Hike Mount Wilson via Oak Creek and First Creek Canyons Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV

Nov 29, 2020 — Almost five years ago I hiked Mount Wilson via First Creek Canyon and then Oak Creek Canyon a month after. This route uses both of those canyons to summit Mount Wilson, creating a nice loop. I recommend using this trip report over those mentioned because it covers both routes and if you're like me, you prefer loop routes to out-and-backs. The one thing to note is that Oak Creek Canyon is a more significant undertaking than First Creek Canyon, and I recommend ascending that way since it's always safer to finish more dififcult obstacles on the way up than on the way back, specifically in case the fixed line isn't available (more on that later).

Yossi and I started off Blue Diamond Road along the southern Oak Creek Trail, where we passed Wilson's Pimple (a significant hump to the right of the trail) and continued into the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon. The trail becomes a little unclear since everyone seems to like making social trails everywhere, but with only a little backtracking we were able to get into Oak Creek Canyon without having to bushwhack through the desert. When the social trail was no finally longer clear, we dropped into the drainage and began the typical Class 2/3 boulder-hopping fun that the Red Rock canyons offer.

After a fair amount of ascending through Oak Creek Canyon, we kept left at the first major junction, and then right at the next one. Keeping right at the second might not be intuitive since the cliffs of Mount Wilson are visible on the left, but this isn't a viable route, as far as I know. Along the way up the canyon, we encountered quite a few tricking waterfalls that required Class 2/3 slab climbing, as well as some micro-route-finding around big boulders. We did run into a dryfall that required a Class 3 bypass on the right, where we had to scramble up a steep, blocky set of moves. On my first visit up Oak Creek Canyon this obstacle had a fixed line, but not this time. You won't know until you get there. There was another dryfall like this farther up that required a similar blocky Class 3 scramble on the right side of the canyon, followed by a somewhat exposed ledge with a tree aid, and then a Class 3 one-move gully with a bad fall consequence. You can also route-find a little higher up and avoid the scarier moves with a little more thought. Either way this is low-to-mid-Class 3. The final serious obstacle in Oak Creek Canyon had a static rope in place. A rope has been available all  times I've been up Oak Creek Canyon, but its not a guarantee that it will be there. Without the rope's existence (or if it looks old and untrustworthy), this spot would be very difficult, likely Class 4/5. Shortly after this obstacle, we continued south into a big amphitheater-like slickrock formation, where we ascended on Class 2 terrace-like ledges before traversing to the left at the base of where the slickrock became too steep. At the top of this aphitheater is a big pinnacle that served as a landmark. We wrapped around the left side of the pinnacle and continued into a minor drainage. This drainage gained some elevation and we found ourselves on a small ridge at the drainge's head. The Mount Wilson west ridgeline came into view ahead and we beelined a route through the sandstone/limestone mixture along the slopes to the ridge.

Once on Mount Wilson's west ridge, we followed ample cairns on Class 2 sandstone terrain to a false summit. A  minor dip brought us to the final push to the true summit on more Class 2 sandstone. The views were of course lovely. We backtracked along the west ridge from the summit and started down on the very obvious social trail leading into First Creek Canyon's head. This trail has become noticeably more well-traveled in the last few years, but still isn't completely clear what to do once within First Creek Canyon since there are boulder obstacles and dryfalls that need to be bypassed. I'd give this canyon overall a Class 2+ rating. There was some scrambling, but nothing is particularly difficult and not exposed. There is one steep slab on somewhat slippery rock next to a waterfall that may require some care, for example. Another couple of notable obstacles within First Creek Canyon were a small talus cave feature we used to avoid a dryfall and a nice waterfall with lush vegetation. There were also significantly more people in First Creek Canyon than we encountered within Oak Creek Canyon. Eventually we found our way to the mouth of First Creek Canyon and ascended the right side of the drainage and onto the official First Creek Trail. We took this back to Blue Diamond Road and followed the road back to our cars.