Hike Pope Mine Wash Loop Lake Mead National Recreation Area, AZ

Mar 24, 2020 — This loop visits a seldom-visited area of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It's a product of my insatiable excitement to explore as much of the incredible desert landscape that follows the Colorado River on the border of Nevada and Arizona. I named this route Pope Mine Wash Loop because we kept entering and leaving this major drainage, and all peaks we went for surrounded it. Additionally, none of the peaks are named, and it was really mostly just a long exploratory day of the Pope Mine Wash area. My original plans were significantly different than what we ended up doing, mostly because there were technical dryfalls in Pope Mine Wash, but the route ended up being a blast. Austin isn't as excited about the volcanic insanity, mostly because the terrain is particularly rugged and slow-moving, but he joined me to escape the monotony of the COVID-19 quarantine.

To get to the trailhead, navigate to here (35.80008, -114.63307) and take the road on the right labeled Malpais Mesa Road to reach the wilderness boundary. We left the trailhead and popped up over a low saddle, then dropped south into the sandy Pope Mine Wash. There were wildflowers everywhere and a couple of Class 2 obstacles as we continued farther. The wash narrowed into a somewhat narrow section and we hit a dryfall. I probably should have studied satellite maps more. We were able to find a bypass by going up and over the ridge to the left (blue line on attached map). Alternatively (and this was a route I scouted on the way back), before entering the narrows of Pope Mine Wash, you could leave and head east to enter a side drainage that allows for a Class 2 down climb within a short, pretty section of narrows (this jumble is better visualized using the attached map).

We continued through Pope Mine Wash (let's call it the west fork), passing a really cool balanced boulder and some very tall sheer walls until we were stopped by another dryfall. Rather than look for a way down into the wash (since we realized more dryfalls are likely at this point).

January 2022 Update: I recruited a lovely group of local canyoneers to descend this technical section of canyon, and it turned out to include two rappels, about 50' and 30', respectively. We created a deadman/cairn anchor combo for each. This was likely a first descent. I included some photos of this section of canyon at the very end of my trip report photos below.

Assuming you don't take the technical section, we headed to the right of the technical rappel and headed up a steep slope to head over to Peak 1982. The best views of the day were this short section as we approached Peak 1982. We had the Colorado River to the west and the other peaks of the day to the east. We approached Peak 1982's northern slopes, already pretty sure we wouldn't be able to summit due to the cliffs surrounding the summit. We wrapped all the way around the peak in an attempt to locate an easy way up, but the rock is very poor, and the only spot we thought could possibly work was on the southeast side, and still definitely Class 5. We skipped the peak, dropping farther south and navigated Class 2 gullies and cliffs to reach the drainage separating Peak 1982 and Peak 1480. Some Class 2 scrambling led to the summit of Peak 1480, where the views of the Colorado River and down into Pope Mine Cove were really nice. We continued southwest and entered Pope Mine Wash again, passing through colorful hills.

Once in Pope Mine Wash again, rather than look for a route to the east to get up to Peak 2120 more easily (I'm pretty sure there would be at least one way up, though I can't confirm that), we decided to head north through Pope Mine Wash. I wanted to check out a narrower section I noticed on a satellite map, and hoped we could get through the whole wash without needing to back track. Along the way, we headed up the west fork (the route we would have come down earlier if there wasn't that previously mentioned dryfall impediment), and quickly were stopped by another dryfall. This canyon is definitely technical and maybe one day I'll come back to check it out with ropes.

Anyway, we continued up the east fork of Pope Mine Wash, where the cliffs were tall and colorful. The canyon narrowed into an unexpected slot with a couple of Class 3 moves. I was losing my mind with excitement to find this tiny gem. Once the short narrow section opened up, we headed right up a grassy slope in order to make our way up to Peak 2120. We side-hilled for a bit, descending a little, to reach the base of a notch to the north of Peak 2120. The main drainage leading to this notch was riddled with cliffs. Fortunately, a Class 2 scramble led up a gully on the right, taking us safely to higher ground. An unexpectedly long walk led us through a small drainage separating two small ridges, Peak 2120 the peak on the right, but not visible until we were practically next to it. We reached its summit and got some great views of our route so far, and of Peak 2871 to come. We backtracked and then dropped off to the east, heading down a steep slope.

Once at the base of the slope, we navigated around some hills and gullies to enter a major drainage coming down from Peak 2871. We followed this drainage to its head, passing some Class 2+ obstacles and then some steep stuff at the top. Class 2 volcanic boulders led to the summit of Peak 2871. We dropped down to the north and navigated gullies and washes until we made it back to Pope Mine Wash again, following it back to the car.