Overview | Forlorn Hope Peak South and Peak 2720 West | Eldorado Wilderness, Nevada

Slide Guide will appear week of 4/19/2026

Adventure Route Summary

This 15-mile Forlorn Hope Peak loop begins on Nelson Hwy 165 at the Nelson Hills, crosses 4 miles of desert to Mohave Overlook, descends into North Lonesome Wash, descends that wash to Peak 2720, then ascends the steep South side of Forlorn Hope Peak to its summit before returning to the starting point. See the map for a way to cut the total distance in half if you have a 4WD or high center vehicle.

Three Discoveries

The adventure reveals three important discoveries:

1. Southern Summit Approach to Forlorn Hope Peak: The customary approach to Forlorn Hope Peak from the North gradually and easily leads to spectacular views vastly surpassing the views from Mohave Overlook. This Southern approach to Forlorn Hope Peak is a fun steep wind through a series of cliffs and ledges, surprisingly class 2 with very little class 3 rock scrambling, as long as you stay on the tricky route.
2. Descent Path from Mohave Overlook: When you’re standing on the upper plateau of Mohave Overlook, it may feel as if you’re on the edge of the flat earth with an impossibly steep drop-off below to the South. This adventure uncovers a nice, but unmarked, path leading downward from Mohave Overlook to North Lonesome Wash below!
3. Potential Summit Routes to Peak 2720: From Lonesome Wash to the South Peak 2720 is a beautiful volcanic cone with an alpine look. This adventure from the West observes a long, high summit block with a seemingly impassible upper ledge. We’ll look at potential routes to weave through the headwall, but are saving that puzzle for a future adventure.

Terrain Difficulty

Surprisingly, this entire adventure is mostly a class 2 walk with very few brief class 3 rock scrambles. Much of the adventure presents an opportunity to meditate while crossing beautiful stretches of fairly level, remote desert with spectacular surrounding views.

Best Time of Year for This Adventure

Late Fall through early Spring offers the best temperatures. Mid-late Spring through early Fall can bring uncomfortably high temperatures, and mid Summer can bring dangerously high temperatures that rise to and above 120 degrees!  

Trailhead Directions | Forlorn Hope Peak South and Peak 2720 West | Eldorado Wilderness, Nevada

The Eldorado Wilderness is South of Las Vegas. Take Interstate 11 South toward Hoover Dam. Just after the Railroad Pass exit, take a right onto exit 14 to Hwy 95 toward Searchlight. Then, take a left onto Hwy 165. You’ll soon see well-placed, attractive interpretive signs for the Eldorado Wilderness and Nelson Hills. There is an Eldorado Trailhead, but you want to park at a wide spot by the road a couple miles before the trailhead.

Narrative Guide | Forlorn Hope Peak South and Peak 2720 West | Eldorado Wilderness, Nevada

Getting Your Initial Bearings

From the starting point on Hwy 165, look to the East to see (left to right) Pilot Cone, Pilot Mesa and Peeper Benchmark. There are a series of intervening ridges you want to miss by circumventing them to the left (lower North edge). You’ll turn right only wilderness Road F, skirt the base of Peeper Benchmark heading up to Mohave Overlook (not visible from the starting point).

Starting Point to Mohave Overlook

I love the open desert stretch between Hwy 165 and wilderness Road F at the base of Peeper Benchmark. There are vast, wide open views of the high points just mentioned ahead to the East. To the North are Boulder City to a backdrop of the River Mountains; to the left (West) are the Railroad Mountains and the North McCullough Wilderness. Further West you can see all the way to Potosi Mountain at the Southern tip of the Spring Mountains. To the South are the rugged high points of the Eldorado Wilderness. Though you can see all this, to anyone looking at this stretch of desert from afar, you are “invisible in plain sight”.

Round the low intervening ridges at their lower left (North) base, then head toward the North edge of Peeper Benchmark. Before reaching that peak you will reach wilderness Road F (3-mile point), where you’ll take a right and head up that road to Mohave Overlook (4-mile point).

Mohave Overlook to the Ridgeline Just West of 2720

Take some time to enjoy the view from Mohave Overlook. You can see the Colorado River winding along all the way to Lake Mohave! To the South there are the rugged heights of the Eldorado Wilderness. To the Southeast is the distinctive Peak 2720 with its long summit. This will be your next great goal. North Lonesome Wash, almost immediately below, leads all the way to Peak 2720. While on Mohave Overlook I searched for a way to descend from its plateau to the North Lonesome Wash. It looked like a rugged class 3 descent off the edge of the flat earth (Mohave Overlook Plateau), but surprisingly, I stumbled on an unmarked path easily winding downward all the way to the North Lonesome Wash!

North Lonesome Wash is wide and easy to navigate. Huge fields of Teddy Bear Cholla cacti glow in the sunlight, almost appearing to have a source of light within themselves.

Ridgeline to the West of Peak 2720

I ascended the West Ridgeline at its low Southern saddle. If you’re intending to ascend Peak 2720, this is a mistake. In that case, you want to circle the Southern base of that ridgeline, then ascend the gully on its opposite side. In my case, I ascended to the high North end of the West Ridgeline, discovering that continuing toward Peak 2720 would require a very sharp descent. However, the upper end of the West ridgeline does provide a great viewpoint from which to scope out potential Peak 2720 summit approaches. Though Peak 2720 looks imposing with its vertical headwall, it appears there might be a route weaving through the headwall near the North end of the summit area. Saving this for a future adventure, I took time to enjoy the spectacular views of the Colorado River to Lake Mohave…even better than the views from Mohave Overlook!

Ridgeline West of Peak 2720 to Forlorn Hope Peak Summit

From the high West ridgeline, you can look back up your entire route through North Lonesome Wash and all the way to Mohave Overlook beyond. To the North there is the seemingly impassible vertical South wall of Forlorn Hope Peak. Noticing a weakness about midway on the summit wall, I scoped out a route up the gullies below to that weak point. There is a class 2+ descent point from the Northwest edge of the West Ridgeline to the valley below. I descended to the continuation of the ridgeline below the high Western Ridge, then eventually descended that ridgeline to the lower valley ascending toward Forlorn Hope Peak. That valley progressively narrowed as it wound its way upward toward that weak point in the summit I’d seen earlier.

Eventually I found myself in a narrow winding gully, continuing upward. Views behind to the South were continually expansive and spectacular, along with great views of the North edge of Peak 2720’s summit now below in the distance. Winding upward toward the seemingly vertical summit wall of Forlorn Hope Peak became a questionable investment in energy. If there was an impassible vertical headwall near the summit I’d need to turn around and retrace my way to North Lonesome Wash and then back to Mohave Overlook, probably ending this adventure in the dark.

The gully continued to narrow toward that weak point in the summit wall. Just below the summit wall there were only two remaining choices: Take a right branch or a left branch. I tried the upper right branch first only to come up to a dead end 10ft vertical wall. It might have been possible to scale, then continue to the summit, but the drop-off below the wall was huge, so I turned to my last hope, the left branch of the upper gully. Hallelujah! This branch let up to the summit area where a short, gradual ascent up the summit slope brought me to Forlorn Hope Peak summit!

Take some time to enjoy the spectacular views from Forlorn Hope Peak summit. The views of the Colorado River South to Lake Mohave are the best of the day as are the views of the rugged heights of the Eldorado Wilderness. With careful study, you can identify Lonesome Peak, North Lonesome Peak, Peaks 3510 and 3320 and Mts. Stocker and Stalker. To the East you can see Malpais Flat Top Mesa in Arizona. To the West are Midway Peak, Yucca Camp Mountain, Pilot Mesa, Pilot Cone, the River Mountains, Railroad Mountains, North McCullough Wilderness, Mt. Charleston Wilderness and all the way to Potosi Mountain at the Southern end of the Spring Mountains. To the West, beyond Pepper Benchmark, you can see all the way to your starting point at the Nelson Hills on Highway 165. With a good set of binoculars you might even see your car parked there. There are few 360-degree vantage points that surpass the summit of Forlorn Hope Peak!

Forlorn Hope Peak Summit Back to the Hwy 165 Starting Point

Taking the nice gradual ridgeline downward from Forlorn Hope Peak summit, I descended to near the base of Midway Peak, then took a left to cross wilderness Road F and then the 3-mile desert back to Hwy 165.

Summary

This 15-mile experimental loop, along with additional potential spin-off adventures turned out to be a real winner, and I’d do it again!