Epic Travel → North America → Mountain States → Nevada →  ⊗ Secret Canyon

⊗ Technical Route ⊗Warning: Do Not Attempt Without Proper Training – click here for details

Location: Black Canyon Area, Las Vegas, Nevada

Time Required: 4-7 hours

Distance: 3.4 miles total, 0.2 miles technical, 0.3 mile paddle

Elevation Gain: 1200 feet

Rappels: 2-3, lengths up to 60 feet

Red Tape/Notes: No permit required, no shuttle required. Very hot with no shade until you’re in the canyon – not recommended for summer. No hot springs in the canyon itself, but nearby springs are easy to access. A gpx track of the route can be found on ropewiki, here, but if you’re going to be doing canyons in this area, I’d highly recommend buying Las Vegas Slots by Rick Ianniello (available on Amazon or through Canyoneering USA). Presumably you should have a day pass for Lake Mead NRA to park here – a day pass (valid for 7 consecutive days) is $25 per vehicle.

What’s Nearby?: Bighorn Canyon, Weeping Springs Canyon, Goldstrike Canyon, Hoover Dam, Historic Railroad Trail, Colorado River Hot Springs Packrafting, Ringpin Canyon

The spot must have been really great when there were hot springs at the base of the canyon. It’s still worthwhile, especially if you carry a packraft. The hike in starts with some fun scrambling and a little downclimbing, then becomes a pleasant stroll through easy terrain until the canyon walls close in suddenly, dropping precipitously away at a 60 foot cliff. It’s blissfully cool in this section, and shortly you’ll come to a second short rappel. This is where the hot springs used to be, but the area is now heavily filled in with sand, through there’s still warm water seeping from the rocks. Perhaps the topography will change again in the near future and the springs will reappear. For now, it’s an easy scramble down to the water’s edge, where you’ll blow up your packraft. From here you can paddle across to Goldstrike Canyon and hike up a short distance to access the hot springs there, or you can paddle 0.25 miles downstream to the exit, where a waterfall is clearly visible on the east (Arizona) side of the river, dropping to a small beach. This waterfall pours over from an extremely pleasant hot spring. Exit the water at the beach, deflate your raft, and scramble downstream a short distance to find a use trail that will take you up the hill to the hot spring. From here, the easiest way back to your car is to scramble up the rocks heading north to rejoin the approach trail a short distance above the 60 foot rappel.

Epic Travel → North America → Mountain States → Nevada →  ⊗ Secret Canyon