Trip report
Apr 9, 2019 — Although Gibraltar Rock is a short hike, the route-finding is fun and the views are great from the top. From the same trailhead, you can easily access Fire Wave, a popular trail to a cool sandstone feature.
We started out toward Gibraltar Rock first. From the Fire Wave Trailhead, Austin and I headed to the base of the obvious rock face in front of us. A wash leads north. After taking this wash for a few hundred feet, you can either take the gully that curves south/southeast for easy access to the summit, or continue north until you can gain a slab on the northern end of Gibraltar Rock and head south as you gain elevation up the peak's north ridge. The traverse is worth the extra effort. A narrow section along the ridge leads down into a grassy gully. This gully ends and you need to cut back north and drop into the main gully (the same gully I mentioned earlier – see map to see what I'm talking about). From the gully, a steep Class 3 slab leads up out of the gully and to the summit, a few Class 2/3 moves to the high point as you navigate rocky obstacles.
After returning to the trailhead, a quick excursion to Fire Wave is a worthwhile minor effort. Fire Wave is probably Valley of Fire's favorite destination to promote and it appears all over the Internet. It's a very pretty feature with similar characteristics to Arizona's The Wave. Starting from the trailhead, the trail leads around the southern base of Gibraltar Rock, then through the desert on a sandy trail to some wide-open slickrock, and then to the popular rock formation.