Overview

This is a nice 5.1-mile hike to the summit of Virgin Peak. The first 2.2 miles are on a road that washed during the spring of 2005, and the remaining 2.9 miles run off-trail up a long, brushy ridge with spectacular views in all directions. There is no use-trail, few cairns, and lots of shrubs and trees, so although the route finding is easy, there is a lot of weaving around to find the way through the brush. The access road is washed out at the narrows and is unlikely to be reopened to trucks (ATVs can get through), so the round trip hike is now about 4.5 miles longer than it used to be.

Adding interest to the hike, there are many fossils along the ridge and the vegetation in the Virgin Mountains is unique in Nevada. The sunny south-facing slopes support Singleleaf Pinyon and Utah Juniper all the way to the summit, but from the summit, you can look down the shady north and east-facing slopes to see tall conifer trees, including White Fir, Douglas Fir, Rocky Mountain Juniper, and Arizona Cypress.

Link to map or elevation profile.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is a fairly safe hike in a wild and remote place. I encountered no unusual hazards, but be careful out in this remote area because even a twisted ankle could be a serious problem. The access road was graded long ago, but it is not maintained; the end of the access road requires a 4-WD vehicle.

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

Virgin Peak is located about 2.5 hours east of Las Vegas, out in the wild, remote, and scenic Gold Butte region south of the town of Mesquite (northeast end of Lake Mead).

To get to there from Las Vegas, drive east on Highway I-15 to Highway 170 (Exit 112 towards Bunkerville) (Table 1, Site 684). This exit is just west of the town of Mesquite.

Exit the Interstate and drive south on Highway 170 for about 3 miles to the Virgin River. Cross the bridge and immediately take a hard right turn (Site 686) on an unnamed paved road (Gold Butte Road). The slope of the road makes the turn look like a large pullout rather than an intersection.

Follow the paved Gold Butte Road southwest along the river. After about 6 miles, the road abruptly turns southeast away from the river (Site 687). Stay on the rough paved road for another 14 miles, following it all the way to the end of the pavement (Site 641) at Whitney Pockets, an informal BLM camping area nestled among colorful sandstone crags.

The pavement ends at Whitney Pockets, but the Gold Butte Road continues straight ahead as a broad, graded dirt road. About 120 yards past the end of the pavement (Site 936), a narrower road forks off to the left and runs east along the base of the sandstone cliffs. An old road sign said that Arizona is 6 miles up that road, but the sign was lying on the ground the last time I was there.

Turn left onto the "Arizona Road" and drive east towards Whitney Pass for 2.3 miles to an unmarked dirt road (Virgin Peak Road) on the left (Site 937). Turn left onto Virgin Peak Road and drive north for 0.75 miles to an old corral (Site 938).

In a 2-WD vehicle, stop here. In a 4-WD vehicle, continue north into the loose gravel. Shortly, the road bends right and runs east into a canyon. From the corral, follow the gravel wash-road for 0.8 miles to a narrow spot in the canyon where the road is washed out and blocked by a huge boulder (Site 939). In a truck, park here; this is the trailhead (ATVs can get around the boulder).

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), the route follows the old road up the canyon, which runs north between the southeast ridge of Virgin Peak and the south ridge of an unnamed peak to the east of Virgin Peak. The narrow canyon opens up, and after 0.81 miles, the road forks (Wpt. 2) in an open area by a large rusty water tank and an old watering trough.

The route stays to the left on the main dirt road and continues north for another 1.42 miles to the old trailhead campsite (Wpt. 3) on the west side of the road. There is some old machinery on the left just before the campsite; and at the campsite, there is a small, round metal water tank, an old truck carcass, and an obscure side road to the left in a grove of tall Singleleaf Pinyon Pine and Utah Juniper trees.

From the old trailhead campsite, the route runs southwest on the side road for 0.17 miles to a nice campsite on an overlook above the canyon (Wpt. 4). An ATV trail continues up the hill above the campsite for a few yards, then loops back down and right to intersect the side road. From the top of the ATV trail loop, the route runs up and across the brushy and rocky hillside for 0.27 miles to the ridgeline (Wpt. 5).

At the top of the ridge, the route turns northwest and runs straight up the ridgeline for 2.47 miles to the summit. The ridge generally is broad and easy to walk on, but there are many shrubs and trees to work around, and there is one narrow spot that can be passed by downclimbing a few yards on the west side of the ridge. The route crosses a knob 0.90 miles up the ridge (Wpt. 6), and 0.53 miles past the knob, there is a substantial cairn (Wpt. 7) on the ridgeline with rocks and sticks indicating a route off the ridge to the east. Continuing up the ridge, however, leads to the summit (Wpt. 8).

The ridge is formed of light gray carbonate rock with many fossils scattered about. There are several types of coral fossils, wing-shaped brachiopods, and snails about 2 inches across.

Vegetation on the ridge is Pinyon-Juniper (Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Life Zone) and quite shrubby. Lower on the ridge, common species include blackbrush, apache plume, cliffrose, green Ephedra, sagebrush, agave, various species of Pricklypear and Cholla cactus, mahonia, and grasses. At middle elevations, there is some shrub live oak on the ridge, and higher up there is a fair bit of mountain mahogany.

Vegetation in the Virgin Mountains is unique in Nevada. The lower elevations are typical Mojave Desert Scrub (Upper Sonoran Life Zone), and the sunny south-facing slopes support Singleleaf Pinyon and Utah Juniper (Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Life Zone) all the way to the summit. From the summit, however, you can look down the shady north and east-facing slopes to see tall conifer trees (mix of Yellow Pine and Pine-Fir Life Zones), including White Fir, Douglas Fir, and Arizona Cypress. There used to be Ponderosa Pine on these slopes too, but all of the Ponderosa Pine burned during a wildfire in the 1940s. The Douglas Fir and Arizona Cypress are Pleistocene relicts here, species left over here from the ice age. Although not confirmed by botanists, there might also be California Juniper along the southeast ridge, a species not otherwise known from this mountain range.