Lovell Wash and Anniversary Mine Area (1,900 ft)

Overview

This is an easy hike into an area with some amazing geology and a few old mines. This land was laid down as sheets of mud in the bottom of some vast playa lake where ancient animals once roamed. The mud turned to stone, and tectonic activity jumbled the area and turned the lake bed on edge. Now we see several mountain-sized ridges of sedimentary materials (sandstone, limestone, and mudstone of various colors including purple, red, green, yellow, and gray) that have been steeply tilted up; some nearly vertically. Lovell Wash cut through the ridges, creating spectacular narrows that are about 500 yards long (0.3 mi), hundreds of feet deep in places, and only a few feet wide. In many places, you can touch the walls on both sides.

There are several old borax mines in this area. Old mines are never safe to enter.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is an old mining district. While mines are inherently interesting, they are always dangerous. It is never safe to go into old mines. If you go into a mine, don't touch anything, watch for holes in the floor, and if there is rubble on the floor, assume that it fell from the roof and get out. Be sure to review the standard warnings about holes in the ground. If rain threatens, don't hike in the narrows because a flash flood could ruin your whole day.

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

Trail Guide
Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located along Northshore Scenic Drive in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, about 1 hour northeast of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Lake Mead. From the intersection of Northshore Scenic Drive and Lakeshore Scenic Drive (Table 1, Site 654), drive north on Northshore Scenic Drive to Mile Marker 16 (Site 782), which is 4.7 miles east of (beyond) the turnoff to Callville Bay. At Mile Marker 16, turn left (north) onto Callville Wash North Road (Road 94), which is unpaved. Either park near the pavement or drive up the wash on Road 94 for 0.2 miles to the intersection with Road 94a (Site 784). It might be better to park just before the dirt road drops into the sandy wash, a few yards before the intersection. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), either walk or drive up the unmarked Road 94a, which turns out of Callville Wash and runs northwest towards the hills.

Road 94a is a moderately rough two-wheel-drive road. The road is fairly obvious, but a few minutes out, the rocky road runs up the side of a hill, while tire tracks run up a wash to the left. The two routes rejoin later, but there is less loose sand on the rocky road.

At 1.2 miles out, a big sign announces Ore Car Mine (which is outside Lake Mead National Recreation Area). The local Gem Club owns this claim, and members can prospect for gemstones. There are a number of mine shafts in this area, and a large, conical, pink-colored tailings pile sits to the north across Lovell Wash.

After another 0.7 miles (1.9 miles from Northshore Road), Road 94a drops into Lovell Wash (Wpt. 2). When storms wash out the road, there is a short cliff at the edge of the wash. If so, back up and park at a wide, flat spot overlooking the wash. If the road is passable, people drive up Lovell Wash a short distance from the road.

A few yards past the ore-loading facility, the wash jogs to the northeast (right). The remains of a dam (earthworks and cement spillway) sit on the south side of the wash, and a mine shaft burrows into the hill on the north side of the wash. The flat top of the mine tailing provides a nice walk-in campsite.

Upstream from the dam, the wash opens up again. The route continues up the wash for 0.18 miles to the entrance to the Anniversary Mine, which is located up on the south side of the wash above some woodwork and tailings. From the wash, there appear to be two shafts. The left shaft is the mine entrance, while the right shaft is only a few feet deep and may have served as a dynamite cache or storeroom. They mined a lot of borax here during the 1920s, and the mine is very large and deep. All mines are interesting, but they are not safe to enter. Remember, the timbers were put in during the 1920s; giving them plenty time to rot in the moist underground air.

When clambering on the hillside, be careful not to step on the Las Vegas Bearpoppies (Arctomecon californica), which is a local species of concern.

A few yards past the mine, there is a cleft in the south wall of the wash with an odd, tubular structure. When I first saw it, I thought that maybe it was a petrified log partially buried in the mudstone. There are plenty of petrified logs just over the mountains in Valley of Fire, so one here would not seem out of place. On more careful inspection, however, the structure looks more like a mud-filled and fossilized burrow of some giant gopher-like creature. Perhaps giant catfish lived here that dug burrows in mud riverbanks like some species do today.

Continuing up the wash for about 0.19 miles past the mine (Wpt. 4), the wash narrows suddenly and dramatically at the lower end of the Lovell Wash Narrows. The narrows run for about 500 yards and are full of twists and turns. Sculpted and water-polished sandstone and sedimentary rocks are spectacular through this section. Don't get caught in a flash flood!

Upstream from the narrows (Wpt. 5), the wash opens into a broad valley that runs north for a few miles to the Muddy Mountains. I haven't ventured more than about a mile up the valley, but the scenery is spectacular. The sedimentary cliffs through which Lovell Wash cut are tall, multi-colored, and tilted with some amazing erosion patterns. At one spot just above the narrows, a part of the north wall of the canyon is formed by upturned purple-colored mudstone that shows ripple marks from some ancient lake or riverbed. The stark beauty of the upturned and eroded multicolored cliffs, and the whole scene, is too much for words.

The place is hard to leave, but when you do, retrace your steps down the wash. Walking at a brisk pace, the upstream end of the narrows is about 30 minutes from where Road 94a hits Lovell Wash.