Overview

Sloan North Access Road provides access to the north side of North McCullough Wilderness Area and to portions of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area (NCA). The road is located just south of the Las Vegas Urban area in the hills above the Anthem neighborhood in the City of Henderson. This road requires, at the least, a high-clearance vehicle.

Sloan North Access Road provides access to Sloan Canyon Road, Sloan Canyon Trailhead, the Sloan Canyon Petroglyph route, and other hikes on the north side of the North McCullough Wilderness Area.

Link to Trailhead Map.

Access

Sloan North Access Road is accessed from South Las Vegas Blvd on the west, and probably from neighborhood streets in the Anthem area, but with the current state of unfinished construction, this is unclear.

The Road

From town, drive south on Interstate-15 to the Sloan exit. Exit the highway, turn east (left), and cross under the interstate to a T-intersection, which is Las Vegas Blvd. Turn left onto Las Vegas Blvd. and drive northeast for 0.6 miles to a line of high-tension powerlines (Table 1, Site 1190). The poles are unusual in that each is a single pole made of rusted plate metal (rather than the usual 4-legged, steel girder structure). The poles are numbered; the one at the pavement is #X12116.

Turn right and drive east on a short bit of paved road that quickly becomes dirt and bends right to run along the powerlines. I refer to this road as Sloan North Access Road. The road runs more-or-less straight for 0.9 miles to a large power substation surrounded by a block wall. Stay to the right around the substation and follow the pavement around to the far (southeast) side (Site 1191).

Note that in the area between Las Vegas Blvd and the substation, there is a maze of roads, some of which can be used rather than the powerline road, however, the powerline road is obviously legal and the easiest road to follow.

The pavement ends beyond the substation (Site 1191), but Sloan Canyon North Access Road continues east along the powerline. Drive east for about 2.2 miles to pole #X12084. The road is fairly rocky from the start, but when it gets into the hills, it becomes quite rocky and the steep parts are torn up enough to almost require 4WD.

Between pole #X12084 and the next, a smaller dirt road turns off to the right (Site 1192). Watch for a carsonite "Sloan Canyon" sign at the intersection. This is Sloan Canyon Road, which provides access to Sloan Canyon Trailhead and the edge of the North McCullough Wilderness Area.

Continuing, the Sloan North Access Road runs east towards a retention basin and eventually a steep hill topped with a gate.