Hike Black Canyon Wilderness High Point and Burro Wash Loop Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV

Nov 22, 2020 — While Lake Mead National Recreation Area generally boasts the most loose volcanic terrain I've experienced, this route is particularly loose and steep and I only recommend it if bagging remote peaks in the area is appealing to you. Burro Wash Road, the road leading to the trailhead, is fine for a mid-clearance vehicle with good tires, but there are spots I had to drive slowly. Burlier vehicles could continue down the road, but it gets very bad shortly after leaving the rim. Additionally, my loop would bring me back here anyway, so I saw little point in trying to continue down the road.

I started first to Black Canyon Wilderness High Point to the north, a quick Class 2 ascent to a nice viewpoint of the route to come. I located a loose Class 2 descent option to the east of the summit and headed down on garbage terrain to the base of Peak 2660. Some loose Class 2+ brought me to its southern ridge, and then a little bit of route-finding around its minor cliffs led me up a slippery, dirty slope to the summit. I then continued along the ridgeline toward Peak 2570. On a map this ridge looks like a no-brainer, but it's got a bunch of minor cliffs that need avoiding. I don't think there's one particular "best" way, but I was able to keep the route Class 2 with a single Class 3 down-climb. A reasonable Class 2 slope then brought me to the summit of Peak 2570, where I slipped and gashed my hand pretty badly. I scoped out a route down the south side of Peak 2570, not thrilled about anything. I slowly made my way down loose Class 2 and worked my way onto a reasonable-looking ridge before dropping into a drainage. I don't know what to recommend to get here. It's all slow-moving crap.

The drainage merged with a wash that narrowed into a canyon. My intention was to follow this wash for a couple of miles to get to a smaller peak farther east, but after a half mile or navigating Class 2/3 obstacles within the wash/canyon, I was stopped by a 30-foot dryfall. Bummer. Knowing this sort of destroyed my chances of getting to the smaller peak out there, I decided to skip it and instead work up to Peak 2402. I ascended to the right of the dryfall and followed the Class 2/3 ridge to higher ground. While this was probably the most fun section of scrambling for the day, it can be avoided and made much easier by ascending a drainage back up the wash/canyon instead. I marked this alternative on my attached map in pink. Either way, you'll end up on the ridge that would lead to the summit of Peak 2402. Overall this was a pleasant section, with nice views and less-loose rock. Then I checked the summit register, surprised there would be one out here since the previously logged ascent online read 2015. It was left by my friend Adam Walker... hours before I reached the summit. Unbelieveable! I turned my phone off airplane mode and had a text from Adam saying he found my name in the register on Peak 2570, which I had logged a bit before. What were the chances we'd both be doing these silly, remote peaks on the same day?

I dropped down to the saddle of Peak 2402 and 2300, where I then ascended to the latter on a barely Class 2 slope. Back at the saddle of these two peaks, I descended a drainage to the west, where I bypassed a couple of minor dryfalls and headed through the desert to rejoin with Burro Wash Road. I followed Burro Wash Road for a few miles back to the trailhead. My last peak was to the south, Peak 2775. I headed up on a nice wide slope with lots of small black boulders, keeping the route low Class 2 for its entirety. Adam was on the summit! We social distance hiked back to the trailhead together.