Foxtail Spring & Pioneer Rock Loop - 6/20/25

Columbine flowers in front of Foxtail Spring Cliff

Pinnacle Point on Pioneer Rock Loop

Pioneer Rock (L) and Foxtail Ridge (R) from Pioneer Rock Loop

Hiking the forest road on lower Foxtail Ridge

By now, most hikers in Las Vegas know about and have come to love the Foxtail Spring and Pioneer Rock Loop hike. And, the stronger echelon of hikers also know of the Foxtail Ridge, Foxtail Spring and Pioneer Rock Loop hike ... or the "Foxtail Grand Loop" which includes an impromtu trail that leads hikers down from the ridge to the spring area. Most of us are amazed that this hike was there all along while the Girl Scouts were enjoying it year after year. (Yes. We understand.) Anyway, while the camp is closed for the time being, we are enjoying this area immensely. For the time being, that is. Observing small clues on this recent hike, it appears that the camp is being refurbished in small increments. Perhaps the forest service is readying it for a new lessee. Just innocently speculating. I know nothing. However, the camp is a wonderful construction and it would be a waste to let it go to rot. We parked at the Pay Phone TH (aka the Lee Canyon traffic circle TH). Not wanting to upset the people that manage the Foxtail Picnic Area, we skirted the gate to climb up the hill to the bottom of Foxtail Ridge. 

Entering the Girl Scouts' Camp Foxtail

A few scenes from Camp Foxtail

Camp Foxtail Cabins

Button Flowers

At the top, we continued straight along the ridge on an old forest road that leads to a huge water tank that services the upper part of Lee Canyon. Right next to the tank, is an amphitheatre built with logs that the Girl Scouts probably used daily. Following a trail of log steps, we dropped down into the main camp area. Assumably, the first large building was the cafeteria. (I don't know.) There is a Peace Pole out front with "Peace" inscribed in several different languages. Sue recognized the Korean word for Peace. The buildings were boarded up where others have gone in and rummaged through. (You know who you are!) To the left of the building, the main road continues up through the camp and to Foxtail Spring. Since the road has been cleared of deadfall and the sides have been cleared of brush and small aspens, we hiked up admiring the surrounding cliffs that we could not see before the storms. We could even see Pioneer Rock! Before the storms, the monstrosity called Pioneer Rock was hidden by aspen growth. There were also beautiful cliffs that we could now see on the Foxtail Ridge side. I also heard through the grapevine that the forest service frown hugely on hikers that try hiking through the low shaved brush. This is cut for the Charleston Blue Butterfly habitats. By now, you know how important that is!

Camp Foxtail Road has been cleared of Downfall

Susan watches as the sun rises above Mummy Mountain and the Charleston north Loop

Finally, we can see Pioneer Rock!

Negotiating a deep Trench

We followed the road up past the remaining aspens, negotiated the large new ditch and pump house, and started the long climb up to the big wash junction. Steeper than I remember! At the junction, we continued up the first really steep hill of the rocky road. Again, really steep! At the top of this hill, we turned to the right and found the somewhat easier dirt road to climb. (Also, steeper than I remember.) Finally, we were at the upper junction where the dirt road crosses the rocky road. We rested a minute before we continued across and up the embankment toward the cliffs with dripping water. The water was still puddling in places from the spring thaw. No matter the time of year, this is always a great place for contemplating ... how steep the climb is to get there! I located 2 or 3 more wooden amulets that had fallen from the cliff walls and searched for rock to hang them on. These were leftover from the Girl Scouts and it is only proper to try to maintain them. We also tried to climb up past the spring but we found it more difficult than we desired. So, we started back down the way we came until we reached the crossover back to the steep rocky hill at the bottom.

Still steep above the pump House

Even more steep up to the side road Junction

Steeper than remembered on the side Road

View from Foxtail Spring

Once before, our group had continued down the wash from the crossover point hoping to skip that really steep rocky road hill at the bottom. This was a good time to try it again. Others have also chosen this route and there was a small path that helped us around a couple of obstacles. It was much more pleasant than possibly falling on our butts on the SRH (steep rocky hill). Back on the forested part of the road, we carefully stepped our way back down past the pump house and through the aspens. The Pioneer Camp junction no longer has a sign indicating as such and we couldn't find it lying about on the ground. The storm water had cut through the gulley here and the sign may have been washed all the way down to Foxtail Picnic Area! We stood the sign post up on the tree and turned up the road to the right. Climbing again, we passed the trail that runs by the base of Pioneer Rock, Pioneer Campsite and on up the trail to the Pioneer Rock Saddle. During the climb, we had to circumvent a huge recently fallen tree across the trail. After gathering at the saddle area, we continued around the natural bowl below.

Visiting Foxtail Spring

Using the wash below the side road to skip the steep rocky Hill

Pioneer Camp

Rita climbs up to the Pioneer Rock Saddle

From the bowl, we had views of Lee Canyon ski slopes and the whole Foxtail Ridge / Pioneer Rock area. We found that none of the trees that had fallen across the trail in the past few years had been removed. However, all the deadfall was still easily negotiable ... if you are agile. When we reached Pinnacle Point, we posed for our group photo with the pinnacle and North and South Sister in the background. From there, we continued down the ridge through the blooming white phlox to complete the loop. There were no other obstacles to manage until the bottom where we stepped to the right a little to cross the washed out ditch. Next, we crossed over to the forest road where it climbs up to the lower portion of Foxtail Ridge. We were hoping to see wild horses in this area like we did in the past but there were none today. The Lady Hikers hiked down the gentle incline noticing that the forest service has done a nice job of removing brush that could increase wildfire possibility. We also noticed that the small teenage camps that were abundant in the past are now gone. I don't know what kind of statement this is but it was interesting. We thank the forest service for the clean-up. This is a beautiful area.

Same "duck under" Tree

Same "climb over" Tree

Beautiful view of Lee Peak, Foxtail Ridge and Lee Canyon Ski Slopes

Lady Hikers at Pinnacle Point

The weather today was optimal! Cool enough to wear gloves for half the hike but little wind. I just wish someone would maintain the Pioneer Rock Loop trail. It is one of the best small trails in the Spring Mountains and it would be a shame to lose it to natural deadfall. It would only take some sawing! A refreshing morning!

Stats: 5.1 miles; 1500' gain; 4.25 hours

White phlox in the Pioneer Rock Loop Area

Red desert paintbrush offsets the white Rock

Camp Foxtail Sign