Overview

Lava Butte Road is an 8-mile-long, fairly easy 4WD road that runs north-south between Frenchman Mountain (which borders the Las Vegas Valley) and Lake Mead. Lava Butte Road runs through the geologically interesting, colorful, and scenic Rainbow Gardens area.

Lava Butte Road provides access to the southeast section of the Rainbow Gardens Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). Contained within the larger ACEC, the Sunrise Mountain Special Recreation Management Area is essentially the Rainbow Gardens ACEC south of Lake Mead Blvd. In this area, drivers and bike riders will find several designated roads, and hikers can explore off-trail, hike the Red Needle Trail, or climb Lava Butte, a stand-alone volcanic mountain. Watch for Desert Tortoise and rare plants such as Silverleaf Sunray and Sticky Ringstem. This area is so special that it has been proposed for protection as the East Las Vegas National Monument.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about being in the desert, ...this is a safe drive, but watch for rocks and washouts in the road. There is no gas or other facilities, and conditions change over time.

Within the Rainbow Gardens ACEC, motor vehicles and bicycles are restricted to approved roads, of which there are several. Unfortunately, law enforcement is so infrequent that many people ignore the rules by riding and driving off-road wherever they can.

While out, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. This road runs through wild country, so bring the 10 Essentials. Shooting and camping are not permitted in this area.

Getting to the Roadhead

Lava Butte Road is located just east of the Las Vegas Valley, about 30 minutes east of downtown Las Vegas. From town, drive south on Interstate 11 (Highway 93/95/515) for 5 miles to Boulder Highway (Exit 70). Exit onto Boulder Highway southbound and drive 0.6 miles to Desert Inn Road. Turn left onto Desert Inn/Lamb, and quickly make an odd right turn to stay on Desert Inn. Drive east 3.0 miles to where Desert Inn dead-ends into S. Hollywood Blvd.

Turn right onto Hollywood Blvd and drive south, then east. In 2 miles, the pavement ends, and in another 2 miles, Lava Butte Road forks to the left. Lava Butte Road is the last of three legal left turns from Hollywood, but there are no signs.

The Road

From S. Hollywood Blvd (Table 1, Site 2020), Lava Butte Road turns up a desert wash to run north into the open Mojave Desert. Quickly, Lava Butte Road exits the wash to run long and straight towards the mountains ahead in the distance. Drivers should watch their speed to avoid running over tortoises or hitting rocks, rills, and washouts.

At about 0.29 miles out, Lava Butte Road enters the Rainbow Gardens ACEC at a sign (Site 2021) announcing entrance into the Sunrise Mountain Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA). The SRMA is the southern part of the ACEC. This is also the area proposed for protection as East Las Vegas National Monument.

At about 1.1 miles out, Lava Butte Road begins to climb into the mountains, and at about 1.43 miles out, arrives at trailhead parking (Site 2022) for the Red Needle Trail. Fencing borders both sides of the road here, but a wide area serves as trailhead parking.

Continuing past the trailhead, Lava Butte Road climbs at gentle grades up a canyon bordered by rocky outcrops and colorful soils. At about 2.4 miles out, arrives at a saddle between rocky ridges.

Still heading northeast, Lava Butte Road continues down the other side of the saddle traversing the hillside above a rock quarry (East Rainbow Gardens Gypsum Mine) where miners excavated white gypsum from the bottom of the canyon.

Lava Butte Road eventually bends right and dips to cross the bottom of the canyon, climb over a low saddle, and run southeast down a narrow canyon. The center of the road can be deeply washed out through this area.

Soon, Lava Butte Road arrives at the first corner of a triangular intersection (Site 2023). Lava Butte Road stays left in the gully, while a powerline road cuts up and out of the gully to the right. In another 200 yards, Lava Butte Road passes the second corner of the triangle intersection.

Lava Butte Road continues down the gully, now heading northeast, and at about 0.2 miles past the triangle intersection, arrives at a wash (actually the confluence of two washes). Lava Butte Road turns left to head up the wash, while it appears that another road heads down the wash. Driving down the wash is not legal, and regardless, soon arrives at natural barriers blocking further travel.

Now heading northwest, Lava Butte Road runs up the wash until bending right and up onto the open hillside. At this point, Lava Butte Road begins climbing onto the west flank of Lava Butte, an isolated peak of volcanic rock that stands high above the surrounding landscape.

Lava Butte has the appearance of a volcano, but it is actually a laccolith. When molten magma pushes towards the surface, but never breaks through, it hardens underground as a pluton. In the case of a laccolith, the magma is pushing up through layered sedimentary rocks. As the magma pushes up, the layers can separate, allowing magma to move horizontally between the layers. This can result in a wide, dome-shaped plutonic mass below the surface. Over time, the overlaying soft sedimentary rocks erode to expose the volcanic laccolith. In the special case of the Lava Butte laccolith, after the laccolith formed, the rock layers were tilted up about 50 degrees to the east, so what we see is the edge of the laccolith protruding above the surrounding landscape.

Lava Butte Road climbs, rather steeply at times, onto a saddle (5.18 miles out; Site 2024) on the northwest side of Lava Butte, and visitors are presented with long views northeast down a narrow canyon cluttered with power towers and powerlines.

Continuing down the other side, Lava Butte Road drops even more steeply as it descends the canyon, eventually running out onto broad desert flats below. The driving becomes easy again, and the colorful scenery opens up.

At about 7.3 miles out, Lava Butte Road forks (Site 2025). Here, Lava Butte Road continues straight heading northeast towards Lake Mead Blvd, some 1.0-miles away.

For drivers needing just a little bit more time in the dirt, stay left onto a Connector Road, and in about 0.3 miles, merge onto Rainbow Gardens Road (Site 2026) still heading north. Rainbow Gardens Road bends northeast then east and drops to cross a broad gravel wash (Site 2027). In the wash, Kodachrome Road forks left heading up the wash. Rainbow Gardens Road continues straight to climb steeply out of the wash where people in 2WD vehicles spin their tires and dig deep divots into the roadway.

Out of the wash, Rainbow Gardens Road enters a trailhead parking area overlooking the wash. Continuing between post-and-cable fencing, the road runs out to another trailhead parking area and ends at the edge of Lake Mead Blvd (Site 2028). Drives can turn left to return to Las Vegas, or turn right to continue out to Lake Mead National Recreation Area.