Overview

Unfortunately, the World's Tallest Yucca fell over during the summer of 2008, so it now holds the record of bring the World's Longest Yucca. Although the tallest is gone there are still a number of unusually large Mojave Yucca in the area.

This easy route starts along Wildhorse Road near the Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Center, runs north along the Hole-in-the-Wall to Mid Hill Trail, drops into a broad wash, and follows the wash upstream for a total of 1.06 miles to the tall Mojave Yuccas. You can't miss them, but if you do, the wash runs up against cliffs and several high pour-overs just past the yuccas.

Link to map or elevation profile.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ... this is a pretty safe hike, but watch for cactus and yuccas hiding along the route just waiting to surprise you. The route in the wash follows game trails, so be sure to watch for snakes in the bushes.

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 in the Mojave National Preserve, about 2 hours south of Las Vegas.

From town, drive down to Mojave National Preserve and the Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Center (Table 1, Site 502), which is about 85 miles south of Las Vegas. From the Visitor Center Road, drive south on Black Canyon Road for 0.25 miles to Wildhorse Road. Turn right onto the graded Wildhorse Road and drive west for almost 1.1 miles to the trailhead parking area, which is on the north side of the road. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), the trail runs north-northwest across desert flats heading for what appears to be a pass on the horizon. The vegetation on the flats is low-growing Mojave Desert Scrub with lots of Mojave Yucca, Buckhorn Cholla, and Silver Cholla. Among the cactus, look for spine-fortified Desert Woodrat (packrat) nests. Packrats usually nest in rocky areas, but when they don't have rocks, they pile up things and make due. Not many coyotes are willing to dig them out!

A fire burned the entire mountain across the wash to the west, so it will be interesting to watch the vegetation grow back.

The trail runs north for 0.30 miles to a trail junction (Wpt. 2) where this trail joins the Hole-in-the-Wall to Mid Hill Trail. From the trail junction, the trails run north on a bench overlooking a broad sandy wash to the west.

The trail is easy to walk on, but the route runs up the wash, so at any point where it is easy (for example, at Wpt. 3; 0.55 miles out), the route drops into the wash and heads upstream.

The route runs up the wash following game (cow) trails for another 0.51 miles to the world's tallest yucca. The yuccas are so tall that it is impossible to miss them.

I have no idea why these specimens grew so tall. I've seen plenty of Mojave Yucca growing to about 15 feet tall, but these are extraordinary. Even the short yuccas here are extremely tall - they just look short in comparison to the tallest one.

Please respect these ancient plants and don't mess with them.

Tallest yucca before it fell over (June 2006).

Tallest -- well, now the longest -- yucca lying on the ground. It is sad to see an old giant go.

Photo courtesy of the US National Park Service, Mojave National Preserve.