Hike Sunflower Mountain and Kane Benchmark Meadow Valley Range Wilderness BLM, NV

Mar 30, 2021 — The Meadow Valley Mountains are a remote range north of Las Vegas, where not even the high point gets much visitation. This hike reaches the more obscure higher points of the range farther north, Sunflower Mountain and Kane Benchmark. Kane Springs Road is so good it might as well be paved, but the turn-off to reach the trailhead has a few bigger rocks that might require mid-clearance. I parked at the wilderness boundary and headed through the grassy field to the east, ascending a slope. I followed the slope into a minor drainage before ascending a Class 2 ridge to gain the plateau higher up. On my descent, I came down the major drainage, but more on that later. Either route visible on the attached map to reach the south side of Sunflower Mountain is fine, Class 2.

At the base of Sunflower Mountain, I took my time ascending. There were lots of really cool bubbly rocks and the unique meadowy landscape was a nice change from the other desert landscapes I've been exploring over the last few months. However, Sunflower Mountain took me out of my relaxed state when I realized how loose and steep it would be to gain its summit. Class 2+ on dirt and talus with the occasional bit of scree got me there, but it was pretty short-lived. Kane Benchmark to the northeast looked very far away, but I was looking forward to the pleasant-looking walk through the meadows. I continued north off the summit of Sunflower Mountain, Class 2 boulders leading to a drop-off. I kept to the right and was able to descend on easier terrain, where I worked around a small cliff band via a short chute weakness followed be a steep, loose scree slope. Then it was a few miles of easy walking along the rim along a faint animal trail. Along the way was a few hundred foot dip in the ridge, a couple of easy Class 2 moves the only obstacle. Of course, I'd have to reascend on the way back.

Ahead I noticed brightly-colored eroded cliffs on the face of an unnamed point south of Kane Benchmark. My first thought was to ascend through a potential weakness, but Adam Walker did a route that led around the west side of this obstacle, so I chose to follow that instead, and I'm glad I did. A bunch of black boulders were strewn across a pink volcanic slickrock landscape, something I'd never seen before. An animal trail led along the side of the slickrock, keeping pretty high to avoid small trenches below. I was hoping to get up to the ridge above on the right, but a small cliff band prevented this in the short-term. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, I scrambled up Class 2 and formed a hairpin turn in my route to get to higher ground. Just ahead was a jumbled mess of rock that guarded the final ridgeline to Kane Benchmark. I wrapped around to the south side and located a Class 2 weakness that gained a couple hundred feet of vertical. Going directly up instead would result in Class 3. My map reflects the easier option.

Once above this obstacle, I could see the false summit of Kane Benchmark about a half mile ahead. I ascended the false summit, dropped slightly past it, and ascended to the Kane Benchmark summit. The wooden survey remains were on the edge of the cliff, but the peak's high point might be slightly to the east. The summit seems to have been burned recently.

I returned the way I came, with one exception. Instead of re-ascending over Sunflower Mountain, I hugged its northwest base on surprisingly pleasant terrain before deciding to descend a major drainage to get back to my car. Alternatively, I could have continued wrapping around the peak's southwestern base and returned via my exact same ascent route, but I wanted to change it up. I'm not sure if I would recommend the drainage, though. It has more Class 2 boulder-hopping and brush. I was able to avoid a lot of it by keeping to the slopes on either side of the watercourse, but it felt less effiicient than the route up.