Exploring La Madre Foothills

La Madre Foothills is an area in the Northwest of the Las Vegas valley. This area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is part of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The BLM recently completed a study and plan for this area that is documented here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2031812/510 .  While the plan closes many current trails, it also leaves several open, including some trails for motorized use. I have ridden my bicycles in this area for years.  

Here is a link to the map above in the Wilderness Connect mapping system. Part of this area is designated wilderness which means it is closed to all forms of "mechanized travel". However, many areas are not wilderness and are covered in the BLM Alternative B plan described above. Numerous existing 2-track trails have been designated for closure (shown in grey). The 2-track known
as "Burro Road" in TrailFolks actually passes though both BLM land, and between a narrow corridor in the

La Madre Wilderness https://www.trailforks.com/trails/burro-road/ shown in purple below.

Others have called this same 2-track "Bad Words". This 2-track connects Little Red Rock to Harris Springs Canyon and eventually Kyle Canyon at the Twilight Zone parking lot. Traveling from Little Red Rock you will encounter 2 challenging hill climbs shown by the blue arrows below.

Here is a shot of the first hill (lower blue arrow above, photo below).

Below is the West hill which borders on the BLM property on the West side.

After climbing that hill in the background (photo above), there is a narrow wash that is a corridor between La Madre wilderness that is not designated wilderness (image below).

You can also connect between these 2 climbs by taking the trail Trailfolks calls "Washaway": https://www.trailforks.com/trails/washwaywhich can be accessed from the West end of Centennial or Tropical.

OnX calls the route from the West end of Tropical to Little Red Rock "La Madre Mountain Pass":
https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/map/query/36.248741,-115.398308,12.68/overview?id=3ae6d4f0-ec7e-5c1e-874e-6b43431ecd37

I have ridden several routes through this area. Here is one example 16 mile route up Kyle Canyon, through Burro Road to Little Red Rock.

Here is the GPX file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WC6AP2bAZwo1of2FnU-jgFCSorH8-40Q/view?usp=sharing I rode this on my eMTB.

Here is a GPX going up Kyle Canyon and down the central valley (image above):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UCmzd0fpf4sdBMBmkTaIYoPb4UfnggpG/view?usp=sharing 15 miles. I rode this on an eMTB.

Here is a YouTube playlist of videos from this route:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fYbWQQGuH5obVuBiGs9SVVR

From the Kyle Canyon side, heading East there is a wash that leads to the top of the West pass.

Below is a shot from the West pass looking East towards Las Vegas (although you can't see Las Vegas since the mountains block it). The picture does not do a good job of showing how steep and high this hill is.

Here is a picture of the same hill from the bottom (looking West).

Below is a picture looking down the East pass towards Little Red Rock. This is the challenging hill which is steep and rocky.

The picture below is the same hill looking Northwest from below this same section.