Camel Trax Loop - 1/4/25

View from Northshore Summit

East of North Bowl of Fire

North Bowl of Fire Cliffs

Climbing to Northshore Summit

Some of Lake Mead NRA's most beautiful and colorful views can be seen from Northshore Summit, at Northshore Road MM 20.5. Here, there is a short trail rising up from the trailhead to the crest of a ridge. From the top of the hill, you can see the North Bowl of Fire, South Bowl of Fire, Northshore Peak, Anniversary Narrows Peak, Bitterspring Cliffs, Colorful Canyon and Bitterspring Valley beyond. Bring your camera and the best color is near sunrise and sunset! Twelve hikers arrived here in the morning then turned to walk along the crest of the ridge. The trail took us down to the lower end of the ridge then turned to descend to a small canyon wash. It was a beautiful day as we followed the small windy wash.

Northshore Peak from Northshore Summit

Bitterspring Cliffs (aka Desert Colosseum) 

Trail down to small Wash

Hiking small Wash

The wash is well-maintained, marking the preferred routes across the curves. When the wash Ts into a medium-sized wash, we turned left and took note of its appearance for the way back. It wasn't much further that we came to Callville Road, an old road that runs through a large wash perpendicularly to us. Here, we took a right to follow the road. Sticking to the right side of the wash, we looked for the fossilized tracks. Most of the tracks were of Camels but there were also a couple of other ancient animal tracks in the mudstone. We took our time to find all that we could until we passed the wilderness boundary and came to a narrow canyon with high walls that turned to the left. (Callville Road ends very soon in the larger wash after this turnoff.)

Fossilized Tracks

Narrow Canyon Approach

View back at Narrow Canyon after climb Out

Climbing up to east North Bowl

We winded along a trail through the canyon until we came to a cairned trail up to the plateau above. The canyon was turning right and the trail was on the left. We ended up on top of a very narrow peninsula of the plateau above. Following this trail brought us over to the redstone and began winding through some gorgeous natural sculptures. At a place where there were plenty of rock seats, we stopped for a break.

     Afterwards, we continued following the trail as it wound its way back to the east. We dropped down a short scramble and followed the trail past the east end of the North Bowl. This put us right on what was originally a game trail that traverses across the side of the Large Peak made of limestone rocks.

Redstone in east North Bowl of Fire

More Redstone

Carol follows the Trail

Hiking Boot Rock

More hikers have been using this trail and it has become easier to balance on. However, care must still be taken on the rocks. As you travel across the rocks, we stopped once in a while for the tremendous views. Reaching the first saddle, we connected with a similar traverse trail on the other side of the following ridge. At the end of this ridge, we came to the most difficult section of the whole hike. I have learned that the best way to go down to the saddle below is to drop off the end and veer left. In the past, we went to the right because the "route" seems to go that direction. However, by going straight and left, the scramble is not only shorter but has a good trail about halfway down. We gathered at the saddle when everyone had made it down.

In the hand of the Frozen

Up into the North Bowl

Large Peak through the Redstone

Small descent Scramble

Here, on the saddle, there are a few trails leading down. The trail that runs down toward the North Bowl of Fire, is the original approach to the bowl. The cross trail goes into a wash and connects to another wash to continue out to Callville Road. Now, there is another trail that heads out to the plateau rising between this last saddle and the Landmark Peak where the small canyon wash we descended in and Callville Road junctioned. You guessed it! Someone, has cairned a trail over the desert pavement of the plateau straight over to the Landmark Peak. (Landmark Peak is small and black.) The trail isn't real clear but the cairns do a good job marking the route. When we got over to the top of the embankment above Callville Road, we were delighted to find a very nice trail running down the side of a gully ... perfectly placed. This new route eliminated some scrambling and hiking through washes. It can be fun to do that stuff but sometimes it just seems tedious in the interest to prevent injuries. Believe me! There were no complaints about the new shorter and easier cairned trail! Here, we connected with the small canyon in front of us and began our ascent the same way we came down.

View from start of Large Peak Traverse

Trail on Large Peak Traverse

Landmark Peak (L) from last Traverse Trail

Descent from last Traverse Trail

The first important thing to remember is where to turn right not long after entering the canyon. It is marked by a cairn. In the small wash, we climbed up to the trail exit on the left that climbs up to the crests of the ridges above. The only difference we made in our route back to the cars was near the end. We turned left to cross the ridge on yet one more traverse. This short cut is well seen as you make your way back across the ridge. It was a wonderful day of hiking. Full of new discoveries!

Stats: 5.8 miles; 1100' gain; 4 hours

Gathering up at the Saddle

Trail descent from plateau Crossing

Climbing back up toward Northshore Summit