6 NEVADA RANGES GUIDE NO. 6.13

VIRGIN PEAK 8071+ FEET CLASS 1

MILEAGE: 384 miles of paved road, 2.4 miles of excellent dirt, 0.9 miles of poor dirt, 3 miles of 4WD dirt

road

DRIVE: From Las Vegas, NV. drive 68 miles N on Interstate 15, leaving the highway at the signed

Riverside/Bunkerville

Exit 112. Drive 3.0 miles S toward Riverside, NV., crossing a bridge over the Virgin

River and coming to the signed Gold Butte Road. Turning right (SW)

on the Gold Butte Road, drive 20.6

miles to the end of pavement at a fork. Bear left here, driving 2.4 miles E on excellent dirt to a junction with a

poor dirt road heading left (N) toward the Virgin Mountains. Turning left at this fork, drive 0.9 miles to a

corral. Most 2WD'ers will opt to park here. 4WDer's and daring 2WDer's with high clearance can continue

N, bearing right at a fork in 0.2

miles to the road's end at short distance later. Park

CLIMB: From the corral, 2WDer's will have to hike up the road 3.0 miles to the old 4WD parking spot adjacent

to the mining

ruins on the left side of the road. From here hike left (W) up a minor ridge to the forested main

NW-SE ridge, which is followed right (NW) to the summit. As usual, the summit is the last bump on this

ridge.

BETTER: Hike up the old road approximately 1.3 miles to a ridge coming down from the left. Gain this ridge and

climb to the summit ridge above. Turn right and follow it all the way to the summit.

ROUND TRIP STATS: 3800 feet elevation gain, 10 m

iles, 7 hours

SIDELINES

Be sure to fill up y

our gas tank in either Glendale, NV., which is about 20 miles S of Exit 112 on Interstate

15 or Mesquite, NV., which is about 10 miles E of Exit 112 on Interstate 15. There is no gas available once

you leave Interstate 15 at Exit 112.

2. Virgin Peak was name

d so because of its proximity to

the Virgin River. One story is that the river got its

nam

e from early Spanish explorers or traders who called it Rio de la Virgen or River of the Virgin. Later

Spanish explorers who mapped the area called it Rio Sulfureo de las Piramides.

3. Bunkerville, NV commemorates Edward Bunker, a Morm

on missionary who settled there among the

Southern Paiutes in 1877.