Damsel Peak first came to my attention as I was ascending the Southern Cliff Passage between the La Madre Mountains. Looking back down the Brownstone Basin and to the East there was this uniquely shaped peak. It created a beautiful crescent, so I began referring to it as Crescent Mountain until one of my video viewers gave me the correct name, Damsel Peak. I guess the peak looks like a damsel’s skirt? Damsel Peak it is! This definitely deserved to be on the summit list.
From the summit of Damsel Peak one can see almost all of the Las Vegas Valley in the same way that Damsel Peak is visible from just about anywhere in Las Vegas Valley. In addition, there is an awesome view of the entire Brownstone Basin and portions of the Calico Basin. Additional great reference points visible from the summit are:
To the West:
To the South:
To the North:
To the East:
Damsel Peak has such a great perspective that it’s not possible to make an exhaustive list here of all the points of interest that can be viewed from the summit.
This entire adventure requires more time and effort than the entire Mt. Charleston Loop. The Mt. Charleston Loop takes me about 7 1/2 hours and involves approximately 5000ft elevation gain and loss during that trip. Damsel Peak on this day took 9 hours and also involved 5000ft elevation gain and loss. Add a special little final 800ft climb over the back (East) side of Turtlehead Peak near the end of the adventure. Psychologically, I felt I had already summited a mountain and therefore should expect a pure downhill journey on the return trip!
My first exploration of the Damsel Peak area was in the Spring of 2019, actually exploring a route around the East end of the La Madre Mountains Ridgeline cliffs to summit La Madre Mountain from the East side. I returned in late February of 2020 to make a trip to the summit of Damsel Peak.
From I-215 in Summerlin at the Red Rock Casino, take Hwy 159 (Blue Diamond Road) West toward the mountains. Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive is the 2nd turnoff to the right, about 4 miles after leaving Summerlin. You will need a reservation to enter the area and gain access to the scenic drive. Once on the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive, the Sandstone Quarry trailhead parking area is the 3rd parking area beyond the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive.
Turtlehead Peak is one of the most popular hikes in Red Rock Canyon. For this reason, if you don’t get to the trailhead at the Sandstone Quarry parking area by 7am on a Saturday or Sunday, you may risk having to park along the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive and walk 1/4th mile or more to get to the trailhead. In fact, in recent years parking along the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive is no longer permitted, so you’ll totally miss all hikes from the Sandstone Quarry Trailhead unless you get to the parking area early enough to find a spot!
From the Sandstone Quarry parking lot, head up the Red Rock Wash. You’ll be paralleling the Turtlehead Peak trail for a bit until that trail splits off to your right towards Turtlehead Peak. Continue up the Red Rock Wash on the very faint Limestone Trail. Keep to the left in the wash. Avoid the temptation of traveling up the right side of the wash because you’ll end up heading up a canyon that ends with a climb over what I call the Turtlehead Peak Ridgeline (the ridge between Red Rock Canyon and the Upper Brownstone Basin). This will add from 500 to 800ft unnecessary elevation gain to your trip along with eating up time navigating steep scree hillsides.
Rather, continue up the left side of Red Rock Wash. Eventually you’ll reach a point near the North end of the Turtlehead Peak Ridgeline where a wash will split off to the right (pictured in the video on this page). Take the right split, which is actually the continuing path of the Limestone Trail. You will continue to ascend to an opening through the North end of the Turtlehead Peak Ridgeline. Now you’re crossing from Red Rock Canyon to the Upper Brownstone Basin. By following this passage you have crossed over from Red Rock Canyon to the Upper Brownstone Basin without any climbing. This helps conserve the energy you will need for the Damsel Peak summit climb. You’ll know you’ve crossed over into the Upper Brownstone Basin when Damsel Peak comes into view along with the Brownstone Basin and upper Brownstone Calico Hills at its base.
Now head down the wash angling to the right and down into the Upper Brownstone Basin. After about 1/4th to 1/2 mile the wash will break up and you’ll be faced with a 10-20ft dry waterfall drop-off. Don’t descend down the drop-off, but rather angle to the left out of the wash. You will shortly arrive at an old unpaved road (the Upper Brownstone Trail). You can easily this old road down into the Upper Brownstone Basin without having to deal with the obstacles in the wash. After about 1/4 mile as the road will begin to angle to the right and down toward the East side of Turtlehead Peak. Angle left off the road and head toward upper Brownstone Calico Hills and Damsel Peak.
On this day I began my ascent up toward Damsel Peak at the North edge of upper Brownstone Calico Hills (white rock section). Hindsight says that the better route might be to descend to the point between the two calico hill formations, then take a left between the hills and on up the wash at the base of Damsel Peak. This is actually the way I returned after summiting Damsel Peak. The video describes that route.
However, on this day I began my ascent at the North edge of upper Brownstone Calico Hills. This required ascent and descent through two canyons until I reached the wash at the base of Damsel Peak. I then took a left and began to ascend that wash. Again, hindsight tells me that I might have conserved a bit of energy by staying in that wash longer. See the Damsel Peak Baseline Loop route. But after a few hundred yards I took a right and began to ascend the base of Damsel Peak. It wasn’t too difficult, but did involve a lot of scrambling along the edge of some rather steep Limestone scree slopes. One thing I will say about my too early ascent out of the wash is that the views were much better than they would have been had I stayed in the wash longer. I could see the Brownstone Basin opening up beneath me. At this point I began to rise above the elevation of Turtlehead Peak summit.
I angled around to the left of two rock formations, the final one of which was the North edge of the Damsel Peak Western cliffs. Now and then while on these scree slopes I came across what looked like big horn sheep trails or the trails of previous climbers. These were helpful as they gave some relief from the steep scree slopes. During this entire adventure I was never once exposed to a potential fall. You just need to pick your way along the slopes and watch for the easier routes that do not involve exposure.
A number of times I was about to turn around when faced with what looked like a huge traverse to the next hillside. But the thought of “What’s over that next rise?” kept me going forward. And, the distances were always shorter and easier than they seemed at first. Finally, over the last hillside I summited the Northern ridgeline of Damsel Peak. The Las Vegas Valley came into spectacular view! I took a right and headed up the gradual final slope to the summit of Damsel Peak. The slope was more gradual than the terrain below. It was populated with a beautiful Pinyon Pine forest, in contrast to the arid desert terrain I’d been traversing below.
For the return trip, for the most part, I retraced my steps back down to the wash at the base of the Damsel Peak Western cliffs. This time I headed down that wash all the way to the opening between the two upper Brownstone Calico Hills. After passing between these formations I headed up the East side of Turtlehead Peak where I reconnected with the main Turtlehead Peak trail at the saddle area, then descended back to the Sandstone Quarry parking area. As noted, the entire adventure took about 9 hours. With what I know now, I might be able to cut one hour off the trip, but I don’t regret any part of the adventure as it was! Damsel Peak is well worth the effort!
