Hike South Arrow Peak and Pasture Mountain Loop Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area BLM, NV

Mar 06, 2024 — I've hiked the major peaks of the Arrow Canyon Range on separate occasions, including the range high point as well as a larger loop to its north, but I neglected South Arrow Peak both times. Today I planned to reach it in conjunction with Pasture Mountain and unnamed Peak 4819, but the opportunity to get all three in one sexy-looking natural loop seemed only possible if approaching from the west because of the way this section of the range arcs. I'll start by admitting if you tack on the red tape and the additional driving time on a dirt road, it might be more efficient to reach Peak 4819 by just approaching from the west and going up and over South Arrow Peak, and then returning. However, since I'd only approached the Arrow Canyon range from the west in the past, I was hoping I could manage to try to get there from a new direction. I also knew that in order to get to the east side of the range, I needed to cross through the Moab River Indian Reservation. Research made it seem like this isn't done with any sort of regularity, so it felt like a fun challenge. There wasn't any information online regarding who to call to gain access legally, so I set out to see if there were any gates barring my entry.

When I arrived at the exit off I-15, I was immediately confronted with a "no trespassing" sign. Fortunately, this notice was followed by a phone number. I called and when asked why I wanted to enter, I tried to explain that I wanted to access the public land that is on the opposite side of the reservation. The person who answered was very helpful, but needed to check with his boss and I got a call back a half hour later. Without a printer in my car, I needed to go to the office in Moapa in order to fill out a form, located at 1 Lincoln St (36.66999, -114.65339). You can probably skip all of these steps if you've done some planning in advance, since I'm here to provide the phone number for you (see image below). When I arrived, the guy was super sweet, but had done a full-on stalk of who I am, managing to find my Instagram and full name by just having my phone number. I didn't inquire how he'd gotten all that information, since I was just excited I'd been given access.

Back at the exit from I-15, I headed toward the base of the Arrow Canyon range. Overall this road is in great shape except for a couple of washed out sections that you'll need some clearance for, though a Crossover SUV is sufficient. What did concern me along the drive was that now, in addition to signs reading "no trespassing without permission", there was an additional sign that continued with "continuing on means you forfeit all personal possessions". I sure hope my little piece of permit paper would prevent such a thing from happening, but I'd already spent lots of time trying to get here and I would not be deterred. I parked where I did because the road basically doesn't exist anymore due to a bad wash-out, but I was basically where I wanted to park anyway. At the end of this road is an old mining site on a small pocket of private property, but I didn't have time to check it out.

I decided to start up unnamed Peak 4819 first since on a topo map it looked like the summit area could be tricky. Already well after noon, I didn't want to save potential unforeseen hazards for sunset. I headed up the peak's southern ridge, a typical steep and loose desert jaunt. Along the crest was a rocky limestone rib that I kept left of most of the time and aside from one headwall that I easily wrapped around on the left, there wasn't much of note. I reached a false summit where I could see the peak ahead, and it looked quite formidable from here. After all the bureaucratic stuff and driving and took to get here, I better be able to reach this little guy. Coming down from the false summit turned out to have the most tricky stuff, and while nothing exceeded low Class 3, it gave me an unwarranted foreboding sense of danger ahead since it was all Class 2 to the base of the major cliff band surrounding Peak 4819. Rather than putz around on what had been made clear was Class 5 terrain, I wrapped to the left and pretty painlessly found a Class 2 rocky slope that brought me to the summit. There was no sign of a previous ascent, so I decided to keep it that way and did not build a cairn.

I backtracked to the false summit and then took the western slope down to the saddle with South Arrow Peak. A steep, but overall very tame slope led up to its very scenic summit view overlooking the dramatic cliffs of the western Arrow Canyon Range. The cliffs really are spectacular and unique, layers of different colored limestone dropping abruptly to the desert below. I could see highway 93 just below and felt a little bit silly for all my effort in approaching from the east, but I guess it was worth it a pretty-looking loop that included Peak 4819 (or at least that's what I'm telling myself). I didn't linger because it was pretty frigid and I had neglected to wear enough clothes as usual, so I started along the next unknown portion of the hike, the ridgeline between South Arrow Peak and an unnamed and unranked lump on its other side, Peak 5098.

I generally recommend sticking to the crest here because the right side is a sheer cliff into the abyss, and the left side usually results in cliffs that are smaller, but still impassable. There was some light route-finding, but the traverse can be kept at Class 2/2+. I reached the summit of Peak 5098 and continued on, falsely assuming all the rocky terrain was over. I encountered some light Class 3 as I descended toward the saddle with Pasture Mountain. Nothing was too tricky, and you could likely keep it easier if you want, but I think that would be missing the point of the fun limestone scrambling opportunities found in this range.

The saddle is more of just a bend in the range, and from here a mellow slope through ankle-high desert brush brought me basically up to Pasture Mountain. Some light scrambling and I was on the summit of my final peak of this loop. I was tempted to continue along the ridge crest to descend, but I noticed a cliff further along, so instead I dropped down and regained the ridge past that cliff. Now it was just a matter of choosing a minor ridge to wiggle down back to my car below. This loop wrapped up the major peaks of the range for me, and while it was nice to be in this remote area, they were probably my least favorite of what the Arrow Canyon Range has to offer.