Red Rock Canyon – Turtlehead Peak

November 2nd, 2023

On our first day in Nevada, we picked up our campervan and headed straight to the Red Rock Canyon campground. The next morning, we were up and ready to enter the park at our pre-booked Timed Entry. Unfortunately, I could not find the reservation email for anything. That’s okay – the kind guy at the admission booth looked up my email, found me, and let me in. So nice!

We headed straight for the Visitor’s Centre for some intel. I had about two days to book this trip, and had zero time for research. That’s okay – the Visitor Centre guy was great. I asked for the longest, hardest hikes they had. His advice did not dissapoint! He recommended we head immediately to Turtlehead Peak because there was no wind and it was doable today. We are no strangers to wind, but thought we’d heed the advice we asked for, and head on up.

We saw lots of people on the official trail. Several people who started before us were coming back down, not liking the heat and the elevation gain. Most desert hikes are fairly flat canyon bottom walking, but this is a true hike.

Geologically, this is a special feature called the Keystone Thrust. About 65 million years ago, an older and deeper limestone layer was pushed up and over the younger sand dunes.

Gear

Hiking boots, poles and regular day pack kit. Lots of water!

Overview

From the parking lot, follow the signs through the sandy desert floor to the base of Turtlehead Peak. Start hiking up, following the barrels of rocks used as trail markers. At the col, this is the end of the official trail. To continue to the summit, turn right and make your way up any old way you choose. There are a million paths at this point. From the summit, we enjoyed the view, then hiked down the way we came.

Totals – Downloadable Tracks on Gaia, and on Strava

Date: November 2, 2023
Group:  Two (Alisen & Mike)
Distance:  7.4  km
Elevation:  600 m (1,980′)
Time: 3 hours 40 minutes (includes breaks)

Parking and Trail Head

The parking lot for Turtlehead Peak is, I believe, the third parking lot on the scenic drive from the entrance. The trailhead is well signed.

Main Trail

We found the trail to the base of Turtlehead Peak a bit convoluted, especially for our first foray into the area. There are lots of other trails, many of which are dead-ends that lead to technical climbing routes. By keeping and eye on the Turtlehead Peak, it’s fairly easy to pick the right trail.

There are trail markers, and we also had GPS.

After a little more than 2 km, we were at the base of Turtlehead Peak. From here, we followed the trail and a series a cairns to the col. The cairns were barrels of rocks wrapped in chicken wire. While this used the available landscaping material, they were sometimes hard to see because they were the same colour as the landscape.

One of the best parts of this hike was the amazing desert flora. I’ve never seen anything like this.

We saw a few people on this trail, most of them were coming back down. They were not happy with the heat and the elevation. Once we got to the col, we saw one couple heading for the summit, but we never saw them on the trail.

Return

After enjoying the summit views and having a snack, it was time to head back down. We retraced our steps back to the col, where we met a father / son duo from the midwest. They immediately clocked our Canadian accents, which was pretty impressive considering we really only said hello at that point.

By the time we got back to the campervan, it was about 1:45 pm. I was SO hot! I crawled into the van, stripped off my clothes, and drank a gallong of water. I eventually cooled off enough to begin thinking of heading back out. So glad I did, because the Calico Tanks were pretty darn cool.

Thanks for reading. Have you hiked Turtlehead Peak? Or is is now going on your list? Do tell.

Alisen