Harris Mountain

Harris Mountain

Place Name: Clark County

Place Description: State: Nevada
Date: 12/05/2021
Elevation: 10,013 Feet
Prominence: 925 Feet
Miles: 4.6
Elevation Gain: 1,773 Feet
Lists: Desert Summits Book Peak List, Great Basin Peak List

• Difficulty
• Solitude
• Kid Friendly
• Summit Views

Fossils and Views

If you like finding fossils and enjoying fantastic views, Harris Mountain is the place for you! If you want to brave a narrow 4×4 road and climb a steep peak, this is also the place for you. While everyone is climbing Charleston, you will probably have Harris all to yourself.

Overall

3.3

Pros

• Lots of fossils
• Great views
• Lots of peace and quiet

Cons

• Narrow 4×4 road
• Steep
• Would be hot in summer

If you read reports for Harris Mountain, you would think this hike is as loose as the lady in DC that shares the same name. Hey yah! Yeah, I went there! Lol.

Harris Mountain is over 10,000 feet, however, it’s probably one of the lesser climbed summits when comparing it to its neighbors. Don’t let that fool you though, it’s a quick hike and a nice excursion outside of Las Vegas.

Getting There

There are two routes. The first one climbs through Kyle Canyon up a very steep slope and has private land access issues.

If you drive a 4×4, the better option is driving up Harris Springs Rd. The drive is about 10 miles from Kyle Canyon Rd to the trailhead. It takes around 45 minutes to drive this road.

The first few miles are wide fast-moving roads. The last few aren’t super rough; however, they are narrow and shelfed. I would suggest doing this hike on a weekday when less OHV traffic is on the road. 

Driving on Harris Springs Rd.

I ran into two cars and had to do some backup maneuvers along a cliff. 

Narrow curve on Harris Springs Rd.

The Trail

The Trailhead is for Griffith Peak, and you can continue onto that one if you like. 

Griffith Mountain TH.

The first 1.5 miles are along an old roadbed and very easy hiking. The area is burnt, despite that, the views are very nice out towards Potosi Mountain, Clark Mountain, and Kingston Peak.

Views out to Kingston Peak and Clark Mountain.

The next stretch is steep and loose. There’s no getting around this. Mitigating the looseness, is the key here and that can be done by staying in the gully. 

Up the gully after leaving the trail.

While steep, the ground is much firmer, and you can follow it right to the ridge at 9,600 feet.

Once on the ridge, the views open up towards Kyle Canyon and the rest of the Spring Mountains. There is a very easy to follow use trail all the way to the summit.

Mount Charleston.

Keep an eye out for fossils and they are all over this area and are super cool to look at! Checking these out are likely to slow you down.

Fossils

The Summit

Harris Mountain has a nice and open summit that allows you to view into 4 states! Signal Peak out in Utah is visible on a clear day. The view of Kyle Canyon and Mount Charleston are also quite nice.

Gass Peak

Looking at La Madre Mountain

There are even more fossils to comb through on the summit.

The Final Word

This is a hike that packs a punch in a short amount of time. It’s a great half day trip from Las Vegas. You could be on the summit in the morning and back at the pool by the early afternoon. 

The drive was the worst part, just because of some of the exposed corners. If you had an OHV, it would be perfect!