Northshore Peak / Red Wash Loop - 12/19/19

View of Bowls of Fire and Muddy Peak from Northshore Peak Ascent

Interesting Canyon (aka Gray Wash)

Red Wash from Saddle

Target (Lowest Saddle) from Trailhead (Landmark Outcrop on Left)

 This route in the Lake Mead NRA was developed and debuted at the end of March of 2019. The small group of hikers attending at that time all agreed that the hike, although very interesting, would be better hiked in cooler weather. Therefore, eight strong hikers gathered at the mile marker 20.5 on Northshore Road and exited their cars at around 38 degrees! Perfect! Very calm wind with a high reaching to around 55 degrees. We were very comfortable. When ready, we crossed the road and found a vague trail that led directly toward a rock outcrop and a low saddle that began the ascent ridge to Northshore Peak (3296').

Starting Ridge Climb from Target Saddle

 Just for a little bit of fun, we chose to scramble directly up the ridge here where there is a lot of sticky limestone. Another route is to circle around this on the left side.

Northshore Peak Ridge from Ascent Scramble

 After gaining the scramble ridge, we continued forward until we passed the deep gulley to our right. Next, ... well ..., to each their own! Suggestion is to find and use as much of the limestone slab as possible as you either climb on the diagonal or gain the ridge and hike along a vague trail above.

Eastern View from Ascent

Rounding a False Peak

 There is also a vague trail on the diagonal which was my chosen route. Today's strong hikers spread out and found the most logical route to the peak. There are a few places where the route gets interesting when dealing with dips in the ridge but these are mostly marked with small cairns. The last dip is the most interesting. We dropped down a little bit along the dip then climbed up inside the crack to reach the crossover at the top. Here, there is a scramble up to the final climb to the peak. (See photo below as Mike demonstrates the scramble.) One by one, we arrived at the magnificent peak and wrote in the log book. We took the first of the hike's two breaks and enjoyed the colorful views all around.

Final Scramble to Peak

 Northshore Peak appears as a pointy peak from the approach on Northshore Road and this "point" is where we sat as we looked below at the tiny paved road.

View from Dip at Final Scramble

 The views we enjoyed on one side of the peak are seen two photos below.  The views on the other side of the small narrow peak were of Lake Mead and the washes included in the remaining part of the hike.

Last Hiker approaching Last Dip

Eight Hikers on Northshore Peak

The snow-capped mountains seen in the distance are the Spring Mountains. Amazing beauty! After our break, we turned to tackle the descent. The mountain is full of cliffs so we had to retrace our steps until we reached one of two washes that led all the way down to the base wash. I prefer the wash that leads down to a dry fall. Here, an easy crossover to the next wash to the left leads to the completion of the descent. Once in the base wash, the difficult part of the hike is done! Now, the loop begins to the right and into the interesting canyon which is accessed to the left at a fork between a crack as seen two photos below at the bottom right.

Southern and Western Views from Northshore Peak

 Interesting Canyon (aka Gray Wash) is just that ... interesting. We all agreed that a geology class could spend all day within its walls! Clearly, the canyon was made by movement of the earth more so than by water flow. Both are apparent.

A Few Photos from Descent to Interesting Canyon

 We followed down the wash among slabs and small loose boulders. There are water slides as well as dry falls. It is likely that a lot of water flows through this canyon and drains out into Razorback (North) Wash below.

Starting down Interesting Canyon

Washed Out Dry Pool

 After enjoying the water slides, we dropped into a flatter area of more of the interesting terrain and junctioned with the Razorback wash to turn left. This wash rises on a very gentle slope to a wash saddle then drops gently on the other side. The wash was used as a mining road back in the day and there are still places where we could see two tracks. Still, it must have been a very difficult road to navigate. By following the true wash, we hiked about 1.5 miles. There is one point where we needed to jog to the left where there is a fork. This was right before the wash saddle where we took our second break. Also, in this area, there is another route that leads up to a higher saddle that could be used for a shorter loop hike. (Chuck's Saddle)

Geology Galore

 Northshore Peak can be seen occasionally through the terrain to our left as we hiked among the hardened sand dunes covered with cryptobiotic soil.

Nearing End of Interesting Canyon

 After the wash saddle, we saw several very large boulders that had rolled down from the unique Razorback Ridge rimrock. Although we could see the large "holes" from where the rocks tumbled, it was likely a very very very long time ago that this happened.

Washed Out Cave at Junction with Razorback (North) Wash

Starting Northeast along Razorback (North) Wash

As the crow flies, the Red Wash Saddle (Kay's Saddle) is only a quarter mile from where we hiked at the closest. However, the required route of the washes provides a half mile more of hiking as we finally came to the landmark mining claim junction and turned left. This wash took a sharp turn to the left soon and we climbed up through the omnipresent catclaws until we found the particular wash to the right that leads up to the lowest saddle around. Up we went and were rewarded with the view of Red Wash as seen in the third photo of this entry. Starting down, we noticed right away that the red dirt was very close to being red mud!

Northshore Peak from Razorback (North) Wash

 We stayed in the wash as much as possible but still came to a place at the small dry falls where the red mud was really squishy. We all became much taller with added mud on our shoe soles!

Wash (formerly a Mining Road) on North side of Razorback Ridge

 Ugh! Some hikers tried using the sides of the wash bottom and it was worse! The sandier wash bottom offered the best relief.

One of Several Fallen Boulders from Razorback Ridge

Landmark Mining Claim at Junction to Kay's Saddle

 We eventually hiked out of the mud but the evidence covered our boots. Finally, we came to the wash junction to the left in flatter terrain. This is the last wash and the final leg of the loop. This wash had a couple of catclaws to deal with but was mostly clear as the walls grew higher and higher. It is darkest before the dawn ... therefore, just before we reached the dry fall wall, the wash walls were about thirty feet high. This dry fall wall flows down from the Northshore Peak base wash and ... maybe ... could be climbed ... I don't know! See fourth photo below. At any rate, just around the corner from the wall, is an escape wash. We turned to the right and climbed out of the walls.

Kay's Saddle to Red Wash

 We were out of the walls and out of the mud. Our shoes had already mostly cleaned themselves off from the squishy part of the hike.

Following the Wash Bottom

 In front of us rose the landmark rock outcropping that we used in the beginning of the hike ... from the other side.

View up to Ridge between Sides of Today's Route

Last Wash before arriving at Initial Rock Outcrop

 We followed a vague use trail (someone has been reading my blog!) to hike back to the outcrop. Then found the vague trail used for Northshore Peak from the trailhead to return across the gulley ridden terrain to the cars. This is a fun hike with views, geology, and history in an area of the Lake Mead NRA where color never stops! Fantastic group of hikers! Next time, (we liked the cooler weather but) avoid the hike right after rains! So much to see, so little time.

6.2 miles; 1450 feet elevation gain; 4.25 hours; average moving speed 1.4 mph

Last Wash Escape Route

Landmark Rock Outcrop from Escape - Trailhead at 1:00 Ahead

Finding the Vague Trail back to Trailhead