South Bowl of Fire - 1/11/25

Murphy Peak rising to southwest of South Bowl of Fire

Typical sandstone formations of the South Bowl

Second Swirly-Do Wash

Connecting with the trail across Wash

There are several versions of the hike through South Bowl of Fire in the Lake Mead NRA. This is only one of them. We began out of the very popular MM 18 Trailhead on Northshore Road. Another way to approach the bowl is simply to drive up Callville Road from MM 16 but there is a nice one mile trail starting from MM 18 that is very useful. We carpooled down to as few cars as possible and parked. A warm-up hike on the trail led us to the colorful bowl in the distance. We dropped into the wash and crossed to continue on a trail that parallels the wash. Soon, we were dropping into the first ascent wash that runs perpendicular to our approach. Turning left, we started climbing up the colorful wash.

Approaching the first ascent wash on trail across Wash

Trail down into first ascent Wash

Interesting dryfall climb in first ascent Wash

Option 1 climb at second Dryfall

There are two dryfalls in this wash. The first one has a little exposure but it is still navigable with only a little bravery. The second dryfall can be circumnavigated on either side. Your choice! After this climb, a hill appears on the right side. We turned and began the climb on a trail through the rocks. Heart Arch is on this hill. At the top of the hill, we turned to the left and followed a rock trail around to an overlook area. Be careful on the last overlook! The very tip of the overlook is about to break off but you can't see this until you begin the hike below it! After this point, we followed the trail down to the right and pointed ourselves to a small canyon that is punctuated with a monolith-type sandstone. Descending the canyon is fairly simple.

Option 2 climb at second Dryfall

Murphy Peak from ridge above first ascent Wash

View from ridge Overlook

           The Sideways Arch -

                  (located in first ascent wash)

            Heart Arch - 

                        (located on hill climbing out

                            of first ascent wash)

          Dog Face - 

                  (located near top of second

                      ascent wash as stand alone mound)

              The Duck eating a small Fish -

                    (located in same "alley" as Dog Face)

                 

                   Elephant Arch - 

                           (located one wash northeast of Dog Face)

         First Swirly-Do - 

            (located in last wash

                          east of Elephant Arch)

                Second Swirly-Do - 

               Larger than the First

                             (located in shallow wash at base

                                 of east mountains)

Descending a small canyon to main Wash

View from main wash up to Anniversary Narrows Peak

Crossing over to first Swirly-do Wash

Up and around after second Swirly-do

At the bottom of the canyon, we began our search for Dog Face, found The Duck, and Elephant Arch. After a break there, we crossed on over to see two interesting formations in the following washes. I call them Swirly-Dos! Descending the last wash out from the Swirly-do, we came to the traditional "entrance" to the South Bowl of Fire for our exit. We hiked back across the trail to the cars and ended a delightful day.

Stats: 5 miles; 750' gain; ~3 hours

Exiting the South Bowl of Fire

Following wash to Trail

Nearing the cars on Trail