Overview

This easy, 1.5-mile loop trail starts at the Visitor Center, wanders east and south down a sandy wash, heads west around the south side of the Hole-in-the-Wall hills, climbs up through the Hole-in-the-Wall cleft on the Rings Trail, and then follows the road for 0.2 miles back to the Visitor Center.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is a pretty safe hike except that you could fall on the steeper sections of the Rings Trail. There are ringbolts for handholds, but you could fall as much as 10 feet if you aren't careful. Watch the kids at the overlook. The ringbolt route requires some balance and agility.

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 is a short hike, be sure to bring what you need of the 10 Essentials.

Trail Guide

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located Mojave National Preserve, about 2 hours south of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Mojave National Preserve Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Center (Table 1, Site 502), which is about 85 miles from town. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), hike east and down the wash below the Visitor Center. This part of the route runs parallel to the Visitor Center access road. Shortly, the route arrives at a barbed-wire fence (Wpt. 2); crawl under the fence and continue walking down the wash. In this cool, north-facing area, the vegetation is relatively lush. Later, compare this with the hot, south side of the hills.

Staying up against the base of the hills, the wash curves around the corner and turns south. There are some nice barrel cactus along this east-facing hillside.

The route leaves the wash along the southeast corner of the hills (Wpt. 3), rounds a corner with some interesting boulders, and then heads west and out across the flats. This part of the route runs parallel to Wild Horse Road. Notice the sparse vegetation here; some of this is due to over grazing by cattle, but some is due to the hot and dry conditions on this south-facing slope.

Still staying against the base of the hills, the route gets to an old road and a camping area. Crossing this, there is another barbed-wire fence (Wpt. 4) that is easily passed by a rock at the base of the hills.

Following the wash along the base of the hills, the route curves back to the north and approaches Hole-in-the-Wall Canyon. There are some old roads and camping areas in here too, but you can pass them by staying along the base of the cliffs.