Hiking Las Vegas

Geigerrig Bladder Hose Secret

2016-07-18T15:25:00.001-07:00

Hiking Las Vegas Blog Has Moved

2015-11-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks for Reading this blog. I am now blogging (writing hiking articles) at this location. It's actually part of my website Hiking Las Vegas. It's much more interactive than this blog.

The new blog will be much more active. I will be writing articles at least once a week. There are dozen of articles, such as 5 Super Tough Hikes in the USA, Save Money on Your Hiking Boots, 4 Tips to Prevent Tightness After Hiking.

Read the new blog by clicking here.

All the articles on this blog will remain here for you to read.

See you on the new blog,
Branch

PS: If you want to join the 52 Peak Club, click here.

Global Peak Backway Route

2015-10-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

Global Peak from the east

Global Peak is an obscure peak in South Red Rock Canyon. The traditional route is difficult with lots of elevation gain and class 3+ scrambling. A leader of the 52 Peak Club found a much easier route from the west via the backway to Windy Peak.

It's a fun route, but not easy to follow and not intuitive. I created the below video to help hikers follow the route.

Safer Descent of off North Sister

2015-06-17T16:17:00.004-07:00

For years hikers would descend a very loose slope from the summit of North Sister. This was very dangerous due to hikers accidentally knocking down loose rocks. Yesterday (6-16-2015), the 52 Peak Club found a safer way to descend. It's not perfect, but it is better.

In a nutshell the new descent follows a rocky ridge down about 60 yards from the summit and then descends a class 3 down climb into the loose slope as the original route. This new descent avoids the top half of the slope making it much safer. Caution still must be used since the second half of the descent travels down the same loose slope.

Below is a video showing the descent.

You can use this new descent route if you are doing the original route (Old Mill TH) or the new route from Mack's Canyon road.

Old Mills Trailhead

Pure confusion. We tried to enter via cars at around 7:45 am on Tuesday, but the area was closed via a gate. Parking before the gate, but still at Old Mills Picnic area, could result in big fines or your car being towed. I call the new Visitor Center about the when Old Mills Picnic area is opened. They did not know!!! All they told me was it's probably open on weekends and if you are there to use the picnic area, it's $20 per car.

I asked about if you only wanted to hike and was told there was no charge. I would not bet my life on that. How can the ranger, volunteer etc. verify that people are only hiking and not using the picnic facilities???

Where to Park?

You can park at a large gravel pulloff about 0.25 miles before the turnoff to Old Mills. It's on the south side of SR 156. See photo below. This is legal and there's plenty of room. There are trespassing signs, but they only apply if you hike south into the woods. Old Mills TH is north and west from where you park.

The start of the trail has changed slightly. In the write up I state you walk about a half mile along pavement to where the pavement ends. The pavement has been extended, but the unsigned trail is pretty obvious. See the below photo.

If you park outside of Old Mills Picnic area, you are going to walk more than a half mile, but it really doesn't matter since this is a round trip hike.

Park Here - walk west up SR 156 to Old Mills Picnic area

Start of trail - no sign, but it's obvious

The Route:

The route is in good shape. Although the path you take from the main trail is faint for the first 25 yards it becomes easy to follow all the way to the saddle. From the saddle to the ridge the path is very faint, but direction of travel is obvious. Once on the ridge the path is easy to follow to the class 3 climb that lies just below the summit of South Sister.

I learned one trick as we follow the cairned route from South Sister to North Sister. Once past the exposed traverse, which is just beyond the arch, veer right instead of left. This is shorter and avoids a down-climb.

This is one of my favorite routes in Mt. Charleston and now it's safer. I prefer starting at Old Mills rather than Mack's Canyon road for three reasons:

No HCV is needed.
It's easier to follow
It's not as loose or brushy.

Want to do this hike with the 52 Peak Club? Click here for more information.

Hollow Rock Peak

2015-06-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is not a new peak, but a very seldom climbed peak in South Red Rock Canyon. Why? Several reasons:
The original route was terrible: lose and uninteresting
It was not in any hiking book
It is not a 52er Peak.

Someone created a good route from the backside. It's scenic, fun, and has a class 4 summit boulder.
Also, it's a good warm weather hike, since the route stays around 6,000 feet the entire time.

How to get there:

The trailhead is the same as Windy the Backside, which is off of Blue Diamond Highway.
Follow the wide trail up to the ridge. Instead of heading north toward Windy Peak, head south (right) and follow a path along the limestone ridge for about two mile. The path is well cairned, though faint in parts.
The last 0.5 mile is on standstone and is mostly class 2. The peak comes in and out of view as you make your way to the summit boulder. The class 4 climb is near the tree and to the left of the obvious crack.

STATS:
Distance: 5 miles - up and back
Elevation gain: ~1,500 feet
Time: 2 to 3 hours - up and back
Class: 4

Notes: There are two summits, but only the class 4 summit boulder has a sign in book. The other summit is class 2. The summit boulder has an anchor for the downclimb.

Hollow Rock Peak - Click to enlarge

Dress For The Forecast, Not the Season

2015-05-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

I used to say dress for the season (Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter). After following the weather for many years, I have changed to: Dress for the forecast. Here's an example why I changed my thinking. It's May here in Las Vegas. One thinks May in Las Vegas means warm temps, say in the mid-eighties. In a span of eight days the temps ranged from 96 degrees to 60 degrees! Those temps are both daytime highs.

When it's 96 degrees, you want to wear cotton to keep cool. Cotton retains water (your perspiration) which has a cooling affect. Conversely, when it's cool out, you wear clothing that keeps you warm.

Clothing helps you stay dry and comfortable. How do you prevent becoming chilled? Wear layers of clothing. The secret to layering is combining the correct clothing in the proper order. Done correctly it traps air warmed by your body heat while wicking moisture away from your skin.

The first layer (the one closest to your skin) will wick moisture away from your skin while trapping body heat. Any of the wicking fabrics found under the trade names Thermax or Coolmax work well. They come in different thickness. The colder the climate, the thicker the material you will want.
The middle layer acts as insulation. Fleece sweats, polypro pullovers, or a long-sleeved flannel shirt are good choices. The middle layer can be more than one garment. The final layer protects from wind. A windbreaker is fine in Las Vegas, except during winter months in Mt. Charleston. Jackets made from GORE-TEX are recommended during winter.

There are plenty of good websites to check for the forecast. Here are two I use:
Weather.com and Noaa
Note; Both links are set to Las Vegas. NV. You can easily change the setting to your home town.

Brian Bronder Becomes a 53er with the 52 Peak Club

2015-04-28T15:02:00.001-07:00

Ice Box Peak To Bridge Mtn. Route

2015-04-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

IMO, the best route to Bridge Mtn is via Ice Box Peak. This is a hardcore route. I have done it several times over the last 15 years. In the past I have always dreaded the return hike, since the route back up to Ice Box Peak was loose and brushy. This has now changed!

Recently, I did this hike and found the route from the wash aka The Maze to Ice Box Peak is well cairned, all solid sandstone and no brush! In the past it was virtually impossible to find a good route back up to Ice Box Peak, because it was hard to tell when to leave the wash. I now know the secret and I will share it with you.

The photo below tells the story. About 40 yards past the dead tree you will come to the Ponderosa Pine marked with the red arrow. Turn left here and follow cairns all the way to Ice Box Peak. It's only class 1 and 2 scrambling! The only loose section is just below the peak and it is very short.

Click to enlarge

Descending From Ice Box Peak to Bridge Mtn

The loose section, I wrote about in the above paragraph, might be eliminated. Here's how: From Ice Box Peak retrace the route until you can make a sharp turn back to the north and connect with the route to Bridge Mtn. I will try this the next time I hike to Ice Box Peak.

Snake are Out!

2015-03-28T17:42:00.002-07:00

Above average temperatures bring the snakes out. Most snakes in this area are most active between 70 and 90 degrees. Yesterday (3-27), two different groups of hikers saw rattlesnakes. One group of 52ers were hiking White Rock Springs Peak; I led the other group to Mescalito Peak.

We saw a Speckled Rattlesnake in the South fork of Pine Creek Canyon. It was crawling in the wash through the gravel. I heard a loud rattle and immediately stopped. We saw each other and he was not backing down!

Speckled Rattlesnake - click to enlarge

For more information about snakes around Southern Nevada, go to this page

Good News! Bridge Mtn via Fern Canyon - Better

2015-03-18T08:14:00.001-07:00

The Bridge Mtn via Fern Canyon route is one of the best routes to Bridge Mtn. Why?

It's a fun route
It's challenging
It's scenic
No driving the Rocky Gap Road.

How is the route better now?

About halfway up the wash there was either a very brushy workaround or a very difficult climb, even with the rope. Now there's a third option: The recent rains created a tunnel! The tunnel an easy climb through, though tight for larger hikers. They will have to take their packs off.

The red arrow points to the tunnel.

Stats for this hike:

Hike: Bridge Mtn via Fern Creek (North Fork of Pine Creek) — route

Trailhead: Pine Creek — marked

Distance: 6.5 miles — up and back

Elevation gain: 3,200 feet

Elevation of peak: 6,940 feet

Time: 5 to 6 hours – up and back

Difficulty: 5

Danger level: 4

Class: 3+

How easy to follow: 5

Children: no

Windy Peak East Face Route

2015-01-30T05:54:00.000-08:00

Windy Peak East Face Route is one of the more challenging and exposed routes in Red Rock Canyon. It's located in South Red Rock off of State Route 160 aka Blue Diamond Highway.
Here are the stats:

Hike: Windy Peak East Face - route
Distance: 5 miles – round trip
Elevation gain: 2,200 feet
Elevation of peak: 6,200 feet
Time: 4 to 6 hours – up and back
Difficulty: 3
Danger level: 4
Class: 4+

It's a round trip hike. Up the East Face route and down the normal route aka The Ramp Route.

You climb up the East Face of Windy Peak as seen in the photo.

Windy Peak - Click to enlarge

This route offers plenty of climbs for you! There are two cruxes on the route. The first is a very long and exposed traverse as seen in Photo 2. It's much more exposed than the photo shows.

The next crux is just after the traverse and is stunningly exposed. See Photo 3.

At the bottom of this post is a video I took of the route.

Update:

Recently, (1-2015), I did this route. It is now in great shape. The route is well cairned and very clean of brush. If you are an advanced hiker, you should give this route a try. The complete step by step description of this route along with waypoints is in the Member's Section of Hiking Las Vegas. Click here for more information.

Photo 2 - Click to enlarge

Photo 3 - Click to enlarge

Video of the hike

No Snow In Red Rock Canyon 1-11-2015

2015-01-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge

Even though Las Vegas received almost 0.50 inches of rain yesterday (1-11-2015), it did not snow in Red Rock Canyon. This is a good thing. Rock scrambling on snow is very dangerous. Obviously, the rock is slippery, but rain or snow makes the rock brittle.

There is ice in higher parts of Red Rock and on North facing routes. Be careful. The waterfalls are flowing now, but will soon dry up (a day or two).

The forecast calls for highs around 60 degrees and sunny days! This will help melt the ice.
The best and safest way to hike Red Rock Canyon is with the 52 Peak Club. Learn more here.

White Rock Hills Peak Southern Route Update

2015-01-09T20:37:00.003-08:00

Over the past year we have done a lot of work on this route. I feel this route is now in the best shape ever! This is the route that starts off of the Rocky Gap Road. The start of the hike is finally easy to follow.

My main concern was the loose hillside the route ascended. Virtually every time I led a hike someone would knock a rock down. It was almost impossible not to. This made it dangerous for hikers below.
We have re-routed this part of the route. The loose hillside is about 15 minutes beyond the chimney and just beyond the climb in Photo 2.

Chimney

Photo 2

Once beyond the climb in Photo 2, you veer left on good sandstone to a path that heads toward the tree in Photo 3. About 40 yards beyond the tree this new route meets up with the old route on good sandstone. The new route avoids all the loose rock the original route followed.

Photo 3

The next re-route is just beyond the dead tree in Photo 4. The old route would climb to a higher level, traverse, and then descend to a worn path that led to the gully. This new route descends and follows a very well cairned path that meets up with the worn path. This new route is much more efficient. See Photo 5. The red line shows the new route; the "Red X" shows the old route.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Photo 4

Photo 5

You can read about the final re-route up the better gully here.

Video of these re-routes:

Fortress Butte and AZ Hot Springs Update

2014-12-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

On 12-20-2014, the 52 Peak Club hiked Fortress Butte and AZ Hot Springs. Fortress Butte is this cool looking butte near AZ Hot Springs. It looks impossible to climb to the top, but we found a route. The summit seems like an island in the sky with great views in all directions. You can even see the mighty Colorado River!

The route is in great shape. It's very well cairned and the recent rains washed away some of the loose rock. Unfortunately, the sign-in book is gone and needs to be replaced.

Here's the secret to avoiding a lot of the loose rock on the approach:
In the write up just after this sentence: "Go south (left) in the new wash and hike about 200 yards."
You want to ascend the drainage in the photo below. This drainage is solid and avoids most of the loose rock. I made a cairn on top of a boulder. It's circled in the photo. Also look for the two large boulders to the left of the drainage. They are also circled in the photo.
Slide show of the hike.

Correct drainage

AZ Hot Springs

At the summit

The hot springs is in good shape. The water is about 2.5 feet deep and is very hot. Of course, the further you sit from the water source the cooler the water becomes.
This is one of the better Lake Mead hikes. Expect the hike to take about four to five hours, round trip and that includes the time you spend soaking in the hotsprings.

To download this hike step by step directions and 400 other hikes become a member of Hiking Las Vegas.

Shop the 52 Peak Store

2014-12-16T07:38:00.001-08:00

52 Peak T-shirt

We have a brand new store where you can purchase 52 Peak T-shirts and the consumer 52 Peak Deck. You can see photos of both the T-shirts and the 52 Peak Deck. We accept all major credit cards and PayPal. There are men's and women's T-shirts. Check out the store now.

52 Peak Deck

The All New Hiking Las Vegas Website is Live!

2014-12-09T09:34:00.002-08:00

The all new Hiking Las Vegas website is live! Hiking Las Vegas.com has been on the internet since 1998! Over 3.5 million people have visited Hiking Las Vegas.com. It is the number one site for hiking information for southern NV. The new website is faster, easier to navigate and cleaner.
Check it out here: www.hikinglasvegas.

Burlap Buttress Re-Routed

2014-11-16T14:15:00.002-08:00

The below photo shows the re-route to Burlap Buttress. This re-route is the back of the canyon just before the route does a 180 and heads SE.
The old route climbed a class 3 wall/crack. The climb was not difficult, but the exit was full of loose rock endangering those below. The new route avoids all this!

Re-Route - Click to enlarge

Also there's another re-route near the start of the hike. Once you cross the wash via a path that cuts through the brush, instead of ascending the dashed red line (normal route) head to the right (there's a path) and ascend as the black line shows. This avoids some very loose rock.

Do You Know How to Climb a Chimney?

2014-10-30T07:11:00.001-07:00

If not, watch the 90 second video to learn:

Many of the routes in Red Rock Canyon have chimneys that you need to climb to reach the peak.

52 Peak Club: Our 82nd Hiker to Becomes a 53er

2014-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Vincent Ong Dapper became a 53er on Oct. 12, 2014. To become a 53er a hiker must climb all 52 Peaks. There is no time limit on how long hikers have to achieve this goal. The peaks are in Red Rock Canyon, Mt. Charleston Area, and Lake Mead Area. On the hikes are local and no overnight travel is needed.

At the summit of a hiker's final peak there's a celebration and they receive a plaque honoring their accomplishment. Many of these final hikes have a theme. The theme in the video below was Halloween.
You can learn more about the 52 Peak Club here.

Here's the video of Vincent becoming a 53er:

Vincent with his plaque:

Click to enlarge

White Rock Hills Peak - Southern Route

2014-10-11T04:59:00.003-07:00

There's a shortcut into the normal gully that leads to the summit on the Southern route to White Rock Hills Peak. This shortcut is a different gully that's about five to eight minutes before the normal gully.

Photo 1 shows this new gully. It's not as loose as the normal gully, which not only makes it faster, but safer. The whitish bark tree (circled in Photo 1) is a good landmark. Although not obvious in the photo, the gully divides; veer left as shown in the photo.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Continue ascending over easy rock another 40 yard or so until you see cairns off to the left (north). Follow the cairns across the easy traverse as seen in Photo 2. Your landmark are the two trees. Ascend this gully about 30 yards to an obvious opening to the left (north).

You are now in the normal gully above all the loose rock. This gully leads to the overlook of the Scenic Loop road. From here follow the normal route to the summit, about 10 minutes away.

How to Repair your Camelbak Daypack

2014-09-23T07:38:00.002-07:00

Don't throw away your daypack. Repair it instead. Learn how in this short two minute video.

How to Hand Line Down a Cliff Using a Rope

2014-09-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Watch this short (2 min) video to learn how to Hand Line Down a Cliff Using a Rope

4 Items Every Hiker Should Carry

2014-09-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

Watch this two minute video showing four items all hikers should carry in their daypack.

How to Repair Sticky Rubber Soles

2014-09-13T06:05:00.001-07:00

Has part of the sole of your shoe pulled away? Instead of throwing away your shoes, learn how to repair your shoe in this two minute video:

Important Points:

Clean sole before applying Shoe Goo
Wait 48 hours before hiking in the shoe
Do this procedure in a well ventilated room

Lifetime Membership to Hiking Las Vegas

2014-07-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP to Hiking Las Vegas for the price of a one year membership!!! It's just $69.97 for over 400 hikes. That's just .18 cents a hike! You will have unlimited access to over 400 hikes throughout the southwest and beyond. You can download all 400+ hikes to ANY device that can display a PDF document. These are the BEST hike descriptions anywhere.
Click here for this amazing deal.

If you have my book: Hiking Las Vegas, you know how accurate the hike descriptions are. You get those 83 hikes, plus another 320 hikes.

There are hikes in:
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I rarely have sales. You will not see this deal again.

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