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View from La Madre Mountain
La Madre and El Padre Mountains
aka La Madre Peak and El Padre Peak
Red Rock Canyon NCA, Nevada
April 18, 2009
Distance: 15.8 km (9.8 mi)
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 1341 m (4400 ft)
La Madre Mountain is the highest point in Red Rock Canyon NCA. Like popular Turtlehead Peak, La Madre can be reached from Sandstone Quarry in Red Rocks. As a bonus, for an extra 130 m elevation effort, adjacent El Padre can be climbed as well. The entire trip was little more than class 2, although it required some routefinding.
For La Madre and El Padre, Dinah Kruze and I joined the Las Vegas Hiking and Outdoors Meetup group, led by Shin Goto. Filling out our ranks were John, Matt, Chris, Kevin and Karen.
From Sandstone Quarry Shin led us up Limestone Trail – actually a wash – to the base of El Padre. We left the wash and ascended the lower slopes towards cliffs. A short traverse below the cliffs on a vague trail brought us to a chute below La Madre-El Padre col. From there, we could ascend either peak.
The convoluted route defies easy description, but Shin expertly led us up both peaks. On the back to the trailhead, as an added treat, Shin had us scramble up to a wall in the Calico Hills to view petroglyphs, a few hundred years old.
We thoroughly enjoyed the hike and the company of the Las Vegas Hikers. If we ever have a chance to hike with them again, we will!
Meetup Photos
KML and GPX Tracks
We set off up the trail: El Padre and La Madre ahead
We left the wash and started up a side wash
Taking a break: John, Matt, Shin, Karen, Kevin and myself
A lot of terrain to cover before we reached the base of the mountains
Spinystar cactus
Looking back at Mount Wilson, Rainbow Peak, Rainbow Wall and Bridge Mountain
Drawing closer to the base of the mountain
Hiking up another wash
Turtlehead Peak in the background
Matt comes up the trail
We followed a faint trail along the base of a cliff
We hiked up the chute that leads to El Padre and La Madre col
Almost at the col
Ascending La Madre from the col
A drop-off to the east
Behind us is El Padre
The summit of La Madre
Griffith Peak, Mount
Charleston and Mummy Mountain
Looking down
Dinah and I on the summit of La Madre
Myself, John, Kevin, Karen, Chris, Dinah and Shin
As we made our way up El Padre we found snow
El Padre summit ahead
We're all smiles after attaining El Padre
View from El Padre
Looking down at the Sandstone Quarry parking lot (mouse over for a close-up)
Coming back: the only tricky section of the trip
Hiking back on a wash that made a good trail
Shin led us across some rocks to see petroglyphs
John peers at the ancient artwork (mouse over for a close-up)
La Madre Mountain (9.8 mi, 8146 ft, 3819 ft)
