Overview

Horse Spring North Road is a side road off the unpaved Gold Butte Road that provides 4WD vehicle access to Horse Spiring, a good area for birding and hunting Gambel's Quail and Mourning Dove, as well as visiting the historic stone corral and stone wall built by ranchers in the 1880s.

For drivers without 4WD wanting to visit Horse Spiring, see the main access road: Horse Spring Road. Horse Spring North Road should be seen as a shortcut to Horse Spring -- and shortcuts are not always the fastest route.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ... this is a fairly easy 4WD road and without any unusual hazards.

This is wild and remote country without services of any kind (no restrooms, no water, no gas, no food). Bring what you need to survive. Be prepared and be self-reliant. It is a big place, but someone will eventually find you if you stay on a main road, but be prepared to survive alone for a day or two, or even longer on side roads. Cell phones don't work here.

At the corral and stone wall, please be careful and help protect this historic area from damage.

While out, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, this is a remote area, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials.

Getting to the Road

Horse Spring North Road is located out in Gold Butte National Monument northeast of Lake Mead, about 3 hours northeast of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out the paved Gold Butte Road to Whitney Pocket. Continue south on the unpaved Gold Butte Road for 14.2 miles to Horse Spring North Road, an unmarked, minor road to the left that is easy to me.

Note that after winding up and across a steep hillside, Gold Butte Road crosses a cattle guard. From the cattle guard, it is another 0.5 miles to Horse Spring North Road.

The Road

From Gold Butte Road southbound (Table 1, Site 1785), Horse Spring North Road branches left. The road runs fairly straight east, crosses a shallow wash, then bends a bit left to head northeast.

At about 0.5 miles out, the road drops into a sandy wash and heads downstream winding between catclaw acacia and mojave rabbitbrush heading straight towards a rocky cliff.

The road runs right up to the base of the cliff (0.8 miles out), and still following the wash, bends right to head southeast.

Passing the toe of the cliff (0.9 miles out), Horse Spring North Road intersects Horse Spring Road (Site 1786). The intersection is a bit of a wide spot in the wash and makes a triangular intersection, but Horse Spring is about 30 yards from the toe of the cliffs, and the corral is about 100 yards out (Site 1784) on the left.