I need to offset my substantial website costs somehow! You can download a hike/drive GPX to assist you here. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is otherwise a free resource.
GPX track added to your cart.
Mar 12, 2017 — Probably my favorite technical loop in the Las Vegas area, this route combines Weeping Springs Canyon, a technical canyon with some interesting rappels, a hike paralleling the Colorado River, and then up the lush Bighorn Canyon. Note that Bighorn Canyon does have one section of Class 4 to get over a dryfall.
Scot and I started out probably a bit too late in the day from the Canyon Point Overlook, accessible by any vehicle until the last quarter mile when it becomes rocky and might deter some passenger car drivers. If descending directly from the parking lot, the slope is covered in loose boulders and broken glass. To make the descent a bit more pleasant, instead head north until a ribbed slope juts out. There's a social trail that leads down more safely. Once we reached the drainage below, the route-finding around here is straightforward. Either stick to the rockier drainage or locate a social trail just south of it. The wash descends to the head of Weeping Springs Canyon.
The first few rappels are nothing particularly special, but make sure you've got knowledge in cairn anchor building since natural anchors are sparse. On a later trip, we had to build a couple because we didn't trust the knot blocks someone had placed. Most of the rappels drop down pretty chutes on the dark rock typical of the Black Canyon Wilderness. There was one particularly interesting rappel, where someone had rigged a long rope to create an anchor for a rappel that would be funky withouth it. Eventually, Weeping Springs Canyon opened up. Continuing east leads to a spring and a final rappel into the Colorado River, but since we didn't have packrafts, we needed to instead bypass these rappels by going overland, parallel to the river. Traversing south through the desert, the first half was unevenful and gorgeous. As we neared Bighorn Canyon, we needed to keep high to avoid an alcove that juts into the cliffs. Past here was a Class 3+ set of moves to descend into Bighorn Canyon.
We enjoyed the beach for a bit before heading up the incredibly lush and wet (relative to Lake Mead desert standards) Bighorn Canyon. 2023 update: Bighorn Canyon is wildly overgrown and far less pleasant than it appears in these photos. The lushness gave way to beautiful narrows that lasted far longer than I thought they would. There were a few Class 3 obstacles within the narrows of Bighorn Canyon. There is one notable difficulty, a Class 4 dryfall that could stop some people not comfortable climbing. This would obviously be quite bad at this point since it's necessary to complete the route, so be sure you're comfortable with doing a ten foot wall with a lip that requires some stemming to get over.
Once out of the Bighorn Canyon narrows, we were at the base of gorgeous eroded cliffs that formed a maze of badlands, but continuing toward them would not lead back to the car. Instead, as the wash begins to narrow into a red slot, make a sharp turn and ascend using a rocky gully up to the saddle separating Weeping Springs Canyon and Bighorn Canyon. Once here, we dropped back down toward the Weeping Springs upper drainage and continued back up the way we came on the social trail.
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!
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!
