Black Rock Sister Loop - 7/11/26

The Sisters Arch and Black Rock Sister

Rock outcrop as seen from top of Elks Club Wash

Mine Trail/Road

Discussion at the Cattle Grate Trailhead

Six club hikers went out for a review of the Black Rock Sister Loop. Surprisingly enough, we either missed the Galium Spring turnoff or it was gone. (I'll review that at a later time.) Therefore, we ended up going up the steep hill after that to the ridge. Not optimal. We got to the ridge and continued to the steeper ridge climb after the saddle. It was a strong group of hikers that I had difficulty keeping up with. Kudos AtBF! At any rate, we slowly made it up the trail on the ascent ridge and arrived at the Sisters Arch overlook. This overlook provides a view of the arch and Black Rock Sister in the distance as seen in the first photo. Finally reaching the Traverse Trail turnoff to the right, my struggle began to let up. Everyone else was not having any problems! (That's the way it goes sometimes.) We sat for our break at White Sister gazing at the huge monstrosity of Black Rock. The temps were higher than usual up in the elevations and we sought shade. Not much wind either. Still, the view was tremendous all around. 

Common Mullein in Lee Canyon Wash

North Sister (L) and Ascent Ridge (R)

Smoke passing through on the ridge Climb

Rock pinnacle as seen from traverse Trail

After our break at White Sister, we crossed in front of Black Rock, hiked out the trailing ridge and turned left. Heading in a 1:30 direction, we soon came to the trail that took us down the steep hill. This is a great trail. Yes, it's steep but it is not slippery if you use the proper method of side-stepping. The trail led directly to the Break Saddle on the right side of the hill. This saddle lies between the Black Rock Sister hill, Elk Ridge, Deadwood Wash, Sisters Spur Ridge and Elks Club Wash. We didn't stop for long before we dove straight down the Elks Club Wash lying directly in front of us on the left side of Elk Ridge. There are a few cairns to aid in the descent, however, the rule is to just go down the wash!

Black Rock Sister

North Sister, McFarland, Everest, and Macks Peaks from White Sister

Break Saddle (Elk Ridge and Mummy Mountain in view)

Starting down Elks Club Wash

There are a couple of wiggle trails in and out of the wash but, only one, is important. Look for the cairn in the middle of the trail climbing out on the left side. This takes you right up to the Mine Road/Trail. Follow this trail all the way down until it leaves the wash to the right. Here, continue hiking parallel to the wash all the way down to arrive at the trailhead. You also have the option to get back into the wash to finish out. I will need some recovery time after this! Everyone else is fine!!!

Stats: 4.5 miles; 1700' gain; 4 hours.

Tree over Elks Club Wash

Climbing out of Elks Club Wash to the Mine Road/Trail

Hiking parallel to the wash back to the Trailhead

Foxtail Grand Loop (Ridge, Spring, Pioneer Rock) - 7/4/26

A view from on top of Foxtail Ridge

Columbines blooming at Foxtail Spring

South Sister from Pinnacle Point

Trail up to forest road on Foxtail Ridge

The Foxtail Grand Loop is a strenuous loop hike with steep inclines both up and down. It includes a mess of fallen trees to breach unless you are a very strong scrambler. And, the climbing, especially during the the first half, is relentless. (Know before you go.) However, if you are a fairly strong hiker, this hike is a beautiful adventure from beginning to end. It begins at the Lee Canyon traffic circle trailhead (aka Pay Phone TH). Facing the Foxtail Picnic Area, hike in a 2:00 direction toward the small ridge that provides a "warm-up" trail up to a forest road. After "warming up," the forest road is a nice levelish road leading up to the Lee Canyon water tank and the old Girl Scout Camp which is now abandoned. The land is owned by the USFS.

Strong group of Hikers

Pioneer Rock from atop Foxtail Ridge

Hiking up Foxtail Ridge

Hiking on the Edge

Eleven AtBF hikers, went along the old road looking for wild horses that frequent this area. We passed the large water tank and kept straight to climb to the top of Foxtail Ridge. (There are about 3 trails to choose from!) Reaching the ridge, there is a definite trail along the cliffs. The trail continues with views of the canyon below on the left. Pioneer Rock can be seen right away. After getting blown away with the gorgeous views, we climbed along the sharp limestone ridge following the given trail and dealing with several obstacles. At one particularly beautiful place, we stopped for our group photo. Soon after that, we came to an obstacle that few choose to deal with. It is a scramble up a broken rock face to reach the continuation of the ridge hike. We chose not to do the scramble and continued straight to deal with a big mess of fallen trees and uncut bushes. Our trajectory continued straightish and came out at the end of the rock peak on our left.

The Sisters Ridge from Foxtail Ridge

Foxtail Ridge

Group photo on Foxtail Ridge

Climbing

Here, we had a choice of climbing up to the ridge or following the "horse" trail which led to our first break point. This spot (aka the gold nail cairn) provides the first place that hikers can negotiate the steep hill down to the left. A few years ago, some friends of ours, toiling several days, created a trail down to the west wash. Last year, two more friends created a spot to cross the messy wash and, voila! Continuing, we climbed up to start the parallel forest road to the rocky steep road that was built to pipe in the spring water for the old camp below. Yes, more steep climbing. At the top of this road, we crossed the rocky pipe road and continued up to Foxtail Spring. There were columbine and shooting star flowers blooming everywhere around and below the spring in the moist dirt. A colorful display just in time for July 4th! We took our snack break here.

Climbing on the Edge

Starting down the BCL Trail

Stepping over trees on the BCL Trail

The wash to the west of Foxtail Spring Wash

If you have never visited this spring, you must! (IF you have the heart and lungs for the trip!) The spring water was flowing the strongest that I have ever seen it, ... most likely because of recent snow melt. And, the flowers... !!! Turning around from the spring cliff, the canyon wash dropped precipitously through the greenery. A large pipe contraption rises in front of the spring area creating the only ugliness around. C'est la vie. It kind of ruins large photos of the area. In the past, some of our hikers have climbed up above the cliff here. There are a couple more cliff bands but this is the most beautiful. We took our break and started back down the path, crossed the rocky pipe road and returned to the area we started the parallel forest road.

Wash Crossing

Starting up the parallel forest Road

Foxtail Spring pours out from the Cliff

Snack break at the spring Cliff

Here, we continued down the secondary wash through another mess and reached the pipe road. (We do this to skip the last steep hill descent of the rocky pipe road.) Now, the pipe road is more gentle as we hiked down past the pump station, through the aspens, and reached the turnoff to the right that began the Pioneer Rock Loop trail. This part of the grand loop is well worn by many hikers in the Las Vegas area. It is a nice trail with the exception of several fallen trees that need removing. (Don't hold your breath!) We climbed up past the back side of Pioneer Rock and enjoyed the levelish loop with views of the Lee Canyon Ski Slopes, Upper Bristlecone Trailhead, and Lee Peak. The turning point of the loop is Pinnacle Point.

Columbines and Shooting Stars cover the ground in front of the Cliff

Starting the descent with McFarland Peak in the Background

Using the parallel forest road for easier ascent and Descent

Pioneer Rock as seen from the descent past
the pump House

There are 3 of 4 stone pinnacles that can be seen at this corner of the hike. You also have a great view of the Sisters Ridge with all four "sisters." This is a good place for the main break if you are only doing the 3.5-4 mile loop hike. We stopped briefly and started the descent back to the girls' camp. At the bottom of the hill, we hiked over and up to the forest road ridge passing in front of the main "mess hall." The relatively easy hike down the old road is a nice cool down. We had our eyes open again for wild horses. Three weeks ago, we were lucky enough to see a very large wild stallion standing near the road. The road was decorated with manure so we knew they were still using this area. Sure enough, as we rounded a small curve, we saw a brown and white horse standing at the side of the road in the distance.

Nearing the right turn to Pioneer Camp

Debbie gracefully deals with the fallen Tree

Pioneer Rock loop Trail

Lee Canyon Ski Slopes as seen from
Pioneer Rock Trail

The surrounding forest area is flat so we took a wide circle to the left around the horse. As we did, we noticed that there was another even larger horse standing next to the first one. It became clear that the first horse was heavy with a foal. The larger male seemed to be protecting her. We gave them plenty of room. They were a beautiful pair. Our hike finished as we descended the "warm-up" trail and returned to our cars. This was a fantastic day and a fantastic work out.

Stats: 5.8 miles; 1650' gain; 4.75 hours

Rocky descent from Pinnacle Point 

Trailed descent to Foxtail Camp

Horse couple on the forest Road