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Sunrise Mountain, like its larger, better known neighbor Frenchman Mountain (immediately to the South across Lake Mead Blvd.), is not technically within the border of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. However, I’m including it in the Lake Mead section because, like Frenchman Mountain, it serves as a gateway to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and offers a grand view of both the Lake Mead region and Nellis AFB below. In addition, you will find a lot more solitude than the more heavily traveled Frenchman Mountain trail. And, in my thinking, the Sunrise Mountain adventure is more rugged, wild, challenging and interesting.
Sunrise Mountain sits in its own beautiful valley to the North of Frenchman Mountain. There are at least 4 interesting and challenging summits on the borders or that valley. Lots to explore…and likely you will have the entire valley with its 5 summits to yourself!
Because Sunrise Mountain is largely unknown to most people, who are either heading for Frenchman Mountain or for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, there are a couple other features that are mistaken for Sunrise Mountain. Some have assumed the first (Northern) false summit of Frenchman Mountain is Sunrise Mountain. Actually both of the double summits on Frenchman Mountain are part of Frenchman Mountain. Alternately, to the North across Lake Mead Blvd. from the Frenchman Mountain trailhead there is a distinctive high ridge with a wide trail at its base. Some, including myself on my initial exploration of the area, think this ridge might be Sunrise Mountain. Wrong again! See the directions below for the true location of Sunrise Mountain.
The best time of day to summit Sunrise Mountain is, as the name says, at sunrise (sunset would also work). The best time of year is between October and May. During the Summer months temperatures in this area easily rise to 120 degrees!
The most direct approach to Sunrise Mountain is from the Frenchman Mountain trailhead on Lake Mead Blvd. To get to the Frenchman Mountain trailhead, travel up Lake Mead Blvd. East from Las Vegas until just before the road reaches a high point before it begins to descend to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. You’ll notice a large pull-out parking area on the right (South) side of the road. Park there. This is the Frenchman Mountain Trailhead. If you head up the large mountain to the South (right) you’re heading up Frenchman Mountain. On the other hand, if you want to go to Sunrise Mountain, cross Lake Mead Blvd. and head North (left).
During the prior adventure 3-4 years ago I was in my first week of recovery from major surgery (see the adventure descriptions lower on this page). I did not make the summit of Sunrise Mountain at that time. However I did manage to discover and document the route toward the Southern summit of Sunrise Mountain.
On this day I revisited Sunrise Mountain and made it all the way to the Southern summit, streamlining and redocumenting the approach (see the video on this page). And it was all class 2 and 3 climbing: Nothing technical. Just take it step by step. It’s basically a steep walk up loose gravel slopes with a few class 3 rock scrambles along the way, especially at the high points.
As you stand at the Frenchman Mountain parking area, turn around and look across Lake Mead to scope out your route to Sunrise Mountain. Your initial target is the saddle between two large hills directly across Lake Mead. There are a few low gravely mounds and an upaved road in the foreground. Use the unpaved road to help you over the initial mounds, but head for the saddle between the two larger hills. Once you cross the gravely mounds, watch for a faint trail that will take you up to the saddle between the larger hills.
Looking over the edge of the saddle you can see your first view of Sunrise Mountain, and a narrow gully descending in that direction. The faint trail, now with some occasional cairns, will help ease your way down the narrow rocky gully. Larger views of Sunrise Mountain open up as you begin to descend the gully. It’s the large mountain a bit to your left beyond the base of the gully. Near the bottom of the gully the surface will vary, including some brief stretches of Jurassic Era red rock. Continue downward until the gully empties into a larger perpendicular wash.
As you stand in the first wash, you’ll notice ahead, between you and Sunrise Mountain there’s a substantial ridge. On the opposite side of that ridge is the parallel Southern baseline gully of Sunrise Mountain and the approach to the summit. There are multiple ways to cross the intervening ridge to get to the Sunrise Mountain Southern Baseline Wash – that’s the wash that skirts the Southern base of Sunrise Mountain. In the video I took the straight route up to the highest part of the ridge, crossed the high rocky area, then descended to a road that emptied into the Sunrise Mountain Southern Baseline Wash. There’s an easier way: At the first large wash, turn left, then angle up the ridge below and to the left of the ridge high point. You’ll find the same road there. Take the road to the Sunrise Mountain Southern Baseline Wash.
As you descend the road toward the Southern Baseline Wash, you’ll note a large gully directly ahead. You want to ascend the next gully to the right (East). So, take a right on the Sunrise Mountain Southern Baseline Wash, head up the wash for about 2-300ft to the next gully. That’s the summit approach gully.
On this day there was a cairn at the entrance to the Summit Approach Gully. The cairn marks a faint trail that will help you weave around rugged areas as you ascend the gully. Take a left out of the wash to begin ascending the gully, passing the cairn and continuing on the faint trail. Further up the gully there is a large rocky area in the center of the gully. Circle around the left side of that rocky area and continue ascending the gully. Shortly thereafter, you’ll notice a gradual slope to your right. That’s the Sunrise Mountain Southern Summit Approach Slope.
You could continue up the gully all the way to the Southern Summit. Or, you could take the fairly gradual slope to the right of the gully. We took the slope to the right during the ascent and the gully during the descent, making a loop. The slope to the right offers spectacular views all the way up with Lake Mead to the East and the Las Vegas Valley to the West with a backdrop of the Spring Mountain Range including the Mt. Charleston Wilderness, La Madre Mountains, Rainbow Mountains and Potosi Mountain. The gully creates alternate variety during the descent.
At this point, notice the geological formation of the mountain. This will help you during the navigation to the summit. Sunrise Mountain is composed of limestone layers that were once the bottom of an ancient sea. Through the process of plate tectonic subduction, the limstone layers were lifted to 60-degree or more angles. The East side of the mountain is composed of these 60-degree layers dramatically plunging to the base of the mountain. So, the East side of every feature on Sunrise Mountain is steep…near vertical! The West side of every feature on Sunrise Mountain is more gradual. Circle obstacles on the West side where you can!
Take a right turn out of the gully and begin ascending the Sunrise Mountain Southern Summit Approach Slope. Stay to the upper left (West) edge of the approach slope, weaving around and through some rocky ridges. When you reach the highest rocky point you saw from below, look ahead to see a large rocky hill. Ascend to that hill and circle around its lower West (left) slope. Remember, West is more gradual. That hill is a sheer cliff on its East side!
Once you’ve circled the left side of the rocky hill you can see the higher rocky Southern summit ahead. In fact, you can also see the long saddle between the Southern Summit and the Northern Summit. Weave your way through the rocks and ledges, passing the left side of the Southern Summit, then winding your way upwards to the summit.
Here’s a short list of what you will see from the Southern Summit beginning in a clockwise circle from the Las Vegas Strip:
Once on the Southern Summit, the Northern Summit, a bit higher, and the saddle between the summits are visible. You could take the saddle’s knife-edge all the way to the Northern summit, but you may find that route rugged, rocky and exposed on the East side. A safer, easier way to the Northen summit would be to traverse the saddle on it’s upper West side a bit below the saddle summit. Then, circle around the Northern summit and weave your way upward just beyond its West (left) side.
Descend the Southern Summit by the same route you ascended, then angle to the left (South) toward the summit of the original approach gully. We descended the upper portion of the gully on the left side before crossing over to the right side to continue our descent, all the way down until we finally reconnected with the lower gully trail we’d been on before we left the gully for the Southern Summit Approach Slope. Once back on the lower gully trail, just retrace that trail down to the Southern Baseline Wash at the base of the gully.
Now, take a right for about 300ft on the Sunrise Mountain Southern Baseline Wash, finally ascending the ridge on the opposite side of the wash aided by that road you used to cross the ridge earlier. Continue angling to the left and over the ridge to the next parallel wash (remember, the first wash you landed in). Continue up that wash and then take a right onto the narrow gully you originally descended from the Frenchman Mountain area. Retrace your way back to the Frenchman Mountain parking area across Lake Mead Blvd.
It’s pretty amazing to think that just across Lake Mead Blvd. from the popular Frenchman Mountain Trail there is the wild and remote Sunrise Mountain. The Frenchman Mountain Trail is at times mobbed by a steady stream of hikers. You likely did not see a soul all the way to the summit of Sunrise Mountain and may have felt you were a thousand miles away from civilization…except for those speactacular views of the Las Vegas Valley and Strip!
There is a high narrow ridge almost directly across Lake Mead Blvd. to the North, but slightly East from the Frenchman Mountain parking area. In my initial exploration of the area I scoped out the gullies both to the East and to the West of this high narrow ridge. Both gullies rose to a high saddle and then descended into a large valley. Bordering that valley, on its West side is Sunrise Mountain, the highest feature above the valley.
To get to Sunrise Mountain, take the gully on the West (left) side of the high narrow ridge immediately across Lake Mead Blvd from the Frenchman Mountain parking area. The gully on the East side of the ridge is interesting and offers some additional jumping off points for interesting adventures in the area, but it’s not the route you want to take if you’re heading to Sunrise Mountain.
As you head for that Western gully (left of the high ridge), there are no trail markings and it’s a bit confusing. It looks at first as if you are walking into a large parking area across Lake Mead Blvd from the Frenchman Mountain trailhead parking area. Just head across that parking area up to a high point beyond which it is obvious motor vehicles can proceed no further. Beyond that high point you will notice a pretty distinct trail continuing up the gully. Soon that trail will reach a saddle before it begins to descend into the next valley.
As you top that saddle you will notice a large mountain bordering the West side of the valley ahead. It’s the largest mountain in the area North of Frenchman Mountain. The mountainside displays distinct slabs of once horizontal rock that have been pushed up to angles greater than 60, 70 degrees and even steeper. This is Sunrise Mountain.
The use trail continues down the North side of the saddle toward Sunrise Mountain. Curiously, this trail is well marked with cairns, many only 50 feet apart, though you’re descending through a shallow canyon wash and its hard to get lost. Just keep going downhill like flowing water. However, later on the return trip I saw the value of such frequent cairns when many alternate small washes appeared splitting off in different directions and could be confusing. On the less obvious return trip route, just head with a bearing South toward Frenchman Mountain and the right side of the high ridge in the center of the South end of the Sunrise Mountain valley. Hopefully you have lots of water and are not making this trip in late Spring to mid Summer when temperatures which can easily exceed 120 degrees!
Back to the descent toward Sunrise Mountain: Continuing down the well-marked wash, the walls will rise a bit and there will be some beautiful Aztec red rock features. The going is relatively easy with few obstacles.
The wash will eventually “T” out at its base to one of a network of ATV trails. Now the challenge is to find the best way to navigate over a ridge to the Southern base of Sunrise Mountain. I turned right at the “T” and headed up a short, fairly steep slope on the ATV trail to get my bearings. Sunrise Mountain again came into view at the top of that slope along with the maze of ATV routes that crisscross the Sunrise Mountain valley. There is no direct trail leading to the South end of Sunrise Mountain, but I did notice below me an ATV trail that skirted the South end of Sunrise Mountain, so I headed straight for that trail and turned left to scope out possible routes to the summit. We’ll call this the Southern ATV route.
There’s a shallow, narrow wash that breaks off to the right (North) of the Southern ATV route and skirts the lower Eastern side of Sunrise Mountain. While scoping out this wash it appeared that there was at least one potential route to the top of the ridge that could then lead to the summit.
Retracing my way back to the Southern ATV trail, I located a fairly wide canyon on the West side of the ridge I had just skirted earlier. There was a downed sign in Spanish that seemed to indicate a gun range. In fact, I could hear below to the West toward Las Vegas the sounds of gun firing throughout the remainder of this adventure. However, there was no shooting on Sunrise Mountain.
Anyway, at the Spanish gun sign I turned right up the wide canyon, which I will call “Cairn Canyon”, which heads up the South side of Sunrise Mountain and is the main route people take to the summit. There are many cairns marking the route up that canyon. About mid-way up the canyon it appeared there were additional potential summit routes up fairly gradual slopes to the right and left. I’ll call these the 3rd – 5th potential summit routes.
First, I went all the way to the top of “cairn canyon” where there was a brief class 3 section to the top of the ridge at the North end of the canyon. From there it appears you take a right and head up a steep hill and from there reach the summit.
My post surgery recovery did not allow pulling myself over even the easiest rocks on this day, so I headed half-way back down the canyon and then ascended the fairly gradual ridge up the East side of the canyon. This took me way above the summit of “cairn canyon”. At the top North end of this ridge there is that same steep hill I saw above the top of cairn canyon that then potentially leads to the summit. I turned at the base of this hill and will return on a cooler day and when in better condition (it was 90 degrees on this day).
Next time I’ll go half way up “cairn canyon”, then take the gradual ridge up the East side of the canyon to avoid all the rocks and boulders in the wash, ascend the steep hill at the top of the ridge and from there navigate to the summit.
In summary, Sunrise Mountain, though not as high as Frenchman Mountain, is far more interesting with many potential routes to the summit. It’s a place that allows a lot of adventure and experimentation. The views are incredible and the solitude is refreshing. It’s a fairly untouched wilderness all in itself. By the way, though this was a mid-Spring Saturday (first Saturday in April), I was the only one present in the Sunrise Mountain area the entire day and did not see another soul from the point I left the Frenchman Mountain trailhead parking area until I returned to that area.
David Smith has devoted the better part of one day each week over the past 20 years to experiencing a mountain trail running adventure. He began in the Pacific Northwest with the Columbia Gorge and Cascade Mountains; then moved to Southern California and experienced the Angeles Crest mountains; then the Northeast where he experienced the Hudson River Valley and Minnewaska; finally in 2016 to Las Vegas where he is experiencing and documenting Red Rock Canyon, the Spring Mountains (Mt. Charleston area), Death Valley and beyond!
Return often to experience one new adventure each week! From the home page scroll to “Most Recent Adventures“. More about David Smith…
The trail adventures on this website require proper conditioning, preparation and safety precautions. There are many factors beyond our control including weather conditions, unstable ground, loose rocks, insects and snakes, people you may encounter, your own level of physical conditioning, the potential of getting lost just to mention a few. While this site offers guidance, helpful tips, direction and training, the reader assumes full responsibility for whatever may occur during their trail adventure. Have fun and be safe!
