations stand completely alone in the forest; they're unlike anything else you will see along the trail. The rest of the preserve is primarily trees and more trees, including some magnificent old Douglas Firs and younger redwoods. You hike through acres of forest, then suddenly they appear - huge sandstone beasts looming 50 feet high. Just as suddenly, there are no more of them, just dense trees again.  It's as if mother nature told the delivery company to deliver the drop the sandstone at the wrong location.

January 2005

Trees and more tree is right!  It was a nice change from the desert trails I usually frequent and it was very different to see the moss growing on the rocks themselves instead of the barren rocks around Las Vegas.

Here's the pics (Click on the picture to see full size):

These are low res pictures.  I can send you higher quality pictures if you want them