Frenchman Mountain Canyon in Frenchman Mountain BLM, NV

Canyoneer Frenchman Mountain Canyon Frenchman Mountain BLM, NV

Class 3 3A (80 ft max) 4.1 miles 2100 gain 3-5 hrs Loop Oct 16, 2021
Effort
Beauty
Personality
Solitude

Frenchman Mountain Canyon GPX Track

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This is a technical canyon. If you are unfamiliar with how to build anchors or the gear required for canyoneering do not attempt this route.

Frenchman Mountain is a big mountain on the eastern outskirts of Las Vegas. It's a really popular hiking spot due to its proximity to the city. It's visible from pretty much anywhere in the city, as is Frenchman Mountain Canyon, a gash in the middle of the peak's western slopes. Most people hiking to the summit use a horrible, steep gravelly service road that starts along East Lake Mead Blvd, a road that many inconsiderate Las Vegans seem to consider a trash dump. The road/trail comes up to a false saddle, then drops, only to regain to get to the true summit. Frenchman Mountain Canyon is accessible at the base of that drop from the false summit. I did that hike once and didn't even write up a trip report because I hated it. Crowded, dusty, and pretty ugly. I highly recommend getting to Frenchman Mountain (and of course, to Frenchman Mountain Canyon) via a much more fun Class 3 and far less-traveled route, via its west face. You can view the full trip report of this ascent here, but since I already documented that I will only include a few photos of it below. Whether you set up a shuttle and come up via the standard trail (purple line on my map, which we did not do on this trip), or chose to take the west face route (no shuttle required, and our chosen route), this trip report assumes you've already made it to the head of Frenchman Mountain Canyon.

We headed down from the head of the canyon through a rocky wash and soon stumbled onto the first rappel. It's actually completely bypassable, but being that I was with two new canyoneers we all thought it was a good idea to do the rappel as a test run. It's the second-longest rappel for the route, anyway. The second rap came shortly after and the views of Las Vegas become quite nice below. Soon we made it into the narrows of the canyon, surprisingly pretty and unexpected. A few short rappels continued through the narrows, and we were able to down-climb a few of the shorter drops. The last two rappels before the final drop were in a tighter section of narrows, and then the last 80-foot drop popped us down into a small alcove where vandals had left an old couch and graffiti on the walls. Ah, back to the city, I suppose.

We continued out of the drainage and took a series of roads and social trails until we got into a rocky drainage, which we used to reach suburbia and made it back to our cars.

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Starting up from the trailhead. I recommend looking at my other trip report for more photos of the Class 3 ascent to Frenchman Mountain. Following are just a few for reference.
Starting up from the trailhead. I recommend looking at my other trip report for more photos of the Class 3 ascent to Frenchman Mountain. Following are just a few for reference.
Arrows help point the way up the west face Class 3 route.
Arrows help point the way up the west face Class 3 route.
Class 3 crux.
Class 3 crux.
View back down.
View back down.
Fun ledge section just before getting off the face.
Fun ledge section just before getting off the face.
We summitted Frenchman Mountain and then took the standard road/trail down to the head of Frenchman Mountain Canyon (center). The standard route to get to the canyon would have come up and over from the saddle top center of this photo.
We summitted Frenchman Mountain and then took the standard road/trail down to the head of Frenchman Mountain Canyon (center). The standard route to get to the canyon would have come up and over from the saddle top center of this photo.
Rocky drainage to get to the head of the canyon.
Rocky drainage to get to the head of the canyon.
Jon on the first rappel, which is avoidable.
Jon on the first rappel, which is avoidable.
View back up at the avoidable first rappel.
View back up at the avoidable first rappel.
Starting down the canyon where it begins to narrow.
Starting down the canyon where it begins to narrow.
A short rappel into the narrows.
A short rappel into the narrows.
Image 11 from gallery
View back toward the rappel.
View back toward the rappel.
Pretty narrows, short rappels and down-climbs.
Pretty narrows, short rappels and down-climbs.
Another rappel into a longer section where Frenchman Mountain Canyon opens up.
Another rappel into a longer section where Frenchman Mountain Canyon opens up.
View back in the open section.
View back in the open section.
The canyon narrows again and becomes surprisingly pretty.
The canyon narrows again and becomes surprisingly pretty.
View back at a down-climb.
View back at a down-climb.
Really pretty section.
Really pretty section.
Another rappel or down-climb.
Another rappel or down-climb.
Another short rappel.
Another short rappel.
Image 21 from gallery
Approaching the last few rappels.
Approaching the last few rappels.
A tight section just before the last rap.
A tight section just before the last rap.
Final rappel, biggest of the canyon.
Final rappel, biggest of the canyon.
View back up at the last rappel.
View back up at the last rappel.
We exiting Frenchman Mountain Canyon's drainage and took a series of roads/trails/gullies back to suburbia below.
We exiting Frenchman Mountain Canyon's drainage and took a series of roads/trails/gullies back to suburbia below.

Hire me or show me some love!

Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!