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The slide guide will appear on this page early on the week of January 28th, 2024!
If you enjoyed the Lower Calico Hills Loop, you’ll love the Upper Calico Hills Loop. This loop completes your general introduction to the spectacular Calico Hills in Red Rock Canyon and the Calico Basin. In the process of traversing both of these loops, you’ll discover many additional side adventures in the Calico Hills you’ll want to return and explore!
The Calico Hills are ancient Jurassic Era sandstone hills that form the colorful North/South ridgeline border between Red Rock Canyon and Calico Basin. The Northern end of the Calico Hills is located around the Sandstone Quarry trailhead area on the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive. The Southern end of the Calico Hills is located near Highway 159 “Red Rock Canyon Road”.
Wonderfully, there is a beautiful passageway, the Black Corridor, through the center of the Calico Hills between Red Rock Canyon and the Calico Basin. This passageway neatly divides the Calico Hills into a Southern and a Northern region. As mentioned above, you can make a loop around each region: The Lower Calico Hills Loop, you’ll love the Upper Calico Hills Loop.
The Upper Calico Hills Loop route begins at the Kraft Mountain Trailhead, ascends spectacular Ash Canyon, traverses incredibly beautiful upper Calico Hills terrain below the popular Calico Tanks, then descends to the Grand Circle Loop Trail. Finally, you’ll traverse the beautiful hidden Black Corridor between Red Rock Canyon’s scenic drive and the Calico Basin before returning to your starting point at the Kraft Mountain Trailhead. It’s quite the memorable adventure!
Along this incredible loop you will see the following (this is a short list):
Spring and Fall are best. Winter may bring rain and some snow which create slick conditions on the sandstone you will be traversing. However, I did this loop in late January. The sandstone was a bit damp in places, wet sand clinging to shoes adding a bit to slickness, but experience and care in those conditions made the traverse without even a minor loss of stability.
Winter also brings shorter days. It’s advised you complete this loop in daylight so you can avoid traversing the pathless canyons on either end in the dark!
Summer temperatures can rise into the upper 90s and beyond!
From Hwy 215 in the Summerlin area, take the Charleston Blvd exit, turn upward (West) on Charleston Blvd toward the mountains. Charleston Blvd becomes Blue Diamond Rd. (159) as you leave the city. Take the Calico Basin exit off 159 (right turn) onto Calico Basin Road. Continue on Calico Basin Road to the end of the road. On the way you will pass the Red Springs Desert Oasis parking area as the road veers right and becomes Calico Drive, then Sandstone Drive. Sandstone Drive ends with the Kraft Mountain parking lot, on the left.
Your first reference point is Ash Canyon. You can see and identify Ash Canyon from the Kraft Mountain Trailhead parking area. As you’re looking at Kraft Mountain, two passes are visible on the left side (West side) of that mountain. Immediately to the West is the Pink Goblin Pass with it’s Hell Hill Trail, part of the Kraft Mountain Loop. The next pass visible further to the left (West) is Ash Canyon. That’s your first target.
Head to the upper end of the Kraft Mountain Trailhead parking area where you will see the Ash Spring Trailhead. Follow the good trail markings into Ash Spring. Once in Ash Spring you’ll be confronted with numerous off-splitting “rabbit trails”. You can wander around or stay to the left (South) side of the Ash Spring area for the main trail. This will take you to the lower entrance of Ash Canyon.
It was late January. Water was running through the Ash Spring area–easy to jump over the streams. There was a beautiful little waterfall. The area was carpeted with brown, dormant grass (imagine it green, waving in the wind during the Spring months). There were scattered dormant Gamble’s Oak trees throughout. Imagine them with green foliage. In addition, there were the largest desert holly trees I’ve ever seen…green throughout the year. Ash Spring is a beautiful oasis in the desert!
At the upper end of Ash Spring begin heading up into Ash Canyon. At first the small boulders were easy to navigate. As they became larger and more difficult, I headed up the right side onto an upper ridge where I located the Ash Canyon Trail.
It was not long before the Ash Canyon Trail descended again into the base of the canyon wash. The boulders there were larger and more difficult to navigate, slowing progress. So, I navigated up to the left (West) side of the canyon where the going was easier for a bit. Note that an earlier passage through Ash Canyon was much smoother than today’s passage because I seemed to have found more of the Ash Canyon Trail during that adventure.
The upper West side route made navigation easier for a bit, but then the route again descended into the base of the wash with its large boulders! There were two other small hiking parties who, like me, were confused about the best route up the canyon. That is a good commentary on Ash Canyon. It’s likely you will get off track and wander around a bit in search of the best route up the canyon. Not to worry: Whether you remain in the wash with its large boulders or find a bypass trail (during my earlier trip I
