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| - This hike is SO extremely steep, rugged and hardcore that at times I felt like a smuggler with an assful of heroin, traversing the Khyber Pass into Pakistan with a posse of pissed-off Taliban on my tail. Fun!!!
I've been wanting to hike Sunrise Mountain ever since I moved here over 10 years ago...simply because it's THERE. From a distance, it looks like a giant, treeless brown dirt mound...and that's basically what it looks like up close, too. But it was still a BADASS hike!
Note: the formation commonly referred to as "Sunrise" mountain is actually Frenchman Mountain...I'm talking about the mountain at the end of East Lake Mead Blvd on the right-hand side...the one that looms over east Vegas like a benevolent dirt-colored Jabba the Hutt. Sunrise, Frenchman, whatever. YOU know what I mean!
To reach the trailhead, follow East Lake Mead Blvd. east all the way to the edge of town. About 1/4 mile past the last stucco subdivision, there's a gravel lot to the right, in front of a gate. Park there, and then hike up the mountain following the gravel utility road.
There are NO trees on this hike, so do it on a cool day, or at night. It's hardcore uphill action -- first you ascend a fake summit, and then drop down across a saddle to the second peak, which is the REAL summit. Double whammy! Expect to burn at least 50,000 calories on this hike -- it's about a 2-hour slog to the top, and then another two hours back down; the gravel on the road is very loose, so you have to go reeeeeally slowly and carefully to avoid eating it.
Vegetation-wise there ain't much to recommend this jaunt -- just some scrubby bushes and a few very subtle desert plants and flowers. I still dug it, though...I appreciate the weird harsh beauty of the desert. It's totally quiet, and when you finally get to the top the view is A...M...A...Z...I...N...G! Lake Mead on one side, and all of Vegas on the other.
There's some kinda cell phone towers or electrical substation or something at the top, so expect to be bathed in radiation while you're up there. But on the plus side, my friend and I were able to hitch a ride back down in the back of these two Southwest Gas utility workers' truck. It was a hairy ride, and the truck almost rolled off the EXTREMELY STEEP road once or twice...but it was alllll part of the adventure :-)
When I was at the top, I went out on the overlook and mooned all of Vegas. Thankfully there were no Taliban around...or I wouldn't be here writing this today. Allah Akhbar!
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