Overview
The River Mountains Loop Trail runs for more than 35.3 miles on a loop around the River Mountains, which form the backdrop of Las Vegas and Henderson. The trail is 12 feet wide and paved, with an adjacent trail for equestrians for about 15 miles of its length. The surrounding River Mountains are home to one of the largest bighorn sheep populations in Nevada, which trail users may encounter on this trail.
Other than the 3.5 miles that run along the former rail corridor, the trail is quite hilly with several strenuous hills.
About the Route
The River Mountains Loop Trail links the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Hoover Dam, and Boulder City.
About 3.5 miles of the River Mountains Loop Trail occupy the old bed of a railroad that once ran from Boulder City to Hoover Dam, supplying materials to build the dam. From the trailhead in Boulder City, shared with the Historic Railroad Trail, the trail continues north on the River Mountains Loop Trail towards Boulder Beach. This next section of the trail continues north, and skirts alongside Lake Mead, which trail users should be able to spot in the distance, far from the trail. The trail then turns west and then heads south, skirting the edge of the Henderson suburbs.
The southern edge of the trail skirting back to Boulder City, passes by a number of hiking trails, heading up into the River Mountains as the trail heads east towards Boulder City.
Connections
At the eastern end of the loop near Boulder City, the River Mountains Loop Trail connects to the Historic Railroad Trail.
At the northern end of Henderson, the trail connects to the Wetlands Trail Connector.
On the south end of Henderson, a number of trails connect trail users to the surrounding Henderson trails including the Lake Mead Parkway Trail, Burkholder Trail, Equestrian North Trail, and Equestrian South Trail.
The River Mountains Loop Trail runs in a complete loop between the cities of Henderson and Boulder City.
Parking is available at:
See TrailLink Map for all parking options and detailed directions.
First time on this trail. Rode it counterclockwise and ran into fairly heavy wind. A lot of uphill and downhill and switchbacks during the whole loop. Lake Mead, Boulder City, natl rec area visitors center and distant views of the LV strip are some of the highlights. Bring water and food and be prepared to get a work out! Really enjoyed it and would def do it again!
Not sure how this trail got listed by Trail Link as a rail/trail but it definitely is not. We started at Railroad Pass trail head and rode the trail clockwise. Lots of long uphills but plenty of downhills as well. Where it gets very difficult is when you get out about 24 1/2 miles (at this point there is no turning back) and you face a fairly steep 5 mile climb with minimal downhill relief. The last 3 1/2 miles are downhill which is nice but that 5 mile climb is a killer. Beautiful trail but not easy by any stretch.
Started at the Alan Bible Visitor Ctr and went clockwise. The trail immediately goes up for about 1100 feet in about 6 miles. This was a killer of a climb for me. Most of the difficulty was in this section. The last 2 miles was also challenging. I am not sure why this falls into the "rail trail category". Too much verticals and S turns and switch backs for that category. The first 13 ish miles was underwheming as far as scenery. you pass housing, power lines, businesses. The rest of the route is more scenic and less difficult and more fun. If I were to ride it again, I would consider going counter clockwise as an out and back from the visitor center. Going counterclockwise all the way would have a longer less steep uphill with steep downhill in the end. Pick your preference. I did not see any wildlife. I encountered some raindrops, temps around 70 mostly cloudy. Rained hard after the ride. No shade. Bring enough water. No food on the trail itself. A lot of expansion cracks, otherwise good mostly asphalt surface. Road bike should be fine. I rode a hybrid.
I added this into a 60 mile total ride. I started at the 0 mile point and went clockwise. Not a lot of water refill spots which is a big downer. I filled up at a rest stop about 5 miles in, but the majority of the back side loop is waterless. Once you hit the boulder area there are some stores you can stop in if you need water or something. But that’s about it. I started the loop with a regular water bottle mixed with some electros and a 1.5L camel back of water. It was enough, but would have benefited from having more. I went at noon on a hot august day. Brought some cliff bars. It’s a good trail. I did the whole ride on a heavy mountain bike and it was windy. I would have preferred using my road bike, but glad I used the mountain bike because between 9 and 18 miles in, the trail was covered with a lot of rocky gravel and sand patches. That would have been tough and frustrating on a road bike. I even walked thru some heavy deep gravel on the mountain bike. It was covered so much in some areas that I thought I got of the trial somehow. Either way, it slows you down. I think the debris is the result from all the rain washing rocks onto the trail. Hopefully they clean it up soon because it’s a good trail though. Like I said I added it in, so I did 15 miles before I got there and then did the loop. If you’re not a distance rider type, then maybe think about how far you want to go before committing to the half way point. Either way, there’s plenty of ways out if you have an emergency so it’s not like you have to walk 15 miles to get help. Roads are close by. Also, the trail path kind of gets funky in Boulder City. Meaning, there’s a spot where you kind of have to know where you’re going to stay on the trail. It kind of sucks actually, so you might want to look at a map of the trail via the satellite view so you can get an idea where to go once you hit the Boulder City area. Well, those are the notables. I’ll be back at this trail because I like the distance riding without having issues with cars and traffic
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