Pinto Valley Wilderness, NV - 3 Day 25 Mile Loop Hike March 2017

seekinglost

seekinglost

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In March 2017 I did a 3 day 25 mile loop hike in the Pinto Valley Wilderness, 1 hour east of Las Vegas. This area is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This place was very colorful and unique, not the typical desert hike:

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Almost all of this hike is off trail. We had to do about 2 miles of road walking each way coming to and from the trailhead to make this loop work. I would add a more detailed write up here, but I already have a 4000+ word trip report written here(with my caltopo map for the hike):

http://metalbackpacker.com/pinto-valley-wilderness-3-day-loop-hike/

I have a video of the hike on youtube as well:
 
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Very cool report, and very cool area. I went and read the whole thing on your web site. I know of Lake Mead, of course, but I had no idea this wilderness area existed. It must have been rough to carry all your water for those days, but the scenery and the experience seem to have made up for it!
 
Jackson said:
Very cool report, and very cool area. I went and read the whole thing on your web site. I know of Lake Mead, of course, but I had no idea this wilderness area existed. It must have been rough to carry all your water for those days, but the scenery and the experience seem to have made up for it!
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Thanks Jackson. I found it using wilderness.net's interactive map, I hadn't heard of it either. Very glad I went though! Carrying water for 3 days wasn't too bad, it gets lighter pretty quickly. Plus the lack of water keeps the crowds away, practically nobody backcountry camps out there from what I can tell. Most of the area is accessible by dayhike though. This was my first visit to the Vegas area, really looking forward to come back and explore more. I did Valley of Fire state park the day before, that was really cool too.
 
Neat! I've driven the north shore drive a few times and wondered what it was like between it and the lake. Thanks for sharing!
 
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