Near Vegas: Summits, Trail Runs, & a Desert in Bloom

Other Places to wander (or run) in the Desert

Here is a sample of some of the hikes outside the Vegas area (both in Nevada & Arizona). We did these hikes/runs in January to March. This is the land of the Hualapai, Southern Paiute, Newe (Western Shoshone), and other tribes.

Here are some basic take-home points: Yucca is stabby, it still gets really chilly on summits, don’t leave anything valuable in your car & park near the interstate or where it would be less appealing to break in (maybe). Also, there are ticks in the desert. On the last point, WHY ticks in the desert?! I thought that was at least one creepy-crawly thing we could leave behind. Apparently not. Also, even if you feel like you are in-the-middle-of-absolute-nowhere, you’ll probably still run into strange people in a jeep.

Mt. Wilson

Mount Wilson is located in Lake Mead Recreation Area & a relatively prominent peak, well technically the summit is in the Mt Wilson wilderness area which is run by the BLM but it’s surrounded by Lake Mead NRA…it’s complicated. Mount Wilson can be viewed from Vegas & Red Rocks, if you know the one you are looking for. Of course, we needed to climb it & we thought, oh, 11 miles? Easy.

We immediately ran into a large, sweaty man and his much cuter golden retriever. He was shocked to see other humans on the path and was wearing a tan safari type hat with Sharpie eyes drawn on the back (to trick mountain lions, he told us. We did not ask). He also had two cans of bear spray (also for mountain lions). Because, what if you use one and need a second can? Yes, I’ve run into the two-bear-spray-can-people before. I’ve also learned that these two-bear-spray-can-people feel very strongly about 2 cans and want to share their logic with everyone. And don’t make jokes because they are super serious. But, okay. He was our one human interaction for the day.

Long-story-short, we were not the only people on the trail that day with bear spray, but we were the only ones climbing Mt. Wilson. We greatly underestimated the difficulty of the hike and I was stubborn to wear shorts off-trail in the desert. My legs have been torn apart by plenty of baby spruce trees and alders, but yucca is like a knife. We got absolutely destroyed—bleeding from knife-yuccas, covered in powdery red dust, irritated by what seemed like twelve false summits, and frozen (it was not actually shorts weather at all).

Conclusion: 3 stars for this devil mountain. But at least we have shifted our expectations and added more layers since then.

Anniversary Mine

By this time we made a more conscious decision that we are trail runners now. It became official when Ryan bought a tactical bra/backpack. We trail ran back in Montana (sort of), but never wore trail running shoes or had one of those silly vests. Now we do, so I guess we are legit.

We ran up another gravel road starting in the Lake Mead Recreation Area (these backroads are endless it seems), which we really could have driven, to the Muddy Mountains Wilderness. I’m not sure if the wilderness area morphed into private property or some other BLM designation or what, because there was suddenly a half-paved road and a mostly abandoned parking lot with an attempt at landscaping.

There was also a tire graveyard further up the canyon, several old mine shafts (one with a creepy baby doll placed at the entrance, in case mine shafts were not creepy and dangerous enough for you to consider entering), and a gorgeous slot canyon! The slot canyon is worth seeing if you are willing to make the rest of the journey, although not so sure that I would feel super safe on this route by myself.

Conclusion: Always take bear spray for the mountain lions and for the people.

Las Vegas Overlook to Boneshaker Loop

I’m actually not sure if this is the official name of the trail(s). You pass by Red Rock Canyon (official drive) on your right, which is often closed due to hitting capacity. On the left is another set of trailheads that pass by a horse stable. Then you ascend a plateau with sweeping views of Red Rocks & Las Vegas. We were temporarily halted by a gigantic group of horseback riders before descending the “Boneshaker” part of the trail—presumably named due to it being a technical mountain biking route, although trail running this route was no joke either.

Conclusion: Not necessarily better than hikes off the main Red Rock loop, but certainly less of a hassle & just as pretty.

Fortification Hill

I (seriously) thought this was called “Fornification Hill” and was a made-up word, but had something to do with Mormons and repressing sex…or something? I really don’t know what I was thinking, but it seemed like a strange name with a questionable back story. Fortification Hill, because. It looks like a fort. I assume? Moving on.

We parked off the interstate (because, crappy roads! sketchy people breaking into vehicles!) and ran for what seemed like ages on a dusty, broken, dirt/gravel road. Did I mention that it has rained an incredible amount since November? Not just little sprinkles, but actual downpours that warp and erode the backroads into something that I’m not willing to drive a Subaru on (but apparently some are willing to drive a Ford Fiesta on). The plus side of the rain is that the desert is really in full bloom right now and prettier that we would have thought!

That dirt/gravel slowly morphed into sand, which is so disappointing for running. It feels like running in your dreams when you are being chased and no matter how hard you try, you are moving incredibly slow. Except this is real life and you are actually moving really slow. Also do not, I repeat do not even try to use the outhouse near Kingman Wash. It should be burned down because no bleach and UV light level cleaning could make it better.

Once you get to the “real” trailhead (like, 5 miles later), the actual trail goes along a ridgeline up the hill & becomes more interesting as you climb. We had already done 7.2 miles to the summit, and dreaded the return trip sand and realized we were low on water. But the views!

The view here was hands down our favorite of all our little desert hikes so far, surpassing Mt. Wilson & even Las Vegas Overlook. We looked down on Kingman Wash, which was jam-packed with zombies & their pickup trucks. But we were a safe distance away from them. After turning back and running in more sand, we finally stuck out our thumbs around mile 12 and were incredibly grateful for the shaky ride in the back of one of those trucks.

Conclusion: Best views but the journey to get there wasn’t my favorite. Unless you have a high-clearance 4x4 in which case driving to the main trailhead would make this a short and steep but beautiful hike.

And a few more flower photos…