Overview

Petroglyph Canyon Trail (BLM 100) starts at the Sloan Canyon Trailhead and runs south into the North McCullough Wilderness Area. The trail follows Sloan Canyon Wash for about 2 miles to Petroglyph Canyon. The in-and-out hiking distance is 3.6 miles, but hikers might want to do a 4.3-mile variation that makes a partial loop.

Most of the hike is easy walking, but there are scramble-ups at pour-overs just below Petroglyph Canyon, one of which is minimal 3rd-class. However, the Cowboy Trail (BLM 200) can be used to bypass the pour-overs, and it can be used to make the hike into a partial loop.

Petroglyph Canyon is a special place. For the ancient people who wrote on the stones, this probably was a spiritual site as there are no signs of habitation. For the rest of us, this is a glimpse into the lives of those who once lived here. Please respect the spirituality and history here. Take photographs, leave footprints, don't touch the petroglyphs, and please stay in the wash rather than climbing onto the hillside. Petroglyph Canyon is closed to pets and bicycles.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, there are no particular dangers on this route. There are several pour-overs, one of which is a non-trivial (3rd-class) water-polished 10-footer. It isn't hard if you are willing to climb on the exposed corner, and if you slip from there, you'll land in the sandy wash.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. This hike is fairly remote, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials. Cell phones don't work back in the canyons. Bicycles and dogs are prohibited on this trail.

This trail leads into the North McCullough Wilderness Area to a site sacred to Native Americans, so pay particular attention to respecting the land. Don't touch petroglyphs because oils on your hands slowly damage the artwork, and please stay in the bottom of the sandy wash because hikers scrambling around on the hillside are causing serious erosion. We don't want to see a fence to keep us out, so please show some self-restraint in the petroglyph gallery.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, on the north side of the North McCullough Wilderness Area. From town, drive south about 30 minutes to the Sloan Canyon Trailhead. The access roads (Via Firenze, Democracy, and Nawghaw Poa) are all paved.

Before long, Democracy will be paved to Las Vegas Blvd. When open, this will provide the easiest access to Sloan Canyon Trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead sign (Table 1, Waypoint 01), the trail runs south into the desert. Climbing at a gentle grade, the trail runs up across the open bajada where Creosote Bush and White Bursage dominate the landscape and dried Devil's Spineflower stands scattered among the shrubs. This is a classic example of Creosote-Bursage Flats habitat type that covers vast areas of low-desert lands in southern Nevada. During spring, this area can be covered with wildflowers.

The trail winds gently up the hillside, then takes a bit of a bend to the left when joining an old, barely visible two-track road (Wpt. 02). From there, the trail continues winding up the gentle hillside into an area with a number of large, dark-colored boulders. For people wanting just a short hike, this is a nice place to stop, sit on the boulders, and enjoy grand views north out across Las Vegas and south into the North McCullough Wilderness Area.

From the boulders, the trail begins a moderate descent towards Sloan Wash. The trail winds down across the hillside and makes two long switchbacks ending on a bench above the wash. Heading up-canyon along the bench, the trail eventually runs out to the edge of the wash, proper (with an information sign), and descends steeply on stone steps into the gravel of Sloan Wash (Wpt. 03).

Continuing up Sloan Wash, the canyon narrows as the trail winds through a jumble of boulders that partially block the wash. At the far end of the narrow section (more info signs), the trail enters the North McCullough Wilderness Area, which is marked with a sign. The dark cliffs on the sides of the canyon in this area are good places to look for Common Chuckwalla. Watch for a triangular head sticking up from behind the rocks. Keep an eye out for Great Basin Collared Lizards and Side-blotched Lizards along the wash too.

Beyond the wilderness sign, the canyon widens, the sides lay back, and the trail continues south in Sloan Wash.

Because of differences in soils and moisture availability, the vegetation on the hillsides contrasts strongly with that in the wash. On the hillsides, which are dry and rocky, the shrubby vegetation is dominated by creosote bush, white bursage, a few Mojave yucca, and little else. In the wash, the shrubby vegetation is fairly robust and diverse, with lots of creosote bush, desert almond, white bursage, and a fair amount of matchweed, bladder sage, Mormon tea, catclaw acacia, various buckwheats, desert globemallow, and bunchgrasses. This more diverse vegetation is typical of the Mojave Desert Scrub habitat type, which becomes more obvious at slightly higher elevations up the canyon.

Eventually the canyon begins to narrow (Wpt. 05), giving the feeling of hiking in a canyon rather than in an open wash. Below here, the sides of the wash are gentle and rock strewn; above here, the hillsides are steeper with rocky outcrops.

In this area, watch the edges of the wash for good examples of volcanic landslide materials. These are now conglomerate rocks that look like rocks and boulders of various sizes mixed in a reddish-brown matrix. These cliffs formed when volcanic ash and boulders rolled down the hillside as lava was pushing to the surface. As the rocks cooled, the material solidified, creating the rock that we see today.

At a sharp bend to the left in Sloan Wash, a trail sign marks the BLM 100-BLM 200 trail junction (Wpt. 06). The Petroglyph Canyon Trail (BLM 100) continues left following the broad, sandy Sloan Wash to the south, while the Cowboy Trail (BLM 200) turns right and heads up the narrow side canyon to the west. The Cowboy Trail does not require any scrambling and is suitable for horses, but it is about 3/4-miles farther to the petroglyph gallery.

Continuing up Sloan Wash, hikers soon encounter the first pour-over (Wpt. 07). This pour-over is easily passed using a use-trail on the east edge of the wash or by just clambering up the rocks (be careful on the slick, sand-covered rocks).

The rocks of this pour-over are interesting; they are the outer edge of the core of a small, extinct volcano. Note that the rocks appear to be layered, and that the layers are inclined nearly vertically. This layering occurs when magma is moving, and the inclined layers indicate vertical movement.

Above here, the canyon walls get vertical, but not too high. Watch for bird nests in the Catclaw Acacia in the wash and petroglyphs on the rock walls, but also notice that the rock layers are now horizontal. Horizontal layering indicates horizontal movement of magma -- evidence that this was the top of the volcano, and that the magma was spreading sideways. In fact, at this point, hikers are standing inside the core of the old volcano.

About 0.2 miles above the first pour-over, the canyon jogs to the right (west) and narrows abruptly. The narrows contain more pour-overs, and hikers wishing to avoid them can do so by exiting the canyon to the left (south) at the last possible moment and hiking up and over the ridge. Be sure to angle southwest and back into Sloan Wash.

In the narrows (Wpt. 08), there are three short, water-polished scramble-ups followed by a 10-foot pour-over where the canyon is blocked by a large boulder. In all cases, the rock is smooth and slippery. The last pour-over is fairly easy to climb on the left side of the wash (minimal 3rd-class) or on the right side of the wash with a bit more exposure (still minimal 3rd-class).

It is hard for the untrained eye to see, but in the narrows, hikers exit the core of one extinct volcano and enter another!

Just above the 10-foot pour-over, the canyon jogs left (south) and widens considerably. This straight section of wash is Petroglyph Canyon (Wpt. 09). Amazing petroglyphs decorate both sides of the canyon here, and in some places, almost every boulder is marked. See many photos posted here. Please respect the history of this area and don't touch, mark, or otherwise mess with the petroglyphs. Report vandalism to the BLM or just call 911.

For the return, hikers can either hike back down Sloan Wash or make a partial loop by continuing up Sloan Wash and using the Cowboy Trail (BLM 200) to loop back to the trailhead.

For hikers intending to use the Cowboy Trail to make a partial loop, the Petroglyph Trail continues past the petroglyph gallery (Table 2, Wpt 09) following Sloan Wash south.

Shortly, Sloan Wash arrives at a large side wash coming in from the left (Wpt 10). This side wash makes for an interesting hike, but the Petroglyph Trail stays right following the main wash.

Staying in Sloan Wash, notice boulders along both sides with interesting petroglyphs. In addition, notice the cliffs that tower above the wash on the south side. Trace the layering in the cliffs and figure out what was going on here (yes, another extinct volcano).

In about 0.3 miles past the main petroglyph gallery, hikers encounter another trail sign in the middle of the wash (Wpt. 11). At this point, the Petroglyph Trail (BLM 100) ends. The Hidden Valley Trail (BLM 300) continues southwest and up the main wash, and the Cowboy Trail (BLM 200) makes a hard right turn, exits the wash, and starts up across the hillside angling back down the canyon.

It is important to pay attention here because this trail junction has been the source of confusion for several hiking parties, some of whom barely made it out alive.

When hiking up Sloan Canyon, if you intend to hike back on the Cowboy Trail, DO NOT PASS THE TRAIL SIGN. Instead, from the trail sign, immediately turn right and climb out of the wash heading northeast. The trail is plainly visible when looking in this direction.

For details of the Cowboy Trail (BLM 200), see the description of the hike heading southbound, but for hikers returning over this trail, see the photos and brief description of hiking northbound back towards the trailhead. Heading back, the next Waypoint is #12, which sits atop a saddle to the north of the trail junction.