Higher Ground

Three Mount Charleston hikes to escape the heat

BristleconeLoop Trail

This cool hike is even cooler because it ends with an ice-cold brew. Lee Canyon’s Bristlecone Loop Trail starts (and finishes) at the ski resort, making it the perfect destination for those with a thirst for the outdoors. Views along the trail are breathtaking, as are sightings of occasional wild horses — but the real highlights are Nevada’s two official state trees: the singleleaf pinyon and the bristlecone pine. 

 

Fletcher Peak

Just off the well-worn North Loop Trail, a stone’s throw from The Raintree, is a one-mile spur trail to a panoramic peak that is shockingly undervisited. Fletcher Peak overlooks Kyle Canyon, Fletcher Canyon, and Deer Creek; and offers phenomenal views from Mummy Mountain to Griffith Peak. Pro tip: Most people stop at a rocky outcrop one hill short of the true peak. Fletcher’s true highest point is surrounded in trees that block the view.

 

Robber’s Roost

The best quarter-mile in Southern Nevada isn’t at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it’s on Mt. Charleston, in a small canyon that gets its name from a group of probably-apocryphal horse thieves who were said to use this area as a hideout. This short but steep trail winds its way past a handful of small caves and large alcoves, eventually dead-ending at sheer limestone walls that are a haven for summer rock climbers.