The best walks and hikes around Mount Charleston

The Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway has a large parking lot and a visitor center with bathrooms and water faucets. Several hiking and MTB routes can be accessed from here. Sometimes wild horses and donkeys can be seen in this area (do not feed).

Just a short distance off the main North Loop Trail is a great viewpoint for the "Mummy Toe." The Mummy Toe is a prominent sheer, sub-peak of Mummy Mountain, which is the second highest peak in the Spring Mountains after Mount Charleston. The entire Mummy Mountain formation is said to look like a mummy lying down, with each sub-peak and feature named for a different body part on the mummy.

This is the trailhead for the North Loop Trail. This popular, but challenging, trail is one of the most common ways to summit Mount Charleston. You can also access Fletcher Peak, Mummy Mountain, Mummy Springs, Trail Canyon, Cave Springs, and the incredible Raintree (the oldest living organism in Nevada) from this trailhead.

On the east slope of Mummy Mountain, you pass through an open, gravelly hillside dotted with ancient Bristlecone Pines and reach Mummy Springs. Just 0.3 miles off the main North Loop Trail (0.6 miles round trip from the North Loop) this peaceful spring waters a picturesque alpine meadow and a lovely place to take photos and rest.

Standing at 11,916 feet, Mount Charleston is the eighth highest mountain in Nevada and the highest mountain in Spring Mountains. This exposed, prominent peak is a proud accomplishment; whether you took the North or South Loops or combined the two to reach the summit, it is an over 16-mile round trip excursion with over 4,000 feet of climbing. At the summit you are rewarded with panoramic views of the entire Spring Mountains area, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley, and the Las Vegas valley. This exposed, rocky summit is a great place to rest, eat snacks, drink water, sign the summit register, and take photos before beginning the long descent to the trailhead.

Not far from the summit of Mount Charleston on the South Loop trail are the remains of 1955 plane crash. Much of the debris from a CIA C-54 Military Air Transport Service plane are strewn across the rocky, open ridge just a few hundred feet from the trail. The plane crashed in a blizzard on November 17, 1955. All fourteen men, who were traveling to Area 51 to work on a secret U-2 spy plane, died in the crash. There is a memorial to them known as "The Silent Heroes of the Cold War Memorial" that you can visit at the Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway.

Once you reach the top of the first series of steep switchbacks on the South Loop Trail, you arrive at a great overlook with panoramic views of Echo Canyon, Trail Canyon, Mummy Mountain, and Mount Charleston. You also get fantastic views into the valley below; you can even see the trailhead that you started from! This is a great place to rest, drink water and take photographs before heading up to the saddle between Mount Charleston and Griffith Peak. This overlook is also an excellent goal in and of itself if you're looking for a shorter hike than Griffith Peak or Mount Charleston on the South Loop Trail.

This trailhead, near the Mount Charleston Lodge, is where several popular trails in Kyle Canyon begin, including the Cathedral Rock, Little Falls, Griffith Peak and South Loop trails. You can also access popular rock climbing areas in the Echo Cliffs from this trailhead. There are pit toilets and trash cans located in the lot. Be aware: parking spaces are very limited, especially in the summer and fall months when people from Las Vegas valley flock to the mountains to escape the heat and view the aspen groves!