Approaching La Madre Mountain through the Southern Notch was one of my first targets when I arrived in Nevada. For this reason, the route took a lot of experimentation. You can see this in the numerous videos. Eventually, I did work out an approach route from the Sandstone Quarry trailhead area, the parking area for hikes to Turtlehead Peak and the Calico Tanks.
La Madre Mountain is 8,154ft in elevation. It is the highest central feature of the La Madre Ridgeline that spans the rear (North) area of Red Rock Canyon in Nevada.
The La Madre Mountain Southern approach, from a distance, looks impossible as you’re facing a sheer cliff wall around 1000 ft high. However, as you approach the base of the cliff from Calico Basin it’s evident that there is a passage between the two peaks. This passage, rather steep, avalanche slope rocky and dicey in places, is accessed via a the main canyon wash at the top of Calico Basin. This wash is formed by the runoff from the La Madre Ridgeline above.
The summit view is amazing featuring Las Vegas Valley with Lake Mead across and to the East, Gass Peak and the Sheep Range to the North, spectacular views of Mt. Charleston Wilderness to the East and the awesome total expanse of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Calico Basin to the Southwest.
I’ve approached La Madre Mountain from the North, South, East and West. This page is devoted to the Southern approach.
Beginning at the Sandstone Quarry parking area, start out on the main Turtlehead Peak trail. As you ascend the wash above the parking area, insteading of turning right on the trail toward Turtlehead Peak, continue straight up the wash on the faint, unmarked Limestone Trail. Near the base of the La Madre Ridgeline, turn right on the Limestone Trail and skirt the base of the La Madre Ridgeline toward the Brownstone Basin. When you reach the Brownstone Basin, instead of descending into that basin, continue along the base of the La Madre Ridgeline, crossing a few major washes. Take a left onto the wash that heads up to the Notch (opening) between El Padre Mountain and La Madre Mountain. It’s very steep and much of the limestone rocks and bouders is loose, so watch your footing! At the summit of the opening, turn left to summit El Padre Mountain or right to summit La Madre Mountain. The terrain above the Notch is gentler than the approach wash immediately below.Â
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.
This is the same trailhead for the popular Turtlehead Peak and Calico Tanks hikes. 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. Therefore, unless you get to the parking area early enough to find a spot, you’ll totally miss the opportunity to use this parking area as your starting point for the La Madre Mountain Southern Approach adventure!
From the Sandstone Quarry trailhead parking area, head up Red Rock Wash to the North end of the Turtlehead Peak ridge system. That’s the ridgeline stretching North from Turtlehead Peak to the La Madre Ridgeline. The ridgeline will be to your right. As you ascend the wash, try to stick to a very faint trail in the rocks and gravel. This is the unmarked Limestone Trail. See the video and slide guides.
As you approach the base of the La Madre Ridgeline, circle to the right and around the upper portion of the Turtlehead Peak ridge system. There’s a good natural wash channel that will take you over to the Brownstone Basin. That’s what I call “The Brownstone Basin Crossover Wash“. You’re still on the Limestone Trail. That trail only ends as you emerge into the upper end of the Brownstone Basin. You’ll know you’ve arrived in the Brownstone Basin when you can see Damsel Peak ahead. Warning: If you turn right too early as you’re skirting the edge of the Turtlehead Peak ridge system on the Limestone Trail you’ll end up ascending the Turtlehead Peak ridge system, having to ascend and descend an additional 300-800ft scrambling and weaving around rocks and cliffs. I’ve done this a few times, and it drains a lot of the energy you will need later to ascend the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch passage. A severe example of ascent and descent is to take the Turtlehead Peak trail to the top of the ridge then take a left and head toward the La Madre Ridgeline cliffs. I’ve done this, and it ended my adventure before I reached the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch.
After crossing over to upper Brownstone Basin you will be faced with a series of ridges. You want to locate the summit passage approach wash that leads up to the La Madre Mountain summit. You’ll need to descend a bit to navigate around the lower end of these ridges to avoid ascending and descending the ridges. It’s a matter of traversing the intervening ridges along the base of the La Madre Ridgeline at the Goldilocks altitude: Not too low, not too high! About 3-4 ridges along you’ll reach a large wash leading directly up to the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch passage.
Take a left and head up the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch passage Approach Wash. Alternately, to avoid all the rocks, boulders and debris in the wash you could take the ridge above the wash, but the wash itself is pretty wide and easy to navigate.
You’ll continue to ascend a steeper and steeper incline until you are in the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch passage between the 2 peaks. You’re now at about 6,000ft nearly equal to the elevation of Turtlehead Peak. Continue to navigate the wash upward, eventually at about 7,300ft reaching the base of the sheer vertical La Madre Cliff. Veer to the left and hug the base of the cliffline. You’ll begin to see the cliff passage opening up before you. As of the writing of this article I’ve made it to the 7,400ft point, about 300ft shy of the summit of the passage. I was stopped mostly by exhaustion but also partially by the increasing steep rocky nature of the terrain. When you’re at this point you want to have enough energy to navigate some pretty rough terrain. I’ll finish this article when I reach the summit via this approach. I’ve traversed the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch from above on the La Madre, El Padre & Burnt Peak adventure. I began that adventure at the intersection of Harris Springs Road & Kyle Canyon Road to the North. It was strange looking down from the La Madre Mountain Southern Notch summit on this approach route below, which from that perspective did not seem so steep or difficult! Remember, the missing stretch is only around 300ft.
