Hike Sunrise Mountain, Unity Peak, Division Peak Loop Sunrise Mountain BLM, NV

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Sunrise Mountain, Unity Peak, and Division Peak are three lesser-visited desert humps just east of Las Vegas. Since I look at them often enough, I felt like getting these peaks only seemed right. Apparently the official Frenchman Mountain Trailhead along East Lake Mead Blvd has lots of car break-ins, and although that trailhead would have brought us closer to our peaks, Austin and I decided to park elsewhere. Additionally, parking where we did facilitated a nice loop of the area So, we contrived a loop that would hit all three peaks (plus the baby Peak 2960) without any back-tracking.

We started from Shadow Rock Park, just on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The route we ended up with worked pretty well, but included a highway jog, the lovely sounds of guns firing at a shooting range, as well as sketchy just-outside-city-limits crap. So, it was still a park/hike at your own risk sort of deal. We left Shadow Rock Park and followed a dirt road heading east, hoping to leave the weird garbage-strewn desert to get to the ridge as fast as we could. People dump a lot of crap out here, and there was at least one abandoned car in the middle of nowhere. We encountered No Trespassing signs and assumed we wouldn't be able to continue, but I think these are just in place to keep people out of the shooting range located around here. So, we continued north on a dirt road until the No Trespassing signs disappeared and entered a drainage to the east. We headed up this Class 2 fun drainage and eventually onto Sunrise Mountain's western ridge. We passed over Peak 2960 and then dropped down on some Class 2, continuing along the lumpy ridge toward Sunrise Mountain. We encountered a section of Class 3, avoidable with some route-finding, just south of the summit. Just after this short scramble, we got to a final short traverse where we kept to the left to avoid excessive rock-hopping. Once on the summit of Sunrise Mountain, we peered across the valley to the south toward Unity Peak and Division Peak, locating a dirt road that would lead to a saddle between the two peaks. On the summit, it sounded vaguely like what might be a war zone with a shooting range to the west and jets roaming around on the air force base to the north. Lovely.

We dropped south off Sunrise Mountain on rocky Class 2 terrain, entering a shallow gully and entering the valley floor. We jogged through the open desert and stumbled on the dirt road noted earlier from above, which we used to head to the saddle separating Division and Unity Peaks. The gunshots were a little scary and we wanted to clear the valley as quickly as possible. From the saddle, we hit Unity Peak first to the north, which included a short bit of loose Class 2+ to the summit. We dropped back to the saddle and encountered some solid, fun Class 3 to gain the north face of Division Peak. I thought this little section was the best part of the day. A scenic almost-knife-edge led to just north of Division Peak's summit knob, and a short Class 2+ move wrapped around the right side of the knob to gain the summit.

We scoped possible routes down from Division Peak, settling on continuing along the west ridge for a little bit (Class 2) and then dropping down when we thought would work best. We opted to follow a ridge that ended up including a Class 4 move. This can be avoided by dropping into the drainage to the right before starting down on the ridge (marked on the attached map). Either way, we were on East Lake Mead Blvd. We followed the road for a few miles back to Shadow Rock Park.

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

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Peak 2960

2960 ft

280 rise

Sunrise Mountain

3364 ft

924 rise

Unity Peak

3012 ft

532 rise

Division Peak

2960 ft

320 rise

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Starting from Shadow Rock Park, heading east.

Entering a drainage that lead east.

Lots of crap in the drainage. We were excited to get higher up and away from the Las Vegas nonsense.

Fun Class 2 in the drainage.

Shadow Rock Park where we came from is up top somewhere.

Out of the drainage and onto the ridge. Frenchman Mountain visible top left. We came from the Las Vegas outskirts on the right.

Summit of Peak 2960. We continued along the ridge, headed to Sunrise Mountain (visible top center).

Pretty easy terrain for a while.

View back toward Peak 2960 as we progress along the lumpy terrain.

Approaching the western ridge of Sunrise Mountain, a steep slope followed by some optional Class 3 stuff.

Optional Class 3. Likely avoidable if you search for a better weakness.

Along the ridge, looking back toward the lumpy terrain we traversed. Peak 2960 visible left od center.

Sunrise Mountain ahead.

View back along the ridge to Sunrise Mountain. Frenchman Mountain visible top left.

Sunrise Mountain summit.

Sunrise Mountain summit, view toward Unity Peak (center) and Division Peak (right). We descended to the road that runs horizontal, followed that road to the right, and took another road to the saddle of Unity and Division.

Class 2 rocky descent from Sunrise Mountain.

Nearing the base of Sunrise Mountain as we head to the road.

Along the road that leads to the saddle of Unity Peak (left) and Division Peak (right).

Ascending to the saddle, view back toward Sunrise Mountain.

Ascending to the saddle.

From the saddle, we headed to Unity Peak. This is a view toward Division Peak as we near Unity's summit.

Unity Peak ahead. We kept left of the jagged-looking ridgeline. There was still some loose Class 2+ just before the summit.

Unity Peak, view toward Lake Mead.

Back at the saddle, onward to Division Peak.

Heading up Division Peak, view toward Unity Peak. We ascended the ridge right of center earlier.

Fun Class 3 to get up Division Peak. The rock was solid and interesting.

Another shot back above the Class 3. You can see the road we used to reach the saddle, visible on the left. Sunrise Mountain visible top center.

Division Peak summit knob visible on the left. Nice little easy knife edge for a short time. Gaining the summit required wrapping around the knob's right side.

Division Peak summit visible top right. This is a shot looking back toward it after we continued west along the ridgeline. Class 2/3 stuff on the sticky limestone.

View down toward E Lake Mead Blvd, our objective. Our options were to stay along the ridge or head down into the drainage on the right. We chose the ridge, which resulted in a Class 4 section, oops. The drainage is likely much easier.

Class 4 along the ridge (completely avoidable by taking the drainage).

View looking back along the ridge. The drainage descent option visible on the left. Once down, we took E Lake Mead Blvd and navigated back to Shadow Rock Park.

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!