Overview

This is a long (11.5 mile, one-way), but very pleasant and easy walk that runs over colorful mud hills and through a broad, scenic desert valley bordered by volcanic, sandstone, conglomerate, and carbonate mountains. Pinto Valley has two arms with low-point in the middle, and the route runs down one arm and back up the other. There are two springs along the route, but neither is reliable for drinking. The mud hills provide habitat for a number of unusual plant species, including two species of concern: California (Las Vegas) Bearpoppy and Silverleaf Sunray.

Link to map.

The route starts on Northshore Road, runs south on an old road over a ridge and into the east end of Pinto Valley, follows washes to traverse the entire length of the valley, follows the old road back over the ridges and out of the west end of the valley, and then runs north to Northshore Road. Where the route runs over the ridges, it follows an old road and the grades generally are easy. Where the route runs in washes, the surface is a mix of small gravel and dirt that makes for a firm walking surface; the grades are gentle. In most places, the road and washes are smooth enough that you don't need to watch your feet as you walk.

The entry and exit points on Northshore Road are about 8 miles apart, so this hike requires two vehicles or coordination with a third-party. I've hiked the route twice from east to west, so the description follows that direction, but it can be hiked in either direction.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is a safe, but long hike without any unusual dangers. There is a short, 3rd-classdownclimb at Cottonwood Spring, but if you can get that far, it shouldn't give you any trouble, and it can be bypassed to the west. If you backpack the route without going down to the lake (6 extra miles round trip), be sure to bring enough water.

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 fairly long hike in a remote area, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located along Northshore Road 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 Road and Lakeshore Road (Table 1, Site 654), drive north and then east on Northshore Road.

There are two trailheads. The western trailhead (Site 804) is a paved pullout at Mile 18.2 (0.2 miles east of Mile Marker 18). The eastern trailhead (Site 822) has a dirt pullout at Mile 25.8 (0.2 miles west of Mile Marker 26). Both pullouts are on the north side of the road.

The Hike

From the eastern trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), carefully cross the highway and walk west to the guardrail. When safely off the road on the south side of the guardrail, look west-southwest and locate two berms of dirt against a low hillside. These berms block the old Pinto Valley Road (the Park Service has done a nice job of obscuring the old road). From here, you can also look to the south and see a low saddle, which is the first overlook into Pinto Valley.

The trail runs entirely in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone, where the common shrubs on the hillsides are Creosote Bush, White Bursage, and Nevada Jointfir. In the washes, common shrubs include Catclaw Acacia and Burrobrush.

Follow the dirt road up and over the low ridges and down into a wash, which is about 0.4 miles out (this wash crosses Northshore Road just west of the trailhead). Follow the wash southward until it starts to crest out among the low, white, gypsum mud hills (Wpt. 4), which is about 0.9 miles out and the place where you can first look down into Pinto Valley. Look for California Bearpoppies and Silverleaf Sunray growing on the mud hills, both of which are species of concern. Palmer's Phacelia, another rare plant that only grows on gypsum soils, is also common here. Although not restricted to gypsum soils, Schott's Pygmycedar, Fremont's Dalea, Desert Holly, and a species of desert-trumpet-like buckwheat with very frilly flower stalks are also found here.

The old road continues south from the low saddle and drops steeply down ravines through the gypsum mud hills. There is an amazing amount of cryptobiotic crust growing on the north-facing slopes of these mud hills. The crust stabilizes the mud and reduces erosion, producing little bits of cryptobiotic crust atop tiny pillars of mud.

Below the gypsum mud hills, the road emerges onto the floor of Pinto Valley. Breaking out onto the flats, you can see that red sandstone cliffs block the east end of the valley. The north side is formed by the upper surfaces of tilted carbonate layers of rock. The south side of the valley is formed by more carbonate mountains with some red sandstone outcrops. There are also red sandstone outcrops, red spires, and tilted layers of carbonate rock sticking up out of the valley floor. At this point, you can't see the west end of the valley. Between the road and the mountains to the north, there are interesting beds of siltstone and mudstones that record ripple marks and fossils from some ancient lakeshore.

Continuing south across the valley, the road bends to the west. After about 1.3 miles, the road forks (Wpt. 5), but then rejoins on the other side of a little hill. The road eventually drops into a wash with many little ridges of hard sedimentary rock that cut across the wash. If water were flowing, these would form pretty little riffles in the stream. Through here, the sides of the canyon are an interesting mix of colors: light yellows, deep reds, greens, tans, and browns, with veins of gypsum crystals running through them.

At about 2.4 miles out (Wpt. 8), you get the first good view down Pinto Valley to the west, and you can see, in general, the route out the other end of the valley. It looks like a long ways from here.

The route follows the wash downhill and southwest to the head of Boulder Wash (Wpt. 17), which is the low point on the Pinto Valley route and about 4.5 miles out. Through much of this section, the route runs down a wash that is broad (15-30 ft wide) and flat with a firm tread, and the walls are high enough to block much of the view. Where you get of view, you can see interesting layers of highly eroded mudstone laid up against the carbonate mountains to the north. Outside the wash, the dominant vegetation is Creosote Bush and White Bursage, but in and along the wash there are many other species including Fremont's Dalea, Catclaw Acacia with mistletoe, Rabbitbrush, Nevada Jointfir, Arrowweed, Honey Mesquite, and several species of composite shrub, plus Saltcedar in some places.

On the way to Boulder Wash, a detour runs out to Sandstone Spring (Wpt. 12), which is at the base of the red sandstone cliffs on the south side of the valley. A fairly easy route follows intermittent animal trails starting at a point (Wpt. 9) about 2.5 miles out, and heads mostly due south for 0.4 miles to the spring. The spring emerges from below ground level at the base of the cliffs. Watch for a thicket of Catclaw Acacia, Honey Mesquite, Four-wing Saltbush, Saltgrass, and an old watering trough. From the spring, follow washes west along the base of the cliffs for about 0.5 miles to rejoin the main wash without backtracking. This point is 1.2 miles above Boulder Wash. Although interesting and scenic, Sandstone Spring is not a reliable place for drinking water because Bighorn Sheep sometimes leave piles of scat in and around the water.

From the head of Boulder Wash (Wpt. 17), the route continues westward and up the wash into the western arm of Pinto Valley. In this end of the valley, the wash runs in the bottom of broad flat valley where the braided streambed is a firm substrate (small gravel and dirt) and easy to walk on. Here, the wash does not run in a canyon as it does on east end, providing better views but no shade. The vegetation here is similar to that in the eastern arm.

As you pass the first red sandstone mountain on the south side of the valley (5.6 miles out), look for the rock shelter where someone etched the letter J above an overhang (Wpt. 18). It looks like someone spent a bit of time here long ago. There are some old pieces of wood, including native vegetation, and a few rusty old cans.

From the rock shelter (Wpt. 18), the route continues west for about 1.1 miles to Signature Rock (Wpt. 20; 6.7 miles out), a pile of large sandstone boulders on the north edge of the wash with an overhang that provides a shady place to stop and rest (the valley is broad and flat here, so this is an unusual feature). The west face of the highest boulder is smooth and desert varnished, seemingly a perfect sign-board for petroglyphs. Surprisingly, it seems only to have been marked by historic humans (mostly between 1922 and 1973). There are, however, a couple of small petroglyphs atop the highest boulder where passersby would never see them. Interestingly, the sandstone that makes up Signature Rock seems to be beach sand rather than wind-blown sand-dune sand (atop the rock pile, look for layers of coarse sand and pebbles mixed with finer sands.

Eventually the wash narrows, runs around a sharp bend to the south, and suddenly a road cuts up and out of the wash on the north side of the canyon (Wpt. 24; 7.7 miles out). Following the road, the route avoids several little pour-overs as it bends to the north. Out of the wash, the vegetation includes a nice stand of Desert Holly, but overall the vegetation is stunted and sparse in contrast to the relatively lush vegetation back along the washes.

The road runs up the wash among eroded red mudhills that are capped with a layer of yellow mudhills. Eventually the old road runs up a canyon and bends to the east. It seems that you keep losing the road, but then it just appears in front of you, so it is not hard to follow. The road eventually passes above the red hills, gets onto white mud hills, and arrives at a saddle (Wpt. 29 8.7 miles out). This is the highest point on the route; from here, it is all downhill to the pavement.

The high point is in white mudhills with some reds and yellows and amazing colors all around. The small mountain to the north is red sandstone capped by dark conglomerate rock that looks like a basalt flow.

Following the old road, the route drops down and eastward into the bottom of a canyon in the white hills. In the bottom of the canyon (Wpt. 30; 8.9 miles out), the road cuts sharply back to the west and runs down a narrow wash. It would be easy to miss this point and start going up the canyon, but remember, from the high point, it is all downhill to the pavement. Continue following the road and washes downhill. The road seems to disappear at times, but then you find it again as you continue downhill. Down the canyon, watch for red mudstone and shale with ripple marks.

The route follows the wash down into red mud hills until it takes a sharp turn to the north where another wash comes in from the southwest (Wpt. 32; 9.5 miles out). From there, the route runs north and downhill. A minute or two below the turn, the route runs through a short, but narrow gap through a ridge where the rock is blue-gray conglomerate on one side and red sandstone on the other.

Continuing north and downhill, the route runs down another broad, flat, gently sloping wash to Cottonwood Spring (Wpt. 39; 10.5 miles out). The trail emerges through a gap to the top of a pour-over overlooking two Cottonwood Trees. Scramble down the easy 3rd-class pour-over (from above, it looks higher and harder than it is -- the trees aren't that tall, and only the lowest 4 to 5 ft are water-polished slippery). The spring is a good place to sit and rest in the shade of the trees, the only real trees on the route. Vegetation around the spring includes two Cottonwood Trees, Desert Willow, one small Fan Palm, Arrowweed, Four-wing Saltbush, and lots of Honey Mesquite; Saltcedar has been removed. If water is not present on the surface, check around the wash for holes in the gravel, as animals dig holes to get to the water.

From Cottonwood Spring, continue northward in the wash for about 1.2 miles (for details on this section, see the Cottonwood Spring Hike). When you come out of the canyon and can see the paved road, watch for a use-trail that cuts up the east bank of the wash. Follow the use-trail for about 5 minutes as it runs directly to the Mile 18.2 trailhead parking area (Wpt. 46; 11.7 miles out).