MARK SMITH / PVT The column ascends to a low pass that avoids the vegetation along the river. MARK SMITH / PVT The column ascends to a low pass that avoids the vegetation along the river. MARK SMITH / PVT Amy Noel of Tecopa ducks as she makes her way among the reeds. MARK SMITH / PVT Taura Edwards kept her minicam going throughout the hike. Beyond, a prominent headland above the canyon. Advertisement

TECOPA, Calif. -- We were in the desert, then we were in the jungle, or so it seemed as the reeds grew over us and we slopped through the occasional seep of fresh water.

About two-dozen area residents, visitors and several good-natured dogs had the chance to learn about the Amargosa Canyon and the river that passes through it Sunday.

Led by Brian Brown, proprietor of the China Ranch Date Farm, the group's path led mostly along the old Tidewater & Tonopah Railroad grade, with some of its old ties and wooden culverts still in place at some spots, washed out in others.

Here and there Brown would call a halt, wait for the column to close up and then outline some aspect of the canyon, from the different kinds of reeds to the peculiar gentleman who wanted to raise elephants and kept a mob of yapping Chihuahuas on his property. (The elephants never showed up, and the dogs -- and apparently the guy as well -- were netted and taken away, Brown recalled.)

The Amargosa, for its 22 miles from Shoshone south to Route 127, is noteworthy today as the first wild and scenic river that is entirely in a desert region, and Brown defined the different sections: a scenic part from Shoshone to Tecopa, the wild segment through which the Amargosa Canyon stretches along the west side of the Sperry Hills, and the recreational portion around the Dumont Dunes.

At one point Brown was asked about an apparent path to a low gap to the left and remarked that it looked like an animal trail. But when he took a closer look at the dense, thorny mesquite that had crowded in along the grade ahead -- he had already used his pruning shears to open a path along part of the raised grade to the north -- he decided to scale the pass instead and drop down to Modine Meadows that way.

The Modines were among the early settlers in the area (actor Matthew is part of the family), and in years past the site really was a meadow, but the mesquite and tamarisk have run wild, and the group was relegated finally to passing through a narrow slot between the vegetation and the vertical wall that forms the east side of the canyon.

The old grade was recovered for the open passage south to the waterfall and running water, from which point it was a relatively short hike to China Ranch, shade and date shakes.

One elderly hiker fell several times, but everyone made the five miles to the date farm in good shape. Except for one hiker's beagle.

She returned with her mountain bike later on only to discover the next morning that Patty, her dog, had shown up at the ranch and spent the night sleeping on a fluffy blanket.

All present or accounted for.