Overview

The Mary Jane Falls Trail is fairly strenuous, climbing about 1,000 feet in only 2 miles from the trailhead to the base of the falls. The canyon is deep, heavily forested, and surrounded by beautiful gray limestone cliffs. The falls are seasonal; the best flows occur during spring when the snow is melting. A cave beyond the falls adds interest to the hike.

As of June 2011, the trail is reported to be heavily damaged by irresponsible hikers cutting the switchbacks, making the actual trail difficult to follow and somewhat dangerous in places. Please, stay on the trail to protect it and the environment.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this trail is surprisingly strenuous, so take it easy at this elevation if you've just come up from the lowlands. There are places along the trail where a slip would result in injury, so be careful and watch your kids carefully. Watch for ice if you hike up here in the winter or early spring.

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

Trail Guide
Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in Kyle Canyon up in the Spring Mountains, about 1 hour northwest of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to the Spring Mountains. From the Spring Mountains Visitor Center (Table 1, Site 726), continue west on Kyle Canyon Road for 2.1 miles to Echo Road (Site 733). Turn right onto Echo Road, which is the first paved road to the right past the Old Town Fire Station. If you miss the turn, you'll go around a big hairpin turn to the left.

On Echo Road, drive northwest for 0.35 miles to Mary Jane Falls Road, a dirt road to the left (Site 734). Turn left onto Mary Jane Falls Road, pass Echo Well Pump Station #3, and drive west for about 0.25 miles to the parking area at the end of the road (Site 541). Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), the clearly marked trail runs west and up the canyon on an old road for most of a mile (0.74 air-miles). Along here, the trail passes through a forest of ponderosa pines, white fir, rocky mountain maple, quaking aspens, and mountain mahogany. The understory is open with a few wax currents, composite shrubs, grasses, thistles, and a few other forbs.

In the bottom of the canyon near the base of the switchbacks, the trail is following an old road, but it eventually jogs to the right, off the road, and into the trees. The old road is blocked with large rocks and a sign, but many people accidentally continue up the old road and miss the turn in the trail.

Within 10 yards or so of leaving the old road, the trail cuts sharply back to the right (Wpt. 2), runs northeast, and starts up a long series of switchbacks heading for the base of the gray limestone headwall that can be seen far above. I'm not sure exactly how far it is to the falls from here, but it is 0.54 air-miles, so it must be about a mile when you figure in the dozen or so switchbacks.

From the base of the limestone headwall, the trail runs northwest to the falls (Wpt. 3), which are located in the back of the canyon. The vegetation at the falls is mostly white fir and ponderosa pine with a few bristlecone pines mixed in, plus some wax current and a few grasses.

Far overhead, springs produce water that cascades over the cliffs and down the falls. There are two caves at the base of the falls with water dripping across the entrance. There is another interesting cave about 150 yards farther out the trail past the falls. This cave has some flowstone, broken cave curtains, and tiny stalactites.

Please stay on the trail and don't cut the switchbacks. This damages the trail and the vegetation, and makes things worse for everyone else.

To get back to the trailhead, retrace your steps.