Falls Peak and River Mountains Loop

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV Northern Lake Mead + Valley of Fire + Gold Butte

Trip stats

Distance
11.8 mi
Net Gain
3,800 ft
Time
5-7 hrs
YDS Rating
Class 3
Route
Loop
Peaks
3

Ratings out of 10

Effort
6.7/10
Personality
5/10
Beauty
6/10
Solitude
5.9/10
What do these mean? →

Peaks on this hike

Summits listed in route order

Ridgeline of the 3 summits in route order 01 02 03
  1. Falls Peak
    2,560′ elevation · 240′ prominence
  2. River Mountain
    3,789′ elevation · 1,389′ prominence
  3. River Mountain Peak
    3,660′ elevation · 280′ prominence

Route map + Trailhead

Trailhead Coordinates

36.038040, -114.810770

The directions link below drops a pin on the trailhead coordinates and lets Google Maps pick the route. If the drive has rough roads or access issues that GPS nav might get wrong, I cover that in my trip report.

Get directions (opens Google Maps in a new tab)

Trip report

Feb 1, 2019 — The River Mountains are a small range just north of Boulder City, Nevada. I've driven past them a million times on my way to Lake Mead, so finally decided to bag some of the high points. Start from Lakeshore Road and head up Sheepbone Canyon, where a series of dryfalls have consistently had ropes to aide in climbing the hardest ones. After the canyon's head, take a right up a gully and head up to Falls Peak for some nice views of Lake Mead below.

Drop back into the Sheepbone Canyon and head up the wash through a wide section before entering another short section of narrows. The wash gets a little trickier to follow after this, since there are spurs leading in all directions, but eventually you'll find a reasonable-looking ridgeline to take up toward a saddle decorated with lovely power lines. Gain the ridgeline and pass over a couple of small bumps before summitting River Mountain Benchmark. Drop down to the saddle north of the high point and continue up to River Mountain Peak, a short jaunt away. It might be necessary to do this since the only viable route down is a ridgeline just south of River Mountain Peak, without sliding down awful scree slopes. This ridgeline includes some not-completely-unpleasant easy Class 3 downclimbing on colorful, rotten rock and leads to open desert. Take a wash north-running past a hidden cholla cactus forest, and then into Seven Dry Falls Canyon. This canyon has some gorgeous colored rocks and all dryfalls can either be downclimbed, avoided, and in one case, descended via a small talus cave crawl.

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Photos

57 photos

  1. Start toward the mouth of Sheepbone Canyon.
  3. Sheepbone Canyon narrows up and introduces a few obstacles, the hardest of which had ropes set up when I was there.
  4. Really pretty narrow sections within Sheepbone Canyon.
  5. The hardest scramble, but a rope made it easier.
  6. Looking down the hardest scramble within Sheepbone Canyon.
  7. Sheepbone opens up a bit before one last section of narrows.
  9. More narrows before reaching the head of Sheepbone Canyon.
  10. Sheepbone Canyon opens up. Head right up a drainage to get up to Falls Peak.
  11. Looking down the drainage into Sheepbone Canyon on my way up to Falls Peak.
  12. Falls Peak a Class 2 scramble away.
  13. Almost at the Falls Peak summit, looking west toward River Mountain. Sheepbone Canyon down to the left.
  14. Flat section just below Falls Peak's summit.
  15. View from Falls Peak at the mouth of Sheepbone Canyon where I started.
  16. Back in the wash leading to Sheepbone Canyon, heading west.
  18. The wash begins to narrow into a small section of canyon.
  19. One Class 3 dryfall.
  23. The canyon widens again and a few side drainages might get confusing. Locate a slope leading up to some power lines.
  24. Heading up the slope toward power lines.
  25. Looking back down into the wash.
  26. At the power lines. Head for the weakness in the center of the butte.
  27. Looking back down toward the powerlines/slope from my Class 2 chosen gully weakness.
  28. You'll be pushed out onto the ridgeline leading south. Ahead is a false summit.
  29. False summit looking south toward River Mountain Benchmark.
  30. River Mountain Benchmark looking south toward River Mountain Peak and Black Mountain behind it.
  31. Approaching the saddle of River Mountain Benchmark and River Mountain Peak.
  32. False summit on the way to River Mountain Peak.
  33. Looking back from the false summit toward River Mountain Benchmark.
  34. River Mountain Peak ahead.
  35. River Mountain Peak summit, looking north toward Black Mountain. I continued along this ridge with the hope of finding a route down. All the slopes I just passed looked dangerously steep.
  36. This ridge went pretty well, located just south of River Mountain Peak.
  37. I followed this ridgeline down until a slope on the left seemed to descend at a reasonable angle, and then headed through the desert.
  38. Headed down the slope.
  39. Walking through the desert.
  40. Some narrow features along a wash on my way down down to the Cholla Cactus Forest.
  41. Cholla Cactus Forest ahead.
  42. Cholla cacti!
  44. Continuing through open desert, past a dirt road, and to the head of Seven Dry Falls Canyon.
  45. Seven Dry Falls Canyon starts with a humble, wide wash.
  47. Some dry falls, easily down climbed or avoided.
  49. Interesting hairpin turn in Seven Dry Falls Canyon.
  50. Approaching some of the most colorful rocks I've ever seen in the Lake Mead area.
  51. An obstacle requiring you to scramble through a talus cave to get down.
  52. Ridiculously cool colors in Seven Dry Falls Canyon.
  53. A side canyon in Seven Dry Falls Canyon.
  55. The end of the colors in the side canyon. I went back to Seven Dry Falls Canyon.
  56. Seven Dry Falls Canyon opens up.
  57. A massive, abandoned tire. Because people don't care about the desert.

Photo 1 of 1

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GPX track

Falls Peak and River Mountains Loop GPX route and driving track

The complete GPX track is available to download, so you can load the route straight into your navigation app or device. The trip report, route info, photos and planning details stay free.

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