Overview

This is a great, 3.25-mile hike to hot springs near the Colorado River. The route runs down a deep, narrow, geologically interesting canyon for 2.75 miles to the Colorado River, turns to run downstream for 0.5 miles to the next major canyon, then ascends that canyon for about 5 minutes to a 20-ft waterfall and a ladder. Climbing the ladder brings hikers to the hot springs: two thigh-deep pools in the deep, narrow canyon. This is a place to sit, relax, and meet interesting people. This hot spring sometimes is called Ringbolt Hot Springs, a reference to Ringbolt Rapids that lie just upstream from Hot Spring Canyon.

Link to map or elevation profile.

This hike would make a nice overnight outing, as there are nice places to camp at the river and in the canyon just above the hot springs.

Return to the trailhead by retracing your footprints in the dust or by continuing up Hot Spring Canyon on a mostly easy route with three scramble-ups, one of which requires 30-40 feet of 4th-class climbing to bypass a pour-over.

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.

Getting to the Trailhead

Note: The new trailhead is east of the highway.

This hike is located along Highway 93, south of the Hoover Dam in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, about 45 minutes southeast of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Lake Mead NRA, then over the bridge on Highway 93 into Arizona and down to the White Rock Canyon Trailhead. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead at the far end of the parking area by the information kiosk (Table 2, Wpt. 01), a trail runs down the hillside into White Rock Wash and down under the Highway 93 bridges. Just past the southbound bridge, the old trailhead signs (Wpt. 01a) introduce the route.

The route then follows the wash all the way to the Colorado River. In this area, the sparsely vegetated country provides grand views down White Rock Wash towards the start of the narrows and out over the mountains into Nevada and the Black Canyon Wilderness Area.

The dominant vegetation in the wash is catclaw acacia, brittlebush, Mormon tea, and broom snakeweed. The dry hillsides are sparsely vegetated with creosote bush, white bursage, a few beavertail pricklypear cactus, and little else. The ecological differences between the relatively well-watered wash and the dry ridges are clear. Following the main wash for about 0.51 miles (Wpt. 03), an alternate, more direct route to the hot springs cuts south to an old trail.

Continuing down the main wash, the route runs through a straight, narrow canyon for some 150 yards. The canyon then opens and bends to the south where alluvial materials have accumulated on the north side of the bend (Wpt. 04). The route to Liberty Bell Arch leaves the main wash here and runs up a side canyon to the north, and the main route starts into the deep narrows.

Continuing down the main wash, the wash cuts into pyroclastic flow materials (volcanic rock) where many rocks and boulders were caught up in a matrix of reddish brown rock (Wpt. 05). About 10 minutes into this layer, the route passes an enormous boulder (Wpt. 06) 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, granite boulders washed down the canyon and became 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 use-trails that wind around little coves and along cliffs overlooking the river. The use-trails are good, but in places the trail is narrow with drop-offs into the river.

The route along the river is obvious except in one place where the better route jogs uphill away from the river (Wpt. 09).

Following a narrow trail around a brushy cove, the route climbs onto the next little ridge, then takes a hard left on slickrock where the poorly marked route is hard to see. The route climbs only few vertical feet, then turns more downstream and climbs up through a cleft in the cliffs. Past the cleft, the dirt trail again becomes more visible as it runs up a ridge to a saddle (Wpt. 10).

For hikers who miss the turn, 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, this alternate use-trail crests out on the ridge (Wpt. 10) and joins what is obviously the main trail. Note that there is "don't go this way" sign at the top of the steep gully.

From the saddle 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 metal ladder. The ladder is secure, but wet and high, so climb carefully.

From atop the ladder, the route runs around a few corners 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 water depth. The bottom of the pools is sandy. The canyon is deep and narrow, so it can be chilly with 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 by 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.

Metal ladder (view east).

Stepping into the lower hot pool (view east).

Upper hot pool (view east).