Spring Mountains Recreation Area Mount Charleston Wilderness (Near Las Vegas)

Activity: Day Hike

Date: May 13, 2019

Distance: 3 Miles, 500′ elevation change, 2 hour duration, rated Easy.

I cannot really recommend this trail, as in my opinion it needs a trail crew and the Park Service to work on it. It is a nice area and it is fun to be out in nature here, but apparently the trail has changed. At least this map is not correct. If you follow attached map it starts out a nice, big, easy trail, then it appears that it used to go straight, but now has a log across it. So I followed the trail fork to the right, as it shows on the map, which looks like it dead ends. From there the map shows going on up a small trail that is overgrown and is at times nonexistent. It becomes a very steep mountainside, certainly not easy, that should have switchbacks, again making me think this is not really a hiking trail just that someone had gone this way before.

After I started heading down, I saw on the map I was following, someone started on a trail and then turn around. I followed it beyond that point. It led to a sign that mentioned Echo Trail and it seemed to be different altogether, but still a little strange. So as I said, something is off here and needs some work.

I followed part of the Little Falls Trail and that led uphill to a snowy slope and stream. You have to be careful as the slippery, snowy slope is slanted steeply towards the icy stream, and if that wasn’t enough, the ground must be warmer than the snow above, because there were places that you could break through the snow and there is a gap between the snow and the ground.

As I was painstakingly testing the snow, and making a stable foothold, I spied an Asian man and his 10 year old son. They were on the other side of the stream. The man grabbed his son, threw him over his shoulder and started walking through the ice water. He scampered up the bank and requested, in his best English, for me to please assist him. He relayed his son to me over a treacherous spot so that the son would not slide into the stream, nor fall in the snow hole. Afterwards, they both thanked me profusely.

I tried to inquire if the one foot water drops we were looking at was the waterfall or if there was something spectacular around the corner. Because of the language barrier I was unable to ascertain that information, and I wasn’t sure if he knew anyway. Later I discovered, from a person familiar with the area, if I had only walked in the icy stream for a couple hundred yards or so around a bend or two I would have found a nice proper waterfall.