Feb 28, 2019 — Black Mountain is a Las Vegas local hike, popular and a great workout just outside of the suburban sprawl. The loop described in this trip report outlines a much longer undertaking than just heading up and back from Black Mountain, which is an endeavor of roughly 2000 vertical and 7 miles. This hike traverses south from Black Mountain, heads over Fracture Ridge Peak, and continues south to the North McCullough Wilderness High Point. The ridgeline has no trail.
From the trailhead I started along the Anthem East Trail, which begins with a short section of pavement leading to some sort of human-constructed depression. It's a little tricky to find the Black Mountain Trail from here, but just go to the left of a small concrete building and look for a sign reading "Black Mountain Trail". Once on here the trail is easy to follow to the summit, making tiny switchbacks and progressing up to Black Mountain. It's a little rocky in sections, but the first half had most of the big black volcanic boulders removed and is just a nice walk with a pretty moderate grade. The trail is pretty uneventful until it steepens for the last quarter mile to the summit, ending with some light Class 2 just before the popular high point. The scrambling is easy and solid.
We peered south toward Fracture Ridge Peak, a lower point just along the ridgeline. The ridgeline leading from Black Mountain to Fracture Ridge Peak is pretty and has some Class 2 to navigate, but it's nothing too serious, just boulder-hopping. The saddle separating the two drops farther than it may seem from above. There was no notable social trail along this section of the hike. Once we made it to Fracture Ridge Peak, we were able to locate a social trail that led west from this minor summit and would bring us back to the trailhead.
However, farther south was the next objective, North McCullough Wilderness High Point. We'd be returning to Fracture Ridge Peak on the way back in order to descend. As you'll notice in photos, it clearly a different day: I re-documented this section a couple of years later when I did it with my boyfriend Austin. The traverse south is much more tame than the traverse from Black Mountain to Fracture Ridge Peak was. For one, the elevation changes aren't as steep, but really the main reason is because the black volcanic boulders are more spread out and there is much more flat ground void of scrambling, which makes this additional out-and-back go much faster than anticipated. There is another major drop before the final push to the summit, but this only becomes clear once you're pretty much right at it. Of course, this will need to be re-ascended on the way back. The summit of North McCullough Wilderness High Point is very similar to the rest of the hike, so we didn't linger.
Back at Fracture Ridge Peak, we headed down its west slope on a less-obvious trail than the Black Mountain Trail, but it's still pretty easy to follow overall. The scenery is near-identical on the way down compared to the ascent to Black Mountain, but we didn't see anyone on the way down and that was a nice benefit.
We took a short excursion to bag the tiny hump named Park Peak, a quick trail jaunt to a minor viewpoint overlooking the suburbs to the west. From the eastern base of Park Peak, a trail continues north down a bunch of switchbacks before continuing through relatively flat desert and rejoining the Black Mountain Trail.
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