Overview

Grapevine Canyon is a rocky canyon in granite mountains (unusual for the Las Vegas area) with an amazing array of petroglyphs, several stands of cottonwood trees, a seasonal stream, water-sculpted narrows, and a nice little waterfall with a bathtub at about 1.7 miles out.

The Grapevine Canyon Waterfall route is a good hike that runs up a sandy wash for 0.3 miles to petroglyphs on cliffs at the mouth of the canyon. After that, the route boulder-hops up the canyon for another 1.4 miles to a 15-foot waterfall.

Link to map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this hike is fairly safe, but for those of us used to walking on rough, almost sticky, limestone and sandstone, the water-polished granite is surprisingly slick. There is a fair bit of scrambling over and around boulders and walking on granite slickrock, so be careful when you get high enough to fall and hurt yourself.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, this is a fairly short hike, so just bring what you need of the 10 Essentials.

This hike goes into the Bridge Mountain Wilderness Area, so pay extra attention to respecting the land, and don't touch or otherwise mess with the petroglyphs.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Laughlin, about 75 miles south of Las Vegas (7 miles west of Laughlin).

From Las Vegas, drive south 54 miles on Highway 95 to Highway 163. Turn left onto Highway 163 towards Laughlin and drive east for 12.8 miles to Christmas Tree Pass Road. Watch for a small sign indicating a left turn. Turn left onto Christmas Tree Pass Road, into Lake Mead NRA, and drive north 1.8 miles to a T-intersection with the Grapevine Canyon Road. Turn left onto Grapevine Canyon Road and drive west about 0.15 miles to the parking area at the end of the road. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 1, Waypoint 01), The Grapevine Canyon trail drops into Grapevine Wash. The trail runs out for 0.27 miles to a gap in the cliffs where Grapevine Wash comes out of the canyon (Wpt. 02) and empties onto the desert flats.

There is an amazing amount of rock art on the granite cliffs on both sides of the gap. There are some nice petroglyphs at eye-level right where the trail gets to the cliffs, but there are better ones a few feet higher up the cliff and across the wash. Most of the rock art is within a 1-minute walk of the gap, but rock art is scattered up the wash. Be careful if you climb the cliffs to see the petroglyphs up close. Don't fall, and also don't climb on the petroglyphs. These are treasures from a time gone by, and all of us are responsible for taking care of them.

Link to more information and photos of the rock art here.

Past the end of The Grapevine Canyon Trail, the waterfall route continues west and up the wash (including climbing through and around a thicket of wild grape and common reed) for about 0.09 miles, there is an enormous overhanging boulder in the bottom of the canyon. Just beyond the boulder, someone (probably ranchers), built a small cement dam (Wpt. 03) on a slickrock pour-over to catch water and pipe it down the canyon. The dam is now gone, but marks on the granite slickrock recall its former glory.

Use-trails continue up the canyon on both sides of the wash, but getting past a narrow granite canyon with a boulder cap is a bit easier on the north side. Above the narrow section, the canyon opens onto a nice grove of cottonwood trees (Wpt. 04).

For the next 0.75 miles or so, use-trails run up both sides of the wash, passing narrow rocky spots and slickrock granite interspersed with broad, sandy canyon bottoms with cottonwood groves. The trees attract a variety of bird species. Northern Mockingbirds, Gambel’s Quail, Ash-throated Flycatchers, American Goldfinches, House Finches, and other species nest here.

Past the last large grove of cottonwood trees (Wpt. 05), the wash runs up through a section of shallow, but winding narrows cut into the granite bedrock (Wpt. 06). The walls are low, but the gorge is narrow, winding, and scenic.

Just above the narrows, hikers can look west to see an odd granite crag on the skyline shaped like a head with the nose pointing north. This crag makes for a good landmark going forward.

Above the granite narrows, stay left (south) at the confluence of two washes. The south fork winds about, and at about 0.27 miles above the top of the narrows, the canyon is blocked by a 15-ft waterfall that drops into two nice bathtub pools in a little granite gorge (Wpt. 07). The outer pool, at least, is a nice place for a cold bath on a hot day, but be careful to avoid hurting red-spotted toad tadpoles if they are present.

Routes continue up the canyon, but this is a nice spot to stop, rest in the shade of the cottonwood tree, and then return to the trailhead by following the wash back down the canyon. For photos of the return, see Grapevine Canyon Waterfall, Return to Trailhead.