Lake Mead – Boulder Beach

Wow! Lake Mead surprised me again. Last time we were here, I was blown away by how beautiful the geology is. This time, in addition to admiring its natural beauty, I come away impressed with the wealth of things you can do for entertainment. We stayed in Boulder Beach Campground, which is right next to, but a whole lot nicer than, a full hookup RV park. I got a site so pretty, I must have put some research into it. It was on the edge of the campground loop, with a nice view of the lake, and it was also on the end so there wasn’t anyone next to us on the door side. The sites are nicely spaced apart, with some bushes in between, which makes them more private. There’s great cell service and all the amenities in nearby Boulder City. All in all, it’s an incredible location and right on the River Mountains Loop Bike Trail.

We pulled in early, but our site was empty, so we got to set up with plenty of time on the day to go explore. The first thing we did was ride up to the Visitor Center to see what’s what. We learned all about the paved multi-use trail that takes a 36 mile wide circle from Boulder City, along Lake Mead, and then past Henderson, NV. We also learned about the rails to trails path that offers a unique way to go visit the Hoover Dam.

Right out of the Visitor Center, you pick up an old railroad route which is not paved, but is surfaced in hard packed fine gravel, making it doable for a road bicycle with thin tires. Because it follows the train line, it is nice and level, with gentle turns, and cool tunnels that go right through the mountains. You get amazing views of the lake and marina down below.

Eventually, the main trail ends, but you can continue until you get to a paved switch back ramp that will take you to the main parking garage for the dam. We should have parked our bikes at the top and walked down, but instead we rolled them down with us. Once you’re in the parking lot, you can take an elevator five levels down to the main walkway. We locked the bikes and left them at the top so we could go walk around. It was Christmas Eve and there were tons of people visiting the dam. We did a little promenade before heading back up the elevator, and then walking our bikes all the way up the switchback ramp. Good thing my e-bike has a walk assist feature. I recommend doing this trail as a way to visit the dam if you’re up for a walk or bike ride. You avoid all of the backed up car traffic and parking hassle. The only thing to not do is walk your bikes down the big ramp (like the sign at the top says: No Bicycles).

That was a super fun introduction to the area. We had originally planned to ride our bikes up to Boulder City to do a little bit of shopping, but that is one hell of a climb and we’d already gotten in a good ride, so we drove it. There are plenty of services in Boulder City, including an Albertsons for groceries, and a couple of places to get ice cream. As it was Christmas Eve, we were out of luck on the latter, but got enough sweet treats at the store to feel properly festive.

We awoke to the most gorgeous light on the lake and perfect blue Christmas skies the whole day. We did an epic ride of 36 miles and 2800 feet of climbing. From the campground, we picked up the paved trail, taking it counter clockwise. Along the lake, it rises and falls, skirting Lakeshore Road, which is the scenic drive through the national park. Once you pass Las Vegas Bay, the trail heads uphill. Before it bends to the south, it briefly joins up with the Lake Mead Parkway Trail. Then it splits and does some serious climbing over what they call the “Three Sisters.” The whole thing is well signed, with a few rest areas and bike repair stations along the way. You even get some views of Las Vegas in the distance.

Finally, the trail sweeps around toward Boulder City. The only confusing part of the whole trail was when it seemed to change from a trail to a flood control water trough. I think this is how the trail was designed, but there is now also a street level paved trail that runs parallel to the gutter trail most of the way. We took a wrong turn at one place when we were in the gutter and didn’t see the place where it climbed back up and out. It seems weird to put a multi-use trail in a flood gutter, but then, it probably doesn’t flood that much. And I guess, if things were actively flooding, you would know not to go for a trail stroll.

Once the trail starts descending from Boulder City, you are literally coasting and braking for eight miles, all the way back to the campground. The last stretch leaves the flood troughs and becomes the rails to trails route, making for a very nice steady descent. Going counter clockwise on this trail is key to ending your day smiling, staring at views of the lake, while not pedaling a single stroke. You also get to end the ride in town and could stop and grab a treat, if you so desire. My one complaint at all is that the pavement is cracked across the path at regular intervals for a lot of the ride along the lake. Some of the cracks have been filled, and some have only been half ass filled. It can make for jarring rhythmic bumps. Otherwise, five stars.

Christmas Day was a hard act to follow, but we managed to have an equally memorable Boxing Day. We did a lot of ruminating on whether or not to do a really big trail down to a hot spring and the Colorado River. The ranger at the Visitor Center recommended the Arizona Hot Springs trail, and AllTrails had lots of five star reviews. It seemed like the thing to do was take this as a loop that combined the White Rock Canyon Trail, but that would end up being close to seven miles, with over 1200 feet of climbing. There was disagreement in the various sources as to whether this was a “hard” or “moderate” trail, and there were conflicting opinions on whether it was better to do the loop clockwise or counter clockwise. I scanned reviews closely for indications of tricky rock scrambling and couldn’t find anything definitive, so we decided to go for it. Honestly, if I’d seen the NPS description, with warnings and alerts and a rating of “very strenuous,” I would probably have ruled it out. Luckily, I didn’t read that until after I’d done it. Sometimes too much information is a bad thing. I don’t disagree with any of the reviews, or warnings, but it was one of the most amazing trails I’ve done, and I’d do it again.

We decided to go the counter clockwise route, heeding the advice that slogging uphill for three miles in a deep gravel wash was not fun. I think that is probably the right call. Going down the wash into the canyon is incredible. The day started overcast, which was great for mild temperatures, but does mute the colors of the rock in pictures. As you descend, you can witness the progression of time, stamped into the different colors and textures of the canyon walls. Down at the bottom, as the trail finally opened onto the Colorado River, the sun came out and the bright oranges and rusty reds appeared in all their glory. Besides the deep gravelly surface making it tiring to traverse, I would say this part was an easy hike. There were very few places where you had to scramble up or down rocks, and those were easily done.

The connector trail from the bottom of White Rock Canyon, over to the Arizona Hot Springs proved to be the hardest part. The trail goes up and down over the rocky banks of the river, sometimes becoming a vertical climb or descent on dodgy terrain. And although they have spray painted arrows in some places to keep people on the right track, it is not easy to find the trail in several crucial spots. I made one small wrong turn, which was easily corrected, but you are going up and over rocky passes. A wrong turn could be a problem. Now that I’ve done it, I think I could find my way better. There was one ascent that required Richard to give me a “butt assist,” but I was able to do the rest on my own.

Finally, the connector trail ended at a stream, which is where it joins the hot springs trail. We read reviews from many people asserting the importance of bringing water shoes, and I complied. I also agree, whole heartedly. The hot springs trail passes along, and through, and into lots of water. Like, if you take the loop counter clockwise, you will have no option but to walk through the streams, climb up four or five waterfalls, and wade through the waist high hot water pools. There is also a twenty foot metal ladder. Oddly, none of this scared me. And it was so different from any hike I’d ever done that I found it all pretty cool.

When you do this hike, you will see signs all over the place, from the kiosk, to spray painted notices on the rock walls, that there will be nudity in and near the springs. By the time we got to the pools and saw that they were really actual pools, we seriously did not care about disrobing. Someone has created these thermal hot tubs by laying sand bag walls about waist high to make three separate soaking zones. I’m thinking dimensions were roughly ten by ten feet, snuggled in between the canyon walls. Each pool gets hotter as you go uphill, closer to the thermal source. The last one was like, really hot, and only two people were in it. The lower pools each had five or six naked soaking people in them. Some had bathing suits. No one cared. Richard went Full Monty to cross through the pools. I mostly stripped, except I had completely run out of room in my backpack to cram anything more into it. It ended up being logistically easier to wear a shirt than to carry it. I hadn’t considered the fact that, without pants, I had no pockets. So the iPhone and keys had to get squished into whatever room I could find high up in the backpack, which got soaked at the bottom. Shoes were carried. Bottom of shirt got wet.

Once you are through the pools and up the waterfalls, you can re-robe. You can see where the spring comes up through the rocks and through little natural fissures in the vertical walls. If you touch the water at these sources, it is almost scalding. Many people come down the springs trail just to spend time soaking. That wasn’t our goal, but it was pretty cool to experience a real natural hot spring. You could totally bring a bathing suit, but everyone was cool with “be cooler, be nooder #SPF 50.”

The last leg of the loop was to climb out of the canyon. It is definitely a steep ascent to get back to Go. The first third is a gentle incline, but it’s up a wash, so kind of sloggy. Then you get to the exposed rock bit and that raises the cardio for sure. There were a few scrambly places to get up a few feet from one level to the next, but nothing that felt unsafe. It was more like, “Hmm, where do I put my feet here?” I don’t think I would have liked going down that. Again, I am reconfirming that I would prefer doing the whole thing counter clockwise, even though it means you have to do the connector trail, go up the ladder, go through all the pools and waterfalls, and climb out on a few really steep grades. This is a major trail. It is awesome and totally worth it, if you can do it. I figure I represent a good gauge of “if she can do it…” in the same way I look at children on trails: “if that kid can do it…” But yeah, I’d say “strenuous” is fair. As a reward, we went back to town and got a tasty soft serve from Chilly Jilly’s. We also walked around the historic downtown area to stop at Grandma’s Daisy’s Old Time Confectionary. Last stop, a grocery top up to get us through the rest of the trip.

So we leave the Lake Mead area, once again thinking how cool it is. It is a perfect winter destination. It would be brutal in the summer and make all of the outdoor activities downright dangerous. It is vast and we have only scratched the surface. It is an area I would definitely recommend, and I really liked this campground as a home base.

Total miles from Hole in the Wall: 133.1, 18.8 mpg, 3 hours 13 min. Site 87 fabulous views with no one next to us on my window side. No hookups. Excellent cell service for both. There is free wifi, but it’s not very good, so we stuck with the cell service. Good dump. Much nicer campground than the full hookups RV park next to it.