Overview

NOTE: The ladder is up!

Link to map or elevation profile.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is a fairly safe hike. There are places to trip and hurt yourself in White Rock Canyon, and the trail along the river is sometimes narrow, but there is nothing out of the ordinary. Be extra careful on the metal ladder, and be careful walking on slick rocks after you've picked up wet sand on the bottom of your shoes.

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, rescues from narrow canyons can be difficult, so be sure to just bring what you need of the 10 Essentials.

Trail Guide
Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located along Highway 93, south of the Hoover Dam in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, about 1 hour southeast of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Lake Mead. From the intersection of Highway 93 and Lakeshore Road (by the Visitor Center) (Table 1, Site 803), drive south on Highway 93 for about 4.2 miles to Hoover Dam (Site 812). From the middle of the dam, continue south for 4.25 miles to a parking area on the right side of the road. Turn right onto the short access road and drive west for about 100 yards to the parking lot (Site 905). Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

Staying along the main wash, the route shortly drops off the ridge and into the bottom of White Rock Wash (Wpt. 3). From here, the route follows the wash all the way to the Colorado River. The dominant vegetation in the wash is catclaw acacia, brittlebush, Mormon tea, snakeweed, and several other species. The ecological differences between the dry ridges and the relatively well-watered wash are clear.

The wash starts into a narrow canyon (Wpt. 4) cutting into an interesting layer of conglomerate rock formed of red sandstone with cobbles. Below this layer (Wpt 5), the wash cuts through pyroclastic flow material (volcanic rock) where many rocks and boulders were caught up in a matrix of reddish brown rock. About 10 minutes into this layer, the route passes an enormous boulder (Wpt 6) that fell from high on the cliffs above; it’s enough to make you stop and think for a minute.

Through this part of the deep, reddish-brown canyon, the name "White Rock Canyon" becomes obvious. The mountains above the canyon (the high peaks east of Highway 93) are granitic, and over the eons, huge granite boulders washed down the canyon and lodged in the narrows. The granite boulders aren't exactly white, but the contrast between the dark canyon walls and the light-colored boulders makes them look white.

After winding through narrows for about 45 minutes, the canyon opens up into a broad wash (Wpt 07) that gives a nice change from the claustrophobic narrows, but it only last for about 10 minutes.

The wash starts into another section of narrows and passes some nice, large specimens of catclaw acacia, and also a few desert fir and rock nettle, two species not seen before here. After about 10 minutes in these narrows, the canyon opens up (Wpt 08) onto the Colorado River.

The route turns south and runs downstream for about 15 minutes on a trail that winds among cliffs overlooking the river. The trail is good, but narrow in places with drop-offs into the water (Wpt 09). Staying on the fairly obvious trail along the river, the trail runs into a cliff, turns, and climbs a steep, rocky gully. Atop the gully, the trail crests out on a ridge (Wpt 10) and joins what is obviously the main trail, indicating that there was a less-than-obvious trail junction farther back, perhaps near a broad area on the cliffs overlooking the river (Wpt 09).

From atop the ridge (Wpt 10), the trail descends steeply into Hot Spring Canyon, dropping into the canyon by two large desert willow trees (Wpt 11). At least in wet years, the creek flows to about here. The route runs up the deep, narrow canyon for a couple of minutes to a 20-ft waterfall that can be climbed using a ladder. The ladder is wet and high, so climb carefully.

From atop the ladder, the route runs around a corner and arrives at the hot springs (Wpt. 12), which are thigh-deep pools of hot water in the bottom of a water-polished, 8-ft-wide canyon. The pools have natural sills, but they are reinforced with sandbags that add several inches to the depth of the water. The bottom of the pools is sandy. The canyon is deep and narrow, so there is no direct sunlight.

Relax in the hot water, then either return to the trailhead by retracing your route back through White Rock Canyon, or consider making a loop and hiking up Hot Spring Canyon to the trailhead. There are two options for hiking up Hot Spring Canyon. The easier route follows the wash but has several pour-overs to climb (one of which requires about 30 vertical feet of 4th-class scrambling), and the other follows a steep trail that avoids the pour-overs.

End of route description.

Climbing the metal ladder (view east).

Stepping into the lower hot pool (view east).

Upper hot pool (view east).