Las Vegas: McCullough Wash Trail
Close to the city but far from the gridlock, this 5-mile out-and-back takes you over an arid lunar landscape and pays off with expansive desert views.
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Trail Facts
- Distance: 4.0
Waypoints
DST001
Location: 35.9312400817871, -115.190803527832
Start E on jeep track into scrub with jackrabbits and road runners
DST002
Location: 35.9312591552734, -115.185501098633
Head into broad notch between a moonscape rock formation and steadily sloping hills
DST003
Location: 35.9279899597168, -115.176902770996
Pass second hill where large brown chuckwalla lizards skitter across the trail. In the cooler hours, scan the brush for the shy desert tortoise
DST004
Location: 35.9279289245606, -115.17259979248
First of several dry-creekbed crossings
DST005
Location: 35.9258804321289, -115.171577453613
L @ NV power station; head E into rising and falling olive-colored drainages dominated by the craggy cone of Black Mtn.
DST006
Location: 35.925609588623, -115.168296813965
Crest knoll and soak in clear, far-reaching northerly views of the Vegas Valley extending from the bright lights of the Strip all the way to Frenchman Mtn.
DST007
Location: 35.9250411987305, -115.158401489258
Scope the variegated folds of the McCullough Range in the E and the Spring Mtns. poking out to the W
DST008
Location: 35.9246292114258, -115.154403686523
R @ Y, bearing S along dry creekbed; silence prevails in this vast terrain
DST009
Location: 35.9220008850098, -115.155799865723
Reach a shady spot for rest or lunch before retracing route to car