Route: Mt Wilson, Red Rock Canyon NCA (NV)

Submitted by ashly.winchester on Sun, 03/22/2020 - 05:23pm
Location
Nevada, US
Distance
9.2 mi
Vertical Gain
3,770 ft
Description

Mount Wilson is the tallest peak in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area at 7,070 feet in elevation.

From summitpost.org:
"Its massive eastern face draws the eyes and camera lenses of countless visitors to RRCNCA's Scenic Drive and SR 159. Despite its distinction, the summit does not receive as many visitors as one might expect, probably owing to the fact that the scrambling routes are long (by Red Rock standards) and/or difficult. What is considered the standard route is only Class 3 and mostly Class 2, but it is rumored to be quite brushy unless one follows it exactly. The summit block itself is an easy scramble but offers a dizzying and unforgettable vantage point, for the eastern side presents a sheer drop of nearly 3000 vertical feet to the desert floor below. At the edge of the summit block, you are literally one step from being chop meat!"

This description is for the standard route (First Creek Canyon). There may be many other variations available to the summit. If you take a different variation, please specify when submitting your FKT.

This is a super fun, boulder-hopping, scrambly adventure. It starts off as easy single track for about 1.5 miles that you follow into the canyon. The trail then becomes more technical, climbs and dives, splits and comes together.

You'll end up dropping into the creek bed around mile 2.2 and continue to follow that. This is where it starts to get really fun. There is little to no evidence of actual trail once you get in the creek bed, but there are cairns here and there. You'll have to make some potentially heady bouldery moves as you move up canyon.

After a while the creek bed starts to disappear and around mile 3.7 you'll exit the wash and find yourself on a little bit of trail and following cairns to the summit.

The summit block is easy scrambling and the views are phenomenal.

Then turn around and come back the way you came.

Note: Added the Oak Creek route as well.  7.5 miles / 3260' elevation gain