Overview

Black Butte Dam was built by cattlemen years ago. The reservoir is filling in with sediment, but it still holds back a fair bit of water. The hike to Black Butte Dam starts at the Falling Man Rock Art Site. From the far end of the rock art area, the route continues south following use-trails and washes to the dam. The walking is fairly easy, but parts of the route cross rocky areas where the use-trail is faint. After seeing so many petroglyphs at the Falling Man Site, your eyes will be trained to see others along the route.

Link to hiking map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ... this is a safe area, but be careful scrambling around on the rocks.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, even though this hike is short, the area is remote, so be sure to bring what you need of the 10 Essentials.

While in the area, remember that petroglyphs and other rock art are a national treasure that is easily damaged. Please take care of the area and leave it as you found it for generations to come.

Getting to the Trailhead

The Falling Man Rock Art Site is located way out in the Gold Butte Region at the northeast end of Lake Mead, about 2.5 hours northeast of Las Vegas in a wild, remote, and scenic area.

From town, drive out to Gold Butte. From Whitney Pocket (Table 1, Site 060), turn around and drive back north for 1.4 miles to a dirt road to the west (Site 050), which is just past a large sandstone crag with campsites around the base. Turn left and drive west on Black Butte Road.

A number of side roads branch off from Black Butte Road, but most are obviously not the main road. However, at 1.2 miles from the pavement (Site 210), take the left fork in the road. At 1.9 miles from the pavement, pole fencing on the south side of the road delineates a parking area (Site 220). Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

At the second rock pile, about 0.29 miles from the trailhead, consider visiting the Falling Man Petroglyph panel (Wpt. 02) and surrounding area, the details for which are presented on the Falling Man Rock Art Site webpage.

Continuing, wind around the east and south sides of the large sandstone rock pile where an obvious use-trail (Wpt. 03) leads south into the desert and away from the sandstone crags.

The use-trail runs southwest across the desert and across sandstone slickrock to the edge of a drop-off (Wpt. 04). The route descends the rocky hillside to the broad, sandy wash below (Wpt. 05).

Hiking down the wash for 0.26 miles (Wpt. 06), watch for a use-trail the climbs the washbank on the south side. The use-trail leads to an old road that is followed southeast to the base of the dam on the downstream side.

Continuing around the corner to the southwest, an unusual tunnel through a sandstone crag leads to the top of the dam where flat sandstone provides a nice place to sit and enjoy the scenery and look for birds and dragonflies attracted to the water.

Enjoy a rest and perhaps lunch, and be sure to look for fairy shrimp in the water, then return to the trailhead by following your footprints back across the beautiful desert.

Walking back, explore the grand scenery and interesting vegetation. This part of Gold Butte is in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) vegetation zone where creosote bush and white bursage dominate the landscape, but many other species of shrubs also are common. Around the rock piles, look for Joshua trees, and keep an eye out for our common Mojave yucca. In sandy places, look for uncommon Utah yucca and unusual birdcage evening primrose with its arms all rolled up like a wire birdcage.

Look carefully in the water for fairy shrimp. This big girl looks like she is about ready to lay her eggs.