Hike Promontory Point and Rough Benchmark Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV

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This series of peaks are located in Nevada more-or-less north of the Hoover Dam, just before entering Arizona. They are the hills you see when driving east on I-11. Even though you hear helicopters and traffic for most of this hike, there are still some great views of the lake and some fun scrambling. From the Lakeview Overlook parking lot, I headed first to Promontory Point, east. I started along an old dirt road that leads to the the Historic Rairoad Trail. You can either follow this for a while, or take a more interesting Class 2/3 route through the hills (both routes noted in the map attached). The harder route has one section of maximum easy Class 3, and escapes the views of the highway for a little bit. Either way, you'll end up at a minor saddle to the southwest of Promontory Point. From the saddle, I started toward Lake Mead and wrapped around along the steep, loose Class 2 side-hilly slope. The views were delightful from here, the slope just steep enough to feel a little exposed, but the slope isn't severe enough to be notably dangerous. I recommend staying pretty close to the cliff face higher on the slope to avoid most of the most loose rock on steeper terrain below. I side-hilled a bit and found myself back on stable ground, where I followed the hilly terrain to Promontory Point.

Back at Lakeview Overlook, I headed west toward Rough Benchmark. There was a social trail leading up about haflway, when the terrain became a bit more steep. I popped up on the eastern sub-ridge of Rough Benchmark. I stayed left of the ridge crest to avoid crap rock and made my way toward the summit. There was some fun Class 2+ route-finding that required wrapping around a couple of big rock outcrops just before the mellow summit. I continued west along the ridgeline, Pluto next on the agenda. There were some fun Class 2/3 moves along the craggy ridgeline from Rough Benchmark, but it was short-lived. The descent ridge leading down from Rough Benchmark is the crux of the route. I'll call it Class 3 mostly because the moves are on pretty loose rock, so moving slowly is a must. You can likely keep to the left of the ridge to keep the route more mellow, but there's no one correct option. The route continued Class 2 to Pluto and Uranus. I recommend keeping to the right of Uranus' east rocky ridge, where a social trail leads on steep, but not very aggressive terrain.

I headed back down to the saddle between Pluto and Uranus and dropped to the north within a rocky drainage. This led me to the Historic Railroad Trail. It's a popular and basically paved trail that led east back to the trailhead. However, the trailhead is above so I needed to ascend a Class 2 slope (with lots of garbage scattered about) to the left of the trail, otherwise pass underneath the trailhead and ascend on the opposite side on the official trail.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Promontory Point

2277 ft

702 rise

Rough Benchmark

2248 ft

488 rise

Pluto

2138 ft

138 rise

Uranus

2170 ft

290 rise

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View from Lakeview Overlook.

Follow the ridgeline to make the route interesting, or take the Historic Railroad Trail most of the way. My route follows the ridge.

Looking back toward Lakeview Overlook.

Great views of Lake Mead from high above on the left.

Promontory Point visible far top left in this photo. Head down to the Historic Railroad Trail below for a bit to avoid cliffs.

Follow the Historic Railroad Trail for a bit before ascending up and around to the north of a big butte.

Promontory Point visible in the back left. Go around the rock outcrop in the foreground on the left.

View of the carrying-ons of the Hoover Dam.

The route takes you along a steep slope. It's a really interesting view of Lake Mead that didn't translate well in photos, unfortunately.

Looking back toward the saddle from the top of the slope. I ascended from the left to where I'm standing currently.

Continue along the ridgeline along mellow terrain to gain Promontory Point's summit.

Almost at Promontory Point's summit, looking back along the ridge.

Promontory Point ahead.

Promontory Point summit, looking west along the route I came. Uranus is visible top right, my next destination.

Promontory Point summit looking south toward the Hoover Dam.

Promontory Point summit looking east toward Fortification Hill.

Promontory Point summit looking north toward Lake Mead.

Back at the trailhead, I headed west toward Rough Benchmark. You can see Promontory Point right of center.

Social trail leading halfway up Rough Benchmark.

Above some Class 2, view back toward the trailhead.

Eastern sub-ridge of Rough Benchmark. I kept left of the rocky ridge.

View from just below the summit, some fun Class 2/3 navigation to come behind me. You can see the eastern sub-ridge I came from on the right in this photo.

Rough Benchmark summit, view west. You can see I-11 of course, but also Pluto and Uranus on the right.

Class 2/3 as I headed along Rough Benchmark's west ridge.

Crux of the day was coming down from Rough Benchmark. You can see how craggy the ridge is. Pluto is next, visible on the right.

At the saddle with Pluto, Pluto visible top right. Uranus visible left of center.

View back toward Rough Benchmark.

Class 2 to Pluto.

Pluto summit, view toward Promontory Point (left).

Ridgeline from Pluto to Uranus. After getting Uranus, I dropped to the saddle visible center and headed to the right, where I'd pick up the Historic Railroad Trail. To get to Uranus, I recommend keeping to the right of the ridge. The route I took was just to the left of the grassy slope right of center.

Almost up Uranus, view back toward Pluto (center).

Back at the saddle, I dropped down to the Historic Railroad Trail (visible center).

Looking back toward the saddle once on the Historic Railroad Trail.

I followed the Historic Railroad Trail back to the trailhead. Once below the trailhead, a Class 2 slope led to the left of the trail to get up to the Lakeview Overlook where my car was parked.

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!