Overview | Rocky Gap Rd. to Bridge Mt. Trailhead | Lovell Canyon, Nevada
Help in Locating Rocky Gap Road
If you’re driving up
Lovell Canyon Road and looking for
Rocky Gap Road, this article, map and video will be helpful. I walked and carefully video documented
Rocky Gap Road from its intersection with
Lovell Canyon Road to its summit point at the
Bridge Mountain Trailhead. So, this video shows how to locate the unmarked
Rocky Gap Road at the intersection with
Lovell Canyon Road. For the forest road system in this and other wilderness areas, even though the roads have names on the map, you will seldom if ever see road signs with those names. Instead, you’ll see small signs with forest road numbers: In this case
Forest Road #45549.
Ridgeline Network Above Rocky Gap Road
My primary purpose here was not to locate or document the nature of
Rocky Gap Road. My primary purpose was to scope out the 3 major ridge systems that can be accessed from
Rocky Gap Road:
- Wilson Ridge North and South Access: Rocky Gap Road cuts through the Wilson Ridge. That’s where the term “Gap” comes from.
- Rainbow Mountains Upper Crest Ridgeline: I’m looking to document where the Wilson Ridge South of Rocky Gap Road connects with the Rainbow Mountains Upper Crest Ridgeline (above Juniper Peak).
- The La Madre Mountain Cliffs Ridgeline (Keystone Thrust Cliffs): Shortly after heading North on the Wilson Ridge from Rocky Gap Road, the Wilson Ridge connects with The La Madre Mountain Cliffs Ridgeline which borders the North side of Red Rock Canyon.
So, this is a baseline exploration of access to the three major ridge systems. Soon to follow will be routes along those ridge systems.
Spectacular Mountaintop Views
Traversing these three ridgelines presents mountaintop views along the entire length of the ridgelines! Views include this short summary list and much more:
When you see that all this…a huge slice of the Southwestern U.S. wilderness…can be viewed from the three ridgelines accessed from
Rocky Gap Road, you’ll realize this road as a rare, incredible nodal point!
Best Time of Year for This Adventure
Stick to Spring and Fall months. Winter can bring snow, especially if you’re navigating the ridgeline systems, and mid-Summer can bring extremely high temperatures.
Directions to the Start Point | Rocky Gap Rd. to Bridge Mt. Trailhead | Lovell Canyon, Nevada
Take
Hwy 160 from
Las Vegas toward
Pahrump. The highway ascends over a “hump” (the
Potosi Mountain area). There’s a saying around here, “
Over the hump to Pahrump”. Well, you’ve just traveled over that hump. Around 4-5 miles from the point where the highway begins to descend toward
Pahrump there is a well-marked sign on the right for
Lovell Canyon Road. Proceed 12 miles up the well-paved road until the pavement ends and an unpaved road branches off to your left 1/4th mile from the official
Lovell Canyon Trailhead which will be on the right. There is ample parking across from the trailhead which will be on your right.
Views Along Lovell Canyon Road
Lovell Canyon Road is a beautiful stretch passing through a
Joshua Tree forest that soon becomes populated predominately with
junipers and
pines. There are ridges and meadows and many camping pull-outs along the way. This stretch reminds me a lot of the high desert area around
Bend Oregon. Very open and majestic. All the while you’re looking up at the Spring mountains with
Griffith Peak standing prominent. The road has very little traffic and would make a great bike, walking or running route. In fact, what an awesome backdrop for a marathon (pretty easy to add 2 miles to the 24-mile out and back stretch)!
Lovell Canyon & Rocky Gap Road Intersection
Proceed about 9 miles up the well-paved road to park at its unmarked connection with
Rocky Gap Road (Forest Road #45549 (see map).
↓ Narrative Guide ↓
Narrative Guide | Rocky Gap Rd. to Bridge Mt. Trailhead | Lovell Canyon, Nevada
Navigating Rocky Gap Road
First, my assessment of
Rocky Gap Road from its intersection with
Lovell Canyon Road to its summit at
The Bridge Mountain Trailhead. You’d better have a good 4WD vehicle, an ATV or be on foot or on a mountain bike to navigate this stretch! A 2WD vehicle would experience its final days on earth! There is one particular 1000ft stretch that is actually a rocky wash. Boulders in this stretch are huge. I named the stretch, “
The Stretch from Hell“. I did see a
Rubicon 4WD successfully navigate the stretch and numerous ATVs have been successful.
As a walking trail,
Rocky Gap Road is great! Wide, easy, beautiful and the shortest route to the
Bridge Mountain Trailhead. It’s wilderness at its best!
There are some great camping pullouts along
Rocky Gap Road. If I were coming in from
Las Vegas or points further distant and wanting to climb
Bridge Mountain, I might rent or bring my own 4WD vehicle and spend the night camping. The next morning, I’d have all day to do
Bridge Mountain or hike the
Wilson Ridge, the
Rainbow Mountains Upper Crest Ridgeline or the
La Madre Mountains cliff line and peaks. In fact, I could camp there for a week and never run out of great adventures!
Primary Purpose: Scoping Out Ridgeline Access Above Rocky Gap Road
Here is what I discovered regarding ridgeline access from
Rocky Gap Road:
Wilson Ridge North
Take the gradual ridge that begins about a quarter mile up
Rocky Gap Road. It’s the ridge to the left (North) of
Rocky Gap Road. You can’t miss it. This ridge parallels
Rocky Gap Road. Begin ascending near the base of this ridge. It will take you all the way to
Red Rock Summit, the high point above and North of the
Bridge Mountain Trailhead.
From
Red Rock Summit, you can continue North on the
Wilson Ridge. You could go all the way to
Harris Mountain at the summit of the
Wilson Ridge. And, at the base of
Harris Mountain you could catch the
Griffith Peak back-wilderness trail, hike to
Griffith Peak and then down
Sexton Ridge on the opposite side of
Lovell Canyon all the way to the
Lovell Canyon Trailhead, then take
Lovell Canyon Road back to
Rocky Gap Road, finally ascending back to your camping area. Awesome legendary circuit, but be prepared for a multi-day adventure!
Or, you could take the ridgeline to the right (East) of the
Wilson Ridge (about a quarter-mile North of
Red Rock Summit. This ridge to the right (East) will lead to the
La Madre Mountains Cliffs including
El Bastardo,
Burnt Peak, El Padre and La Madre Mountain. You could spend at least a couple days exploring the
La Madre Mountains!
North or South, you’ll more likely face come serious rocky sections to navigate including some vertical headwalls. So, use the more gradual ascent ridges that begin about a quarter-mile from the beginning of
Wilson Ridge South
Take the more gradual South approach ridge that runs parallel to the North approach ridge just mentioned. It’s to the right (South) of
Rocky Gap Road and begins about the same area (a quarter-mile up
Rocky Gap Road). However, in this case, you need to cross an intervening canyon wash to get to the ridge. That crossing doesn’t look too difficult as the wash is shallow at this point lower in
Lovell Canyon. In fact, I might just head to that ridge directly from
Lovell Canyon Road and skip
Rocky Gap Road altogether.
At the summit of this approach ridge you’re on the
Wilson Ridgeline above the
Bridge Mountain Trailhead. Angle right (South) on the
Wilson Ridgeline. Set your sites on
The Rainbow Mountains Upper Crest Ridgeline. There’s a fairly tame cross-over ridge between the Wilson Ridgeline and
The Rainbow Mountains Upper Crest Ridgeline that will land you on
The Rainbow Mountains Upper Crest Ridgeline above the
Juniper Peak area. From there you can go either North on that ridgeline all the way to
White Rock Mountain in
Red Rock Canyon, or
South on the ridgeline all the way to highway 160 at
Mountain Spring, the Southern tip of the
Rainbow Mountains and beginning of
Potosi Mountain.
La Madre Mountains Cliffs (Keystone Thrust Cliffs)
As mentioned above, connecting with this ridgeline involves heading North on the
Wilson Ridgeline. See above.
Rocky Gap Road Summary
If you’re well prepared, you could spend a week (Spring or Fall) camping on
Rocky Gap Road near the
Bridge Mountain Trailhead and exploring the
Wilson Ridgeline, the
Rainbow Mountains, the
Mt. Charleston Wilderness, the
La Madre Mountains and
Lovell Canyon! Have a great time exploring this huge slice of
Southern Nevada Wilderness from
Rocky Gap Road. In the process, you’ll be connecting all the wilderness areas as you explore a rarely traveled, pristine wilderness! Total, extended wilderness immersion creating enduring life memories!
Final Word of Wisdom
However, I suggest you begin exploring and becoming familiar with small stretches of this wilderness (10-mile RTs), before piecing it all together in larger, more comprehensive adventures. It took me about 6-7 years of exploring the wilderness in this area on a weekly basis to be able to make these connections without getting lost or ending up in a dangerous place. Now I can do all of this walking…no climbing beyond a few brief, light class 3 stretches here and there. 99% is at a class 2 walk, though steep in places!
