Charleston Peak is the highest mountain in the Spring Mountain Range and in Southern Nevada.
The summit itself is rather stark with absolutely no plant life. The only features were constructed, the most prominent being the American flag waving atop a 15-20ft post. Beyond that there are a couple solar collectors powering a radio repeater and there’s a pretty substantial rock shelter which provides some welcome relief from the high winds that whip across the summit.
Though the summit is bare and rocky, the view from Charleston Peak summit is second to none in Southern Nevada. Here you get the best view of the entire North-South Charleston Loop including all the mountain peaks mentioned above, along with a great view of Charleston Village over 5000ft immediately below, then all the way down Kyle Canyon to Hwy-95 and beyond. You can see parts of the Las Vegas Valley from Gass Peak (which borders the Sheep Mountain Range and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge) on the North end of the valley all the way to the Southern end and on down to California. Central, to the West, is the La Madre Mountains Wilderness. To the South East there’s a great view of the town of Pahrump, and if you look carefully, a very hazy view of Telescope Peak in the background, bordering the East side of Death Valley. A lot more is visible on a clear day. To get the complete list expand the map on this page and draw a circle about 150-200 miles around Charleston Peak!
Head up Hwy-95 from Las Vegas and take a left at the Kyle Canyon exit (less than 30 miles from the Las Vegas Strip). Travel another 20 miles to the South Loop Trailhead. You’ll pass through Charleston Village, pass a fire station, the road will bend to the left, cross a short bridge and then head up about a half mile where you will take the first right after passing some cabins, then on up to the South Loop Trailhead parking lot (which is also the parking lot for Cathedral Rock). By the way, in this parking lot are the best restrooms of all the Mt. Charleston area trailhead parking lots with actual flush toilets and sinks with running water.
This narrative guide begins at the upper junction of the South Loop Trail (around 10,000ft elevation). When you reach this point you have traveled about 4.5 miles up the South Loop Trail.
For the stretch from the South Loop Trailhead to the Junction, see the Griffith Peak page.
At the Junction take a right heading toward Charleston Peak (left if you’re heading for Griffith Peak). After turning right the trail briefly rises over a hill then levels out along a one-mile beautiful alpine meadow skirting the upper South side of Kyle Canyon. After about a mile, the trail weaves around then rises through the 2013 carpenter 1 Fire burn area where an entire 2000 year old bristlecone pine forest was consumed by fire in a day. Near the top of the burn area the trail curves left. Just before the curve, walk a few feet along a limestone rock shelf to look over the South edge of Kyle Canyon and view the entire canyon and across to Mummy Mountain and the North edge of the canyon. This stretch of the adventure is about 2 and a half miles.
The trail then curves around and to the left providing great views of the entire 2013 carpenter 1 Fire burn area, the alpine meadow you just passed through and all the way to the Junction and Griffith Peak. Now the trail curves to the right and rises up to a saddle providing a view of Charleston Peak to the West and Griffith Peak to the East.
At this point you have 3 choices.
Near the end of the South Rim you’ll come to the site where a CIA C-54 Military Air Transport Service plane crashed on November 17, 1955 carrying 14 men working on the secret Cold War U-2 spy plane project. The full story can be found here. You’re now less than a mile from the summit, but it’s a pretty steep ascent!
From the crash site you have 2 choices.
The high outer ridge routes I’ve suggested on this page are exposed with no shelter from the wind. On days with high winds you might want to take the lower routes unless you enjoy being buffeted by the wind. I actually enjoy it as long as it’s not too extreme. Definitely, on low visibility days stick to the lower routes or risk getting off course and potentially straying over the canyon rim!
