Railroad Pass Mountain Loop - 10/15/25

Las Vegas skyline and Spring Mountains

Amora on the Trail

Cascata Golf Course driving Range

Kay and Amora on the Trail

After several days of rain and wind, the Wanderers decided to drive across town to a hike that they had neglected in the past recent years. Railroad Pass Mountain Loop is much the same hike as it was before but, on this hike, we decided to go in a clockwise direction just to change it up a little. We parked at the trailhead that is located up behind the convenience store in the Railroad Pass Casino parking lot. Next, we went looking for the spur trail that leads up to the loop trail on a higher contour. The beginning of the trail was difficult to find this time so we ended up going on down to the railroad crossing where we were able to continue on the trail around the mountain. Everything was familiar on this side so it wasn't difficult to find the route even without my GPS. The skies over the Spring Mountains had snowed the night before and the wide panoramic view of the city and mountains was a beautiful sight. We hiked on around keeping the immediate mountains to our right and took the trail up through 2 small washes. This put us on a higher level contour where we, eventually, crossed a dirt road and continued by zigzagging up to a rock outcrop on top of a small peak. 

Las Vegas skyline and Spring Mountains

Susan on the Trail

Amora on the Trail

C'mon Mom!

This small peak lays between our loop trail and Bootleg Canyon's Mother Loop. We sat here for a break with a gorgeous view of the very green Cascata Golf Course. Noticing that there were no displaced bighorn sheep covering the fairway below us, we wondered how they had managed to make them stay off the green grass. Later, we saw that there was a new fence that had been erected around the grass. So much for the guaranteed sightings of the beautiful wild animals on this hike. So, after the break, we turned right to go over to the saddle and turned left. This part of the bike loop is called "The Sh(..)" This name is clearly for the bikers. Only the best bikers with the toughest bikes should tackle this section of trail! 

Las Vegas skyline and Spring Mountains

Cascata Golf Course (now fenced to keep out bighorns)

Trail above golf Course

Cascata Golf Course

There are a lot of rocks, hills and trail falling off the side of the hill! Exciting stuff for hikers! I'm sure my camera is not able to clearly show the exciting terrain. We hiked on around next to the golf course noting the new fence and came to the back of the old recycled waterfall, once a beautiful golf course feature. We hiked through the washed out ravine - a dicey dance - then to the further end of the cut in the mountain contour. Next, we hiked on out to the outside end of the cut to view the dry waterfall from across the cut. The hard water has left its white mark on the embankment that it used to flow down. At the base of the old dry waterfall, the golf course's driving range spread toward the club house. 

Trail negotiates a wash Ravine

Ravine from a different Angle

Jug Handle Arch under flight Path

Loop trail follows mountain Contour

We continued our trek in and out the mountain cuts noting the jug handle arch above. The last quarter mile of the loop is probably the least interesting as you slowly return to civilization. The trail is still a great hike underfoot. We promise not to let it go so long without our feet in the future! P.S. Be aware that the trailhead parking lot is used for cheap overnighters. There were two cars spending the night here when we arrived. Better than nothing. Go and be blessed.

Stats: 4.4 miles; 850' gain; 3.75 hours

Trail above golf Course

Waterfall no longer Flows

End of loop (CW) view of highway to Boulder City

Opposite direction of this entry's Hike

Jackrabbit Junction - 10/6/25

Jackrabbit Junction from Orange Trail's first high Point

Crossing Lee Canyon

Orange Trail

Crossing the lower elevations of the Spring Mountains, five of us decided to park at the Blue Tree Loop Trailhead on Lee Canyon Road (left side going up) and use the Orange Trail to cross toward Deer Creek Canyon stopping around the 2 mile mark where Jackrabbit Junction rises in a smooth rounded hill to the left. Our trail would take you all the way to the Catch Pen and on to the rim of Deer Creek Canyon where you can catch the rim trail down the rim viewing the canyon below. It also has two spurs that go up the ridges and washes to Deer Creek Road. The trailhead on Deer Creek Road is located across from 7 Mile Canyon. There, you can reach our lower trail by either taking the left side (wash) or the right side (ridge) trails. These make for long loop hikes but they also make nice point to point hikes. The hike in this entry is only an out and back hike to a middle point called Jackrabbit Junction. We parked at the trailhead and took our dogs down a long steepish hill. Remembering that you have to go up this hill in the end! Trail workers have done a little maintenance on the trail here. It is a popular equestrian route and they need the tree limbs cut out of the way pretty high. They also re-routed the trail at the bottom of the hill so that it uses the wash.

Jackrabbit Junction

Angel Peak and Mummy Mountain from Jackrabbit Junction

So much to do, so few Hands

The trail has a lot of ups and downs in the beginning then it flattens out somewhat. Views of Mummy Mountain and Angel Peak can be seen from the high points. Other 360 degree views can be seen all along the way as well. (See the first photo.) After 2 miles, we approached Jackrabbit Junction. There are no signs but the round hill is obvious. There is a small vague trail that turns to the left. I think it is a burro trail. We hiked up zigzagging between the separated blackbrushes following various burro signs. At the top of the short elevation gain, we found a rock or two to sit on and have a break. There are good views all around. After the break, we started back the same way we came. The ups and downs are significant enough that this hike gives you a workout in short mileage. Just right for puppies that are just growing into their hiking legs. Our two dogs, DJ and Amora, are becoming great friends on the trail. And, later when they reach their respective homes, they are down for the count! We like that!

Stats: 4.1 miles; 850' gain; 3.25 hours

P.S. Thanks to Susan, we have a few photos of everyone, except her! 😐 Good job, Susan!

Rita and Kay

Climbing up to the Trailhead

Pincushion Ridge Lp - 10/4/25

Spring Mountains as viewed from the ascent to Pincushion Ridge

The ascent Trail

The ascent Trail (La Madre Peak beyond)

The hike is within the boundaries of Red Rock
Canyon NCA and La Madre Wilderness.

Even though the weather is getting cooler, Susan and I don't want to give up our explorations in the Spring Mountains. There was at least one more area on the agenda leading out from the first trailhead on the left side of Kyle Canyon Road going up the mountain. We'll call it Trailhead 1. A couple of years ago, a friend and I noticed a trail across Kyle Canyon Road from the Twilight area. We could see it climbing up a trailing ridge of an intermediary desert ridge below the La Madre mountain range. About a year later, the park service put large boulders around a trailhead we had never used before. A year after that, they erected an info sign there. Finally, we found the time during the right weather to actually explore this new offering.

Harris Springs Wash

Descending to Harris Springs Wash (Pincushion Ridge scree descent top middle R)

Harris Springs Road used for a small section of this Hike

OHV trailhead Parking

Trailhead 1 is located about 8 miles up Kyle Canyon Road from I-11 on the left side. Susan and I pulled in there and read the sign that told a bit about the Carpenter One wildfire of 2013. The ridge that we were going to hike was not on the map as a "trail." However, the ascent trail was there and another viewpoint was given. We left the parking lot and veered to the right to turn left onto a rough dirt road. The road led us toward the ridges to the south and southeast. We were most interested in the long ridge about halfway out to the really high La Madre range. Our ridge peaked out at 5530'. The monster La Madre range peaked out at around 8120'. La Madre Peak created a great backdrop to our tame, beautiful in its own way, Pincushion Ridge.

If you see this, take the left fork!

Trail crossing ridges before reaching ascent Trail

Starting the Ascent

"Slow and steady."

We followed the road until it dropped steeply down to the Harris Springs Wash. Here, we turned right and tried to find a trail going up the wash. A trail ... any trail. The red line on my GPS was closer to the ridge which was still one wash over. We just followed the wash up until we found a burro trail climbing out of the wash to the left. The burro trail junctioned with a trail on the embankment where we turned right. This is when we noticed a large trailhead parking lot down to our right. Off road vehicles were already arriving for a day of fun. We continued along our trail above the large Harris Springs Wash. Soon, we came to a fork as seen three photos above. Our route took the left fork. Although we crossed other burro trails, our official trail continued without turns over various arroyos and trailing ridges. Eventually, we found ourselves climbing. Yes, this was it! The ascent trail that we had spied from afar a couple of years ago. We began our climb without hesitation. Our speed was slow and steady. We barely got out of breath even though it was a 1000' climb over the course of just 1.15 miles. The views were incredible so we stopped often just to take it all in. The trail was very rocky so I decided it must not be a bike trail after all.

Ascent Trail 

Our group Shot!

Ascent trail junction with Pincushion Ridge

Ridge summit on ascent Trail

As we climbed, we wondered what might be the origins of the trail. After passing about 3 flattish places, we came to the left ridge junction. We continued up to the summit junction just to get the view. The trail continues to the right at the top but we returned down to the left ridge junction for our loop route. In this direction, the only trail of sorts was a broken burro trail that balanced the ridge all the way down to the end. We started down the ridge not knowing any of this. But, it soon became apparent that we were not the first to explore here. Someone had built a cairn on one of the small peaks along the way. We found much evidence of burro. Hey! If the burros can do it, so can we! Hmm.

Pincushion Ridge

Cairn on intermediary peak of Pincushion Ridge

Limestone pieces from a long ago Seabed

Picking our way down the gentle Ridge

The ridge was made up of desert plants, limestone rock outcrops and broken pieces of Limestone. The one unusual plant that we saw many of was the pincushion cactus plant. These were popping up all the way down on the ridge summit. For lack of a better name, we decided to name the ridge, Pincushion. Every section of the ridge was different in appearance except for the ever presence of the limestone and desert plants. The views changed a little since the ridge curved down like a snake. The back side of the ridge was just as different and beautiful as the wide open view of the Spring Mountains on the front side. Finally, we came to the end.  The big question was, "How do we get down off the ridge?" Again, if the burros can do it ....

Following burro trails toward the Sheep Mountains

Side of the Ridge

The end of the ridge is in sight.

Starting down the scree Descent

As we turned the corner of the last small peak, we saw that the slope was not dangerously steep. There was a lot of scree to catch our steps. And, we could still make out a burro route. Slowly, we made our way down to the wash below. All that was left was to try to retrace our steps back to the car. Not always as easy as it sounds but we made it back up the steep road/hill and then we were good. There was terrible wind during this outing and we were anxious to get back in the car but, I must say, the views were incomparable to any I've ever seen in the Spring Mountains. Fantastic day!

Stats: 5.5 miles; 1440' gain; 5 hours.

A few interesting Anomalies

Creosote or Goldenleaf

Hiking back up road to Trailhead