Warning! There are currently numerous trail and facility closures in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (more info below)
Welcome to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area!
The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA), administered by the U.S. Forest Service, is west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It covers over 316,000 acres (494 sq mi; 1,280 km2). The area runs from low meadows (around 3,000 feet or 910 meters above sea level) to the 11,918-foot (3,633 m) Mount Charleston. The SMNRA is a part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. It adjoins the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
The Recreation Area includes three designated Wilderness areas:
Mount Charleston Wilderness, Rainbow Mountain Wilderness, and La Madre Mountain Wilderness.
The Spring Mountains provide a forested, spring-fed oasis in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada. The mountains offer a haven for wildlife, a cool retreat for visitors to get away from the valley heat, a storehouse of forest resources, and a vital watershed fed by numerous springs. The Spring Mountains formed after sedimentary rock was laid down as part of an ancient seabed. It has been folded and faulted and then uplifted and eroded to form peaks and spectacular cliffs. Water from rain and snow percolates through the porous and fractured limestone and dolomite rock to flow underground, eventually emerging as springs. Over 100 of these springs create the namesake for the mountain range. Because of the wide range in elevation, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area encompasses an amazing array of “life zones.” Desert plants like sagebrush and Joshua Trees dominate the desert life zone at lower elevations. Ascending to mid-elevations, desert vegetation is replaced by a Pinyon Juniper ecosystem and then by forests of Ponderosa Pine and other coniferous trees. Bristlecone Pines – some of the world’s oldest living organisms - appear at treeline. These diverse life zones support a wide variety of wildlife including deer, elk, mountain lions, wild horses, bobcats, desert bighorn sheep, birds, chipmunks, and butterflies. Although the Spring Mountains landscape looks rugged, many places are actually quite fragile. The mountains harbor 5 plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. Please stay on the trails and follow Leave-No-Trace guidelines so that future generations of people, animals, and plants can be at home in the Spring Mountains.
2025 Trail and Facility Closures (updated April 2025)
Tropical Storm Hilary
In August of 2023, the remnants of Hurricane Hilary (downgraded to Tropical Storm Hilary once it reached southern Nevada) hit southern Nevada. Residents of Las Vegas and surrounding low elevation areas witnessed impacts similar to what may be anticipated in flash flood events during monsoon season. On the other hand, residents in the higher elevations of the Spring Mountains experienced a real natural disaster.
For the week prior to the storm, the Spring Mountains had been receiving a record amount of rainfall. Tropical Storm Hilary itself brought 8 inches of rain in just a few days. The cumulative precipitation over the course of a week brought a total of 20 inches of rain. This is about the same amount of average rainfall the Spring Mountains receive in an entire year.
Infrastructure Damages
Imagine a flash flood event in the Las Vegas Valley. Water accumulates rapidly and cascades down washes, roads, and highways, magnifying as it travels. The flooding in the Spring Mountains was similar to a flash flooding event you might see in the valley, except at a much greater magnitude. The ecosystem could not handle the amount of precipitation it received during the weather events preceding and following Tropical Storm Hilary. Soil can only absorb so much water before everything is loosened and topples downhill, taking large amounts of sediment, rock, trees, and any human infrastructure along with all excess water.
Water continued to flow down the mountain for days after the storm passed, washing away hiking trails, causing excessive damage to roads and infrastructure, and putting residents at risk. Residents on the mountain had to boil water for several days to avoid contamination, highways up Kyle and Lee Canyons were closed due to entire swaths of highway being buried under feet of mud or entirely washed away, and all recreational activities were prohibited while the area was in a state of active emergency.
Many of the hiking trails in the entire recreation area were impacted, some of which were washed away entirely. Mary Jane Falls, Upper Bristlecone, South Loop, and Cathedral Rock were the most severely impacted by mudslides and fallen trees, rendering them unusable and completely unsafe for anyone to hike.
What happened in the Spring Mountains was a natural disaster, exacerbated by climate change. It was similar to the increasing amount of natural disasters we are seeing across our country and all over the globe.
What is Still Closed and When Will it Reopen?
Staff with the US Forest Service work very hard to maintain the natural resources we enjoy and rely on in the Spring Mountains. Rebuilding trails requires time, funding, and highly skilled trail crews. The following trails remain closed indefinitely to the public until enough resources and staff are available to fully repair them:
- Mary Jane Falls Trail
- Trail Canyon Trail
- Upper part of Cathedral Rock Trail
- Telephone Pole Road
- The end of Macks Canyon Road
- Upper Bristlecone Trail
- Deer Creek Picnic Area
Please respect these closures and avoid hiking in prohibited areas. Doing so puts you at risk - these trails are closed because they remain unsafe to the public to use. The ground is unstable and already loose boulders and trees can fall at any moment if they are disturbed.
Please see the map below for updated information about trail closures in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.
