Overview

This trail leads into one of the deep, narrow canyons in the Red Rocks cliffs, climbing about 500 ft in 1.1 miles to a series of waterfalls. The hike is delightful, but the trail and canyon bottom are rocky, so it is slow going and moderately strenuous. The canyon rarely gets full sun, resulting in perennially cool conditions, hence the name. High cliffs and water polished rock block further progress up the canyon. This hike runs up through Pinyon-Juniper Woodland vegetation and into the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness Area. where a few ponderosa pine can be found.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this moderately strenuous hike requires climbing over and around boulders in the wash after the trail ends. Be careful if you get high enough to fall and hurt yourself, and always watch for wet or icy rocks. Be careful if you climb on the water-polished slickrock at the base of the waterfall.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and please 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.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located along the Scenic Loop Road in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 1 hour west of Las Vegas. Drive out to Red Rocks, pay the fee, and then drive about 2/3rds of the way around the the Scenic Loop to the Icebox Canyon Trailhead. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 1), the trail runs west and crosses Red Rock Wash before climbing towards the mouth of the canyon. Early on, the trail is well defined as it leads up onto a bench on the north side of the canyon. About 0.2 miles out, the trail intersects the SMYC and Dale's trails (Wpt. 2). The SMYC Trail runs north to the Willow Spring Area, while Dale's Trail runs south to Pine Creek Canyon.

At about 0.8 miles out, the canyon narrows, the bench pinches out (Wpt. 3), and the trail drops into the bottom of the canyon and disappears in the wash. From this point, the route continues up the wash, climbing over and around boulders all the way to the end. If the way up the canyon seems blocked, look for paths through the shrub live oaks to get around obstacles and pools of water.

Just past the ponderosa pine tree, you can look up the canyon and see that it forks. Continue up the wash for another 5 minutes to reach the fork (Wpt. 4). From here, you can see towering overhanging walls and a seasonal waterfall that block the southern fork.

There are a series of three water-sculpted pools at the base of this waterfall. To get to the base of the falls, backtrack a few feet, climb the south wall behind a tree and through a cleft in the rocks, then climb onto and traverse a ledge that leads into the base of the falls. The first pool is in the bottom of the wash and is easy to get to, but be prepared for some serious slickrock scrambling to get to the second and third pools (Wpt. 5).

In the northern fork of the canyon, a waterfall blocks easy progress after just two or three minutes of scrambling. That route looks passable with some climbing, but I would want a rope for the down climb, so we skipped it this time.

Have a cool lunch at the base of the falls, and then retrace your steps to the trailhead.