Black Mountain with Hiking Meetup

Overview

Black Mountain is a peak I've been wanting to hike ever since I moved to Las Vegas. With all the development going on near the mountain it was a task to figure out how to get to the trailhead. After doing some scouting of the peak and area over the last several months I finally planned on getting this peak under my belt. I thought it would be fun to do it with some others so I posted this hike on the Las Vegas Hiking Meetup. Three other people ended up going.

We met at an Albertsons in Henderson. From here the group car pooled with me to the trailhead. Jim, Madyline, and Karen were the other three that joined me.

Getting There

1. From Las Vegas drive South on I-15.
2. Take exit 34 onto 215 East toward McCarran Airport.
3. Drive 5.7 Miles to the Eastern Ave. Exit (Exit 5)
4. Take Eastern Ave. South for approximately 3.0 miles
5. Merge left onto Anthem Pkwy for 2.4 miles
6. Take a left onto Atchley Dr.
7. Drive for 0.4 miles Atchley Dr. and then turn left onto
Shadow Canyon Dr.
8. Drive for 0.6 miles on Shadow Canyon Dr. Just past the 2200 Block
you will pass Lewiston Pl. on your left then after the 1st house you
will see a small parking area for about 6 vehicles. This is where
you park.

The Hike

We started walking down a paved 1 lane road which eventually took us to set of steps. We then hiked about 0.5 miles, turned right up the side trail by the big steps. Then we continued on around the trail till we walked by a big shovel and then that was the start of the main trail. It was 0.67 miles to here. This is marked by a shovel. From here it was about 2.23 miles along the trail to the summit. The trail was very well maintained and easy class 2 route. Along the way we saw lots of blooming colorful flowers. Towards the end it got a lot steeper.

Waypoints along our Route

WPT 1 Park 35°56'42.7"N, 115°4'53.3"W
WPT 2 Turn Right up the road 35°56'25.4"N, 115°4'42.6"W
WPT 3 Trail 35°56'22.0"N, 115°4'39.6"W
WPT 4 Shovel, start of Trail 35°56'19.0"N, 115°4'31.8"W
WPT 5 summit 35°55'51.6"N, 115°2'38.6"W














As we got nearer to the summit we cheered Karen on. This was her first peak bagging trip. On the summit we had awesome 360 degree views. You could see the strip and Las Vegas, Mt. Charleston, The Sheep Range to the North, and lots more. It was 3 miles to the summit.

Return trip

It was a lot quicker coming down the trail. Many amazing colorful flowers were out. We also saw a lizard. We then went out to eat at the Black Mountain Grill and treated ourselves. Just as we finished the hike it was almost 90° F. We were glad to get off the mountain.

Images

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