Out of Our Rut: Lake Mead National Recreation Area

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During our last stay at Boulder City in late 2019, we hadn’t really explored much inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We biked the Railroad Tunnel Trail, went to the visitor center and drove through much of the park to get to Valley of Fire State Park on the far north side of Lake Mead. But we didn’t take advantage of any of the numerous hiking trails even though the entrance to the park is a mere 5 miles from the Elks Lodge. During this stop we plan to make up for lost time and check out a great deal of the park.

Welcome to Lake Mead

Our first hike would be the Lake Mead Bluff Trail. This trail starts out of the Las Vegas Bay Campground behind site #72. There are several day use parking spots near the restroom and nobody was in the campsite in question. A roadrunner was near the trailhead and I was able to get reasonably close to take pictures. We’ve seen these plenty of times but they often are hard to get good pictures of since they like to run. The view even from the start of the trail are pretty nice.

Roadrunner - The Coyote's After You

View Near Bluff Trailhead

This is a fairly easy 2.6 mile out and back trail with less than 300 feet of elevation gain. The first 2/3 mile follows near the edge of the cliff that overlooks the Las Vegas Wash. There was a fair amount of water flowing and the valley floor that is over a hundred feet below us is quite lush looking.

A Glimpse of Las Vegas Wash

A Green Oasis in the Desert

A Better View of Water Flow

The trail cuts to the south in order to avoid a side valley that feeds the wash before it curves back to the north in order to reach the bluff that overlooks the wash. It was in this rocky stretch of the trail that we spotted a large tarantula out for a stroll. It was big and hairy and we kept our distance. There is a bit of a false peak that I initially thought was the end of the trail before realizing we were barely a mile into the hike and had nearly a half mile further. Even the views from this first peak were pretty nice.

Large, Hairy Tarantula

Looking Back at Our Trail ...

But Still More to Go

The trail does a bit of an S curve as it drops in elevation before making the final climb to the last bluff. The bluff is at a higher elevation than most of the nearby terrain so it provides an excellent view of the enormity of the park. There seem to be endless canyons carved into the land going every which way. We only ran into one other person on the trail during our hike so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The walk back was equally pretty and mostly downhill so not too tiring.

View from End of Bluff Trail

We still had some daylight and energy left so we detoured over for one last short hike for a geocache. The Hoover Dam Lodge Trail starts out near the Hacienda Hotel and Casino. There is a side parking lot near the trailhead. We weren’t really looking to hike the trail but we did need to get to the top of a hill that sits next to the hotel in order to look for the cache. Since it sits about 230 feet higher than the start of the trail, it took some effort to find the proper way up. We found that the north side of the hill had some washes up to the top that looked like we might be able to get up there. It was definitely a loose, rocky climb that we would never have attempted if there wasn’t a cache to be found. It took a bit of searching but we did eventually spot it hidden in a small alcove a few feet over the edge from the top. We were surprised to see that one of the more recent finders were some geocaching friends back from western New York. We are always amazed when we see familiar caching names in log books so far from home. We took in the great views as the sun was dropping and then we started to head back down the loose rock. I suppose we were lucky that we didn’t slip, fall and break a bone in the process!

View from Cache Location

A View of Lake Mead

The following day, we headed back into the park for another hike. The White Owl Canyon Loop looked interesting. It’s a 3.8 mile loop that starts from the 33 Hole Overlook right off Lakeshore Road about 2 miles before the turn for the campground from yesterday’s hike. The trail starts out with a rather serious downhill scramble on very loose dirt. The signs at the trailhead make it clear we are going at our own risk. The AllTrails map was a bit deceiving since nearly half of the trail shows a perfectly flat elevation profile. It turns out the reason for this is that much of the trail is on water - at least according to their map and water is flat. Even from atop the overlook, we didn’t see the lake and suspect the water hasn’t been this high in a few decades.

Trailhead Warnings

Looking Down to the Wash

In The Wash

Once we made it down the steep section to the main wash, we had the option to take the loop in either direction, but we were never able to spot the trail to the right which would have led in a counterclockwise direction so we simply headed up the obvious wash and hoped the return route would be evident as we came back to the car. Initially the wash is quite wide but doesn’t take long before the two sides of the wash come closer together and go nearly vertical. At this point it is more like a slot canyon on the order of 15 feet wide with a very loose gravel surface that is a bit like walking in sand.

Looking Up Wash Where It Narrows

In the Slot Canyon

About 3/4 mile into the hike, we are approaching Lakeshore Road. But instead of needing to climb up the 50 or more feet to get to road level, we have a humongous culvert to walk through. This thing was 12 to 15 feet in diameter and about 250 feet long. Another hiking group was ahead of us as we started in and my picture shows their shadows close to the far end.

Entrance to Large Culvert

Inside the Culvert with People Ahead

The slot canyon continues for another 1/3 mile. It isn’t quite as narrow but still interesting. We keep an eye open for owls or at least owl nests since this is how the canyon got its name, but we never do see any. Next we get to the River Mountains Loop Trail crossing overhead. In a similar manner, we have a culvert to walk through. Actually there are two smaller culverts side by side. On the other side of the culverts, the wash has widened up even more. I suppose it would be possible to continue walking up the wash but we go less than a quarter mile before spotting the hard right hand turn up a trail that leads to the bike path we just crossed under. The view from the paved path gives good idea of how deep and long Owl Canyon is.

More Canyon

Double Culverts Under Bike Path

Looking Back at Owl Canyon from Bike Path

We head down the bike path for about half a mile and start looking for a trail on the right that will take us into another wash/canyon which we plan to follow down. There were some rock cairns but not a sign so it would be quite easy to miss this turn and continue down the pavement. This wash is not quite as large or impressive as we work our way down into it. There is a much smaller culvert to walk thru under Lakeshore Road.

Heading Down Bike Path

A Smaller Culvert Under Lakeshore Road

Once we get on the other side of the road, the wash gets narrower and quite interesting. There were multiple spots where there was a rather large drop that we needed to negotiate and we were thinking that it might have been a challenge to climb up these obstacles had we taken the hike in the other direction. It was fun like this for maybe a quarter mile before this wash opened up and became much wider with less sloped sides.

More Canyon Walking

Below Tougher Obstacle

Out of Canyon Into the Wash

We found it was important to have the trail map open to find the spot where we needed to make a hard right to head back east to the car. It turned out that this part of the trail was lined with rocks, so once on it, following the intended route was easy. It was amazing that this portion of the route was completely underwater when Lake Mead was at capacity yet we could not even see the lake. The only indication that the area had been under water were the occasional piece of trash that looked like some sort of boating gear. It was about 3/4 mile along this part of the trail before we came around the bend and could see the picnic shelters up near the parking lot. It turned out to be rather easy to follow a path across the wide wash and work our way back but it wasn’t surprising we had been unable to spot the faint signs of this trail on our way out. The climb up the steep, loose gravel to the parking lot was a bit of a challenge especially at the ends of hike but we made it. This was a fun and unusual hike and worth the effort.

Rock Lined Trail Where Lake Mead Used to Be

We Can See the Ending Point of the Hike

The next day was Thanksgiving so I took it easy while Chris prepared a turkey and all the fixings including pie. Last time we were here, we had attended the dinner at the Elks Lodge. We had enjoyed the food and company of other campers and local lodge members and they were having the same thing this year, but we missed having the cooking smells and all the leftovers so we stayed home and took it easy for a day.

The next morning, we head back to Lake Mead to try the Liberty Bell Arch Trail. This one is a little over 5 miles and has 900 feet of elevation gain so it won’t be as easy as the other trails we have tried. The trailhead for this hike is just off US-93 across the river in Arizona. Even though it’s a large parking lot, it was full and we had to join all the others cars parked along the side of the road. The trail starts out in a wide wash and heads down underneath the bridge for the highway. The wash was full of loose gravel so we were constantly looking for firmer ground to walk on as we continue west.

Chris Starts Out Down Wash

After 3/4 mile the wash narrows dramatically and becomes much more interesting. Just before the 1 mile mark is our first turn. Continuing straight down the wash leads to the White Rock Canyon Trail which sounded like a good hike too that actually leads down to the Colorado River but it is also a much tougher hike. The Liberty Bell Arch Trail takes a right and heads uphill on that side of the wash. There are signs at the intersection so it isn’t too tough to follow the correct path.

The Wash Becomes Interesting

It is a pretty section of trail since we have gained enough elevation to get better distance views. At the 1.4 mile mark is some old mining equipment. It is rather large and still has some of the towers with cables attached so it is hard to miss. There did appear to be some side trails over to it but we opt to stick to our mission.

A Chalk-like Part of Hike

Mining Remnants

From the hilltop near the equipment, we can see the trail snake down into the valley below. We will drop 200 feet down the rather rocky trail but we make it without sliding too much. We we’re expecting to see some sort of arch given the name of the trail but haven’t seen one yet. Once we are down the hill and cross the valley, we start back up and get a decent view of the Liberty Bell Arch. The fin we had seen from a distance does have the arch but it’s orientation isn’t good until we get to the north side of the fin. From the right angle, I suppose I could convince myself it looks like a bell.

View of Trail in Next Valley

Liberty Arch

A Zoomed In View

The trail continues past the front of the arch and keeps going up. From here, there is a great view of the bridge that takes the highway over the Colorado River just below the Hoover Dam. On the south side of the fin, the arch looks even more like a bell. I try to take a side trail towards the arch to see if there is a view of this bridge thru the arch, but the angles aren’t right. The last half mile of the trail is rather steep and rocky. There isn’t a lot of life in this area but we do spot a lizard along the trail and there are plenty of cactus.

Distant Bridge

View of Arch from South Side

Lizard

Young Fishhook Barrel Cactus

Not too surprisingly, there were several other groups of hikers out enjoying this trail along with us. We got to the top just as the group ahead of us was heading back down. We had the top to ourselves for 10 minutes before the group behind us got there, so we headed over to the geocache that was hidden nearby. This would permit us to search without looking too suspicious. The views from up here were spectacular. The blue waters of the Colorado River were over 600 feet below us. We could see several power boats below as well as a handful of kayakers but given the distances, they looked more like ants. After finding the cache, we sat there and had lunch and enjoyed the views. We spotted the likely location where the White Rock Canyon Trail reaches the river.

Boat on Shore of Colorado River 600 Feet Below

We eventually got up and started the long hike back. As we passed the arch again, I noticed a jet on its approach to the Vegas airport and our timing had it show up framed by the arch. As we got back to the mining remains, a solo hiker was heading out. He was curious how much farther he needed to hike to see the arch. We pointed out the location he needed to get to but told him if he went that far, he should go all the way to the end to see the views of the river. He was still standing there as we headed off and didn’t look like he was going to go beyond where he was. This was a very nice hike, not overly strenuous and with great views at the end.

Jet Framed by Liberty Bell Arch

Up the Gravelly Wash

A couple days later, we headed over to the REI in Henderson for some shopping. We do enough hiking that we always seem to find something there. I picked up a new pair of hiking boots that I like in order to have as backup in case I wear out one of my existing pairs and aren’t in a spot with good shopping. On our way back, we stop at Hidden Falls Park South to do a short hike and find some more geocaches since we are still on a mission to reach our 15,000th find in mid December. We pick our trails purely on where the caches were and enjoyed the couple mile hike we ended up doing in the hills next to the park. We got a good view of the size of Henderson and at our turnaround point, we had come around the hill enough to spot all the hotels along the Strip in Vegas.

View from Trail Out of Hidden Falls Park

Overlooking the Vegas Strip

The following day we head out for another hike in Lake Mead. This one wasn’t a very long hike but had an intriguing name - Spooky Canyon. We had actually planned to attempt this one after doing the Liberty Bell Arch Trail but we’re a bit tired so we skipped it. That’s the nice thing about spending a long time in an area, we don’t feel obligated to cram everything thing in. This trail starts very near where the large parking area is but cannot be reached from there. We had seen a small gravel turnout along US-93 that was the suggested parking spot for this 1 mile long trail. This trail doesn’t show up on any of the park service maps but it is in AllTrails. As we headed over to the start of the canyon there is a cattle fence we need to get past. There isn’t a gate but there were some openings beneath the fence caused by water runoff. Since there were not any signs warning us to keep out, we scooch below the fence and head up the canyon.

Overlooking Spooky Canyon

At the Start of Spooky Canyon

It was kind of interesting being in this narrow slot canyon all by ourselves. It isn’t a place one should be if there is the possibility of rain. The water erosion has carved some very unique forms in the rock and the floor of the canyon is thick, loose gravel. There were a couple of short, dead end side canyons to explore along the way too. At the point where our map shows the trail ends, we are faced with a steep 9 foot tall ledge. It looked like it was somewhere between difficult and impossible to climb the wall to see how much beyond here we could go. I suppose even if we had managed to climb this, the return trip would have been a challenge. This isn’t a must do hike but was kind of neat.

A Split in the Canyon

Narrow Canyon

Gets Even Narrower

End of the Easy Part - Proceed at Own Risk

Since this hike didn’t take very long, we decided to stop at the Hoover Dam on our way back. We had visited here in November of 2019 and done a tour of the dam and power plant so we really only wanted to check out the views again. The security booths on the way in have expanded quite a bit but it’s not clear why since there isn’t a lot of parking once inside the dam area. There is a pay parking garage on the Nevada side or you can drive across the top of the dam and park in some of the lots up the hill on the Arizona side. We could tell the water levels looked much lower than 3 years ago. Sure enough, when I looked up the data, it was 40 feet higher 3 years ago! We only spent an hour looking around. Like the sign at the state line says “it’s a modern civil engineering wonder”.