Overview

This hike is a nice little loop on the northwest side of Blue Diamond Hill. The trail and route runs up a canyon and back down a ridge. The walls of the canyon and other rocks are full of interesting fossils such as gastropods and corals. This hike is in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone with a plethora of cactus along the return trail.

Link to map

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is a fairly safe hike, but be careful if you climb around on the boulders or cliffs looking at fossils. There is one, little, but interesting scramble-up at a pour-over.

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 Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 30 minutes west of Las Vegas, but not on the Scenic Loop Road. The trailhead is located on Charleston Blvd (Highway 159) between the entrance to and exit from the Scenic Loop Road. This is not in the fee area.

From town, drive out to Red Rocks. From West Charleston at the Scenic Loop Road (Table 1, Site 519), continue west on Charleston Blvd. for 1.0 miles to the "Horseback Rides" parking lot on the left (southeast) side of the road (Site 853). This is the parking lot for the cowboy trail rides. Park here; this is the trailhead.

From the other direction, the Horseback Rides parking lot is 1.2 miles past (north of) the Scenic Loop Road exit (Site 532).

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), the route runs southeast on the dirt road or on the trail towards the large deep canyon on the flanks of Blue Diamond Hill. The first set of cowboy corrals are located about 200 yards down the road, and the second set is located at the end of the dirt road, just inside the canyon (Wpt. 2). At the end of the road, pass the corrals to the east (left), but don't disturb the cowboys or their horses, at least not too much. Just past the end of the road and corrals, a wide trail drops into the wash and crosses to the other side.

The route runs up the trail for a few hundred yards to where the canyon splits (Wpt. 3). The wide trail curves left and goes east and up the main canyon. There are some interesting limestone caves and fossils up the main canyon that are worth investigating. A smaller tail forks off to the right and runs south and up the other canyon.

In the narrower canyon, the route follows a faint use-trail to the south. There is no sign, but the trail junction is fairly obvious. The use-trail cuts across the wash to the wash, then runs along the hillside on the west side of the canyon. The use-trail drops into the wash from time to time, crosses to the east side, scrambles up little cliffs and pour-overs, and otherwise heads up the canyon. Watch for fossils in the limestone rocks along the wash.

Near the top of the canyon (e.g., Wpt. 4), pick a safe place, and climb the low ridge to the west to get out of the canyon (e.g., Wpt. 5). The Fossil Ridge Trail (the one the cowboys use for trail rides) runs right on the lip of the canyon. The farther up the canyon you go, the easier is the scramble-up, and you could even continue up the canyon until the Fossil Ridge Trail crosses the wash.

Atop the ridge, hike back down the Fossil Ridge Trail, still watching for fossils, until you are just above the corrals. At this point, either follow the horse trail down to the corrals and walk back on the road, or continue straight down the ridge towards the parking lot on a lesser-used trail.

There was a fire along the Fossil Ridge Trail in 2005 that burned several hundred acres. The firefighters used the Fossil Ridge Trail as a fireline along the ridge and on the far side, so for a few hundred yards, the west side of the trail is burned and the east side (near the edge of the cliffs) is unburned. It is interesting to see the plants that survived, and it will be interesting to watch the vegetation recover over the years.

Fossil Ridge is an amazing place for cactus, and almost all of the common species found in southern Nevada can be see along the trail. There are lots of California Barrel Cactus and Buckhorn Cholla, and there are nice examples of Silver Cholla, Cottontop Cactus, Beavertail Pricklypear, and Pincushion lower on the trail. Higher on the trail, there are nice examples of Old Man Pricklypear.