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.
From the trailhead, continue past where the Cathedral Rock Trail splits off to the right. Arrive at the “junction” where the Charleston Loop reaches the South Ridge of Kyle Canyon…about 4.25 miles from the trailhead. At the junction turn left toward Griffith Peak. The summit looks like it is a long steep climb but it is actually only about 1/2th miles from the junction and you’re on the summit before you realize it.
From Griffith Peak Summit there are basically two main ridge descent options (not counting the ridge you just ascended). One option is to descend the ridge toward Harris Mountain, which descends to a saddle before re-ascending to Harris Mountain. I’ve documented this ridge route between the two mountains in both directions: The Griffith > Harris Route and the Harris > Griffith Route.
The ridge you want today is Sexton Ridge, which descends down the West side of Lovell Canyon. You will see Lovell Canyon on your left and Trout Canyon on your right. The ridge is pretty much straight past Griffith Peak Summit, and then down with a rather steep descent followed by a brief leveling off, then another steep descent followed by a much longer gradual descent.
On this day, as noted, I descended to the edge of the longer gradual descent, when the ridge takes another plunge downward. At this point I was only 1/2 mile from the point I had ascended earlier from Lovell Canyon. So, there is only 1/2 mile of Sexton Ridge I have not yet traversed as of this first descent. But that 1/2 mile includes a rather steep cliff area. Perhaps this can be circumvented with little or no climbing beyond class 2. We’ll see on the next pass!
In all, Sexton Ridge from one end to the other is quite the distance and ascent challenge, requiring as much if not more effort than a marathon, or the Charleston Loop.
