Las Vegas Dual Sport Trails

This page was developed to help others explore off-road trails in the Las Vegas area for dual sport motorcycling.  

I create a blog post about how to find trails here: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2024/02/off-road-trails-in-southern-nevada.html . While many apps and websites for motorized vehicles have trail ratings, most seem to be based on 4x4 or SxS and not motorcycles. Bicycle trail ratings in TrailForks are for bicycles.

My YouTube page is here: https://youtube.com/@JimRoal where I keep playlists. I started making playlists based on various ride events but more recently started also creating playlists based on the trail. This give you a view of the trail so you know what it looks like before you ride it. I have a large video playlist of dual sport motorcycling in the Las Vegas area here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2faVm5fxDhAO-Xbbxt2yid_k . I have another playlist for mountain biking in the area: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fZ5xMkYY1JLYMXCMMy0rDGe 

Desert National Wildlife Refuge

Mormon Well

Mormon Well is a popular 2-track semi-maintained trail in the Desert Wildlife Refuge along the Sheep Mountains just North of Las Vegas. Take I95 to the Corn Creek Visitors Center. This road requires a licensed road vehicle. From the visitors center, the first several miles is a gravel road. There is a nice campground near the summit of this road that is wooded and has bathrooms. This is a fairly easy ride with some rocky sections and some loam and wash boarded gravel but no real hill climbs or technical sections. The road connects to highway 93 at the North end.





Riser ride to the summit campground and back: https://riserapp.com/trips/961346 and another making a loop through Corn Creek and back to Las Vegas via highway 93: https://riserapp.com/trips/887585

Alamo Road

Alamo Road connect the Corn Creek Visitors Center with the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters near Alamo Nevada.

It is a 70 mile maintained gravel and dirt road, most of which is an easy but often boring and long ride. However, there is a dry lakebed to the North that Alamo Road crosses and this is generally either heavily rutted powder or mud which is very unpleasant on a motorcycle.

Goodsprings & Cottonwood Valley Area

The Goodsprings, Cottonwood Valley, Potosi area is to the Southwest of the Las Vegas valley. There are several trails in this area. See OHV Nevada trails here: https://ohv.nv.gov/trails/red-rock-canyon-national-conservation-area


Riser route we rode in this area: https://riserapp.com/trips/1012927


Cottonwood Pass



Wilson Tanks

Wilson Tank Trail has some alternate routes. The one shown on the map below from OnX roughly follows a natural gas line on the South end. The are 3 main ways the trail connects to 160 highway to the North. To the West, there are 1 trails that intersect just South of 160. This is the easiest route that takes you around a series of hills. In the middle top of the image below you can see a very straight route from 160 that crosses a series of hills. This follows the natural gas line. Some of these hill climbs can be challenging as they are steep, soft, rutted, and rocky. The route from OnX starts at Hualapai road. That route is fairly easy but dows have some loamy sections.   

These all intersect near the bottom left of the map above. From there they all follow the natural gas line for a bit and then you have 2 main options: continue along the gas line (the OnX route) or follow the wash to the East of the gas line.
The gas line route has some steep hills but most of it is a fairly easy ride. The wash is soft loamy sand and gravel.

Once you arrive at the tanks (bottom left of map above) there is a hill climb. It is a bit steep at first and has some storm damage making the bottom section challenging.
 



Wilson Tanks connects to Cottonwood Valley Road to the South.

OnX: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/map/query/35.970889,-115.401053,13.15/overview?id=7e533f32-1551-45d3-b4bc-08e12857ec56 .

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fY2IB3V8-wDKk6Ico1qarNu 

Bird Spring Pass

Bird Spring Pass is just to the East of Wilson Tanks and goes between highway 160 to the North and I15 to the South. 
There are several alternate parallel routes along it as well. It is easy to end up on one of the alternate routes but they all end up in the same place. In general it is a loamy, rutted, and wash boarded 2-track trail. I found it to be a rather boring and unpleasant ride.




Kingston Road & Mexican Springs

Kingston Road goes between Sandy Valley and Goodsprings. It is a semi-maintains dirt road. Mexican Springs goes from Sandy Valley to Potosi. There is a great shortcut between these two trails that follows a power line access road. I prefer this route when making loops though this area. For some reason it does not show up in OnX. 


The route below connect Goodsprings to Potosi via Kingston Road (Wilson Pass), the powerline road above, and Mexican Spring Road. From Goodsprings take Potosi Tower Road to Kingston Road.





Lovell Canyon Area

Lovell Canyon is on the West wide of the Rainbow Mountains. Access if from highway 160 between Mountain Springs and Pahrump. This is a great place to escape the valley heat in the summer.

The highlighted route below in purple is a fairly easy 28 mile route through Lovell Canyon.

Photo below taken near the entrance of Lovell Canyon Road and highway 160.

The main road into Lovell Canyon from highway 160 is paved for 16 miles to Torino Ranch. From Torino Ranch there is a dirt road that heads West towards Pahrump. It is 17 miles from Torino Ranch to highway 160 and this section is all maintained dirt/gravel road.

The photo below is near the summit of Lovell Summit Road. 


Riser route we rode in this area: https://riserapp.com/trips/980355


Rocky Gap

Rocky Gap (a.k.a. Red Rock Summit Road trail ID 45549) is one of the most challenging trails in the area due to the rock garden which is a narrow wash with large rocks. This trail connects Lovell Canyon to Red Rock Canyon. The Rock Garden section is about 1,000 feet in length and about 90 feet of elevation gain from the West end to the East end.
The yellow line in the image below shows the Rock Garden section around 1,000 feet long.

The line you choose through the Rock Garden makes all the difference. Since the Rock Garden is in a narrow wash, monsoon rains can shift the rocks making the best line change over time. There is not really a "good" line, only bad and worse lines. It's hard to carry momentum through here and it is common to get stuck on a rock spinning or stalling. It is also common when you do loose balance and need to dab that your foot is too far from the ground and you fall on rocks. I recommend a good skid plate and crash bars. Here is a great video showing how to get to Rock Gap on the Lovell Canyon side, and a bunch of motorcycles going through the Rock Garden: https://youtu.be/fKOF5BeH300?si=WyPvdALUW8p24Zyl 


The photo above is taken at the summit of Rocky Gap Road.

OnX: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/map/query/36.132399,-115.533113,11.12/overview?id=56511963-51a2-50fd-8897-2c1fec8058b8#11.43/36.1393/-115.5723



Rainbow Spring Bottlebrush Road & Bootleg Spring Road

Rainbow Spring Bottlebrush Road starts in Mountain Springs on Williams Ranch Road which intersects highway 160. OnX and ohv.nv.gov both show it open to motor vehicles and connecting to Rainbow Spring Road. They appear to intersect near the Little Zion trailhead. However, there are multiple gates and barriers on these roads now making motorized travel impossible. They are also posted "no motor vehicles". The red lines below show where these gates are. You can drive up to the gate on Rainbow Spring Road, park, and hike Little Zion.

YouTube video showing the ride from Williams Ranch Road to the gate on Bootleg Spring Road: https://youtu.be/T__328zNftk 



Muddy Mountains

The Muddy Mountains are to the Northeast of the Las Vegas valley. 

Bitter Springs Trail Back Country Byway

The Bitter Springs Trail Back Country Byway is a 2-track trail through the Muddy Mountains. It is a moderate ride on a motorcycle with some sandy loamy areas, and other rocky areas. 

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fZFUcb6NDZeZGNJZ40UqO9w

Here are some rides on Riser through Bitter Springs. 1) Old Spanish Trail & Bitter Springs 2) Bitter Springs
 

Old Spanish Trail

Old Spanish Trail actually covers several states but a section goes through Nevada between Mesquite and Pahrump. This northern route goes right through Las Vegas too.  

Cold Creek Area

Cold Creek is a small village to the Northwest of Mt Charleston.

Wheeler Pass

Wheel Pass connects Cold Creek with Pahrump. 

There is a steep rocky climb if you start at Cold Creek and take Wheeler Pass towards Pahrump.  Once at the summit, the ride down to Pahrump is easy. 

Note: Wheeler pass road was washed out in 2023 (red circle in the image below). You will have to route around that washout using the blue route below. Here is a GPX file of the route around this closure: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fCM_aLh9tpyGUjzLZZwfaNceH-IebEPS/view?usp=sharing 





Mud Springs

Mud Springs is a 6 mile 2-track trail from Cold Creek Road to the base of the mountains. It begins as desert and ends in the forest.




BM15

BM15 runs parallel to Mud Springs and it is a very similar ride. It is about 6 miles long.


Mt Charleston & Kyle Canyon 

While much of this area is not open to motorized vehicles there are some good trails that are. Visit the OHV.nv.gov website for more information about this area: https://ohv.nv.gov/trails/spring-mountains-nra which covers most areas between highway 95 to the North and the California border. Also visit Go Mt Charleston: https://www.gomtcharleston.com/ 

Harris Spring Road

This rocky 2-track trail takes you from Kyle Canyon highway to the Griffith Peak Trailhead at over 8,000ft. The trailhead is at the top of a ridge where you get great views towards Lovell Canyon to the south and Kyle Canyon to the north.



Lucky Strike Road

Lucky Strike Road is a 2-track trail from Kyle Canyon highway to the southeast to highway 95 to the north. There is also a powerline access road that takes you from Lucky Strike Road up to Angel Peak (blue arrow below). That same power line access road goes all the way to highway 95 on the North end.


Mack's Canyon

Mack's Canyon is a road off of the Lee Canyon highway. It is also known as Forrest Road 085. It is a maintained dirt road accessible by most vehicles and is a popular camping area.  

La Madre Foothills

The La Madre Foothills is an area in the Northwest of the Lass Vegas Valley. This area is managed by the BLM and they recently created a plan for this area here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2031812/510

Kodachrome, Rainbow Gardens, & Lava Butte


This area is on the East side of the Las Vegas valley. Lake Mead (147) connects to North Shore. On the way there, there is a staging area that connects to 3 main roads: Kodachrome, Lava Butte, and Rainbow Gardens. I have only ridden Kodachrome and Rainbow Gardens. 







I will continue to add more trails and areas over time.








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