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Nov 03, 2021 — Callville Peak is an overlooked mountain in Lake Mead NRA. It's the first of the larger peaks when driving along Northshore Road, and seems to be best accessed from Callville Bay. Austin and I parked at the large, paved long-term lot, where we could see Callville Peak in the distance. This was my first time to Callville Bay, so I've never seen it when Nevada isn't in a significant drought, as it was today. I was amazed to later see comparison photos of how the area was filled in with water, but on our visit the water was so low that we could play on some of the gigantic, old tires used for the marina (photos at the end of my trip report). I believe the route I describe would wrap around the circumference of Lake Mead when it refills with water (or, I guess, if it ever does), but you my have to get creative if water levels are much higher.
We set out generally east, keeping to the higher ground when possible to avoid excessive ups-and-downs in the lumpy terrain. I recommend our route overall, but it was a little annoying at first until we got down into Callville Wash (the major drainage coming in from the north) and therefore flat ground. We entered an unnamed wash that drains from the north side of Callville Peak and followed this for a couple of miles until we reached the base of our peak.
We had a few options for starting out of the wash, and I included what I think was the best. It leads up a concrete-looking wash, avoiding loose rock and steep hiking, and up to the west ridge of Callville Peak. From here it was Class 2 easy walking to a false summit. We had to dip down into a short Class 2 notch, reascend to a second false summit, and then dip down into a second Class 2 notch below the true summit. The final ascent to Callville Peak out of the second notch was a little cat-littery, but the views were incredible, rivaling those of the more popular neighboring Hamblin Mountain. We spent some time enjoying the desert views before backtracking.
On the way back we headed south of the route outlined on my attached map to check out a wall of massive tires, normally underwater. We hopped over them and it was quite fun. I left this out of my map because I'm not sure it was legal but you can see them from above if that sort of thing appeals to you.
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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!
