La Madre Traverse (W of Las Vegas, NV)

Harlan W. S.
December 30, 2006

As shown, trip involves ~12.2 miles, 5100’ accumulated elevation gain.

The start of the hike is at the Sandstone Quarry parking lot off Red Rock Scenic Loop.

There is no trail for most to the hike. There are some borderline class3 and 4 sections, the descent is a bit sketchy,

and this area would be dry as a bone and very hot in summer.

GPS trace (red) of loop. Ascent to LaMadre is on the right.	On ridge to LaMadre, view S. Turtlehead in center, “El Padre” (peak 8093) to R.	View W as we follow the ridge up LaMadre.
	At summit. Potosi in distance at left.
View WNW to Charleston and Mummy.	Descent. Summerlin Peak range is in mid-distance.	Crossing ridge of El Padre; Damsel (Pincushion Peak) at R.
	View SW; top of El Padre at R, Rocky Gap Road valley L center.	View N off El Padre, over Turtlehead.
The register (there in 2004) was gone, but we replaced it with an OPS canister.	View ESE as we head to next lump in ridge, W of El Padre.	View W to El Bastardo (Peak 7986). We will descend the valley on this side of Peak 7986.
View of Turtlehead from saddle just E of Peak 7986.	This traverse at ~7150’ is the only real “attention-getter” of descent. View NE. There is a substantial drop to R.	One can traverse low on the wall, but Mark likes edges.
This is how the “crux” at 7100’ appears as you approach from S; view UP. Best approach is to go L and uphill from Mark, Then cut R to notch and traverse.		View NW as we head back to car across Desert. At left is Peak 7986; middle is descent canyon; R is El Padre (Peak 8093).