I'm a seasoned hiker and in great physical shape. But I have to admit this one gave me a good workout. But I want to do it again, such an awesome hike. I did this hike starting from the entrance of the park, someone dropped me off there, and finished it off going out through the gateway cannon wash that leads to the calico basin. 14.2 miles of hiking that I will never forget. Can't wait to go back!
Hi Bryan! I'm planning to do something very similar in the next few months (Turtlehead Peak via park entrance and then return via Calico Basin) and I have a few questions - how long did it take to walk from the park entrance to the Turtlehead peak trailhead? How easy was it to stick to a trail when heading to Calico basin via gateway canyon? and how long did the whole thing take from start to finish? Thanks!
@@elliottlelaure9680 Hi Elliott, I will try to explain this hike but some areas the trail is not clearly marked. It took me about an hour to walk from the park entrance to the Turtlehead peak trailhead. If you go up to the peak it will take an additional hour or two at least depending on your physical condition. The trail that leads to the Turtlehead peak starts at the sandstone quarry parking lot. The trail comes to a fork. If you go left this will take you to Turtlehead. If you go right it will take you to Calico Tanks. To get to Calico basin you will need to take the Calico Tanks trail. This is where it gets tricky. You need to continue up the Calico Tanks trail and look for a wash on the left. This is called Rattlesnake trail. If you go to Google maps you will see it on the map. It is not a marked trail but you need to follow the wash and sometimes you will need to go up on the sides of the wash to continue but it is not difficult. The trail will make a 90 degree turn and you will end up on the backside of the Calico hills. Follow this trail and then follow the trail that goes to the left. It's a small wash that goes downhill and leads to the Gateway canyon. Just makes sure you go to the right when you hit the bottom. (If you go left, that is called the upper Gateway canon. Iv'e done it a few times and it is a little rough but nice.) Once you made to the Gateway Canyon you can follow it all the way out to Calico basin. You will need to do some rock scrambling but nothing major. When you come out of the canyon Calico basin will be on your right. Google Maps has a pretty good layout of this hike. It may be a little hard to find the Rattlesnake trail because nothing is marked. But it is a wash that is on the left going up from the Calico Tanks trail maybe about 5 minutes from the fork in the trail. Time wise it took me about 7 to 8 hours but I took a lot of pictures and that slowed me down. Hope this helps.
@@bryanthompson4323 Hi Brian - thanks for the informative response! So after you reached the summit of Turtlehead, you descended via the standard trail back towards the sandstone quarry parking lot - but then rejoined the Calico tanks trail and then rattlesnake and gateway canyon out to Calico basin? The reason I ask is because I have heard that some people have ascended Turtlehead via the standard route from the parking lot - but have then descended off-trail from the peak heading due East until they join up with the Upper Gateway canyon trail which they can follow down and out to the basin as you describe. I've also heard of people ascending this way and then descending via the standard route out to the parking lot. Did you get a sense of how difficult that might be when you were up there? It's hard to tell via google maps but, if possible, I'm quite interested in summiting Turtlehead via the basin/pink goblin pass/lower & upper gateway canyon trails and then doing some route-finding and 2.5 level scrambling to reach the summit from the East - and then descending via the standard route to the parking. It's a lot of work but my condition/experience is good - do you think it sounds possible based on your experience? Many thanks!
@@elliottlelaure9680 I went up and down the normal trail to Turtle head from the parking lot but haven't tried going down on the east side of Turtle Head. It looks possible and you could actually go to Brownstone Basin from there as well. There is a trail that goes up the upper gateway and crosses over into Brownstone basin. And the Pink Goblin Pass is about a 1/4 of the way coming down the lower gateway on the right hand side. I want to go back up there and do some more hiking but I moved to Hawaii recently. I plan to fly back up to Vegas this fall depending on the Covid situation.
@@bryanthompson4323 awesome - thanks again! I’m from the UK and have visited Vegas and RRC many times - can’t wait to get back as well and do this hike ASAP!
Awesome hike, amazing views. Great job filming, most people never get to see that view of Vegas. I am planning to do this hike in June when I go to Vegas. Next you will have to do Mt. Charleston, 8.5 miles up, 8.5 miles down.
Do not climb down the wrong WAY! Wife and I made that mistake back in around 2017/2018 ish. New signs are probably not going to let that happen again hopefully. Friggan scary. We were on our butts for half of the hike down. Giant drop offs and not knowing if there were a snake around the corner. Go back the correct way is all I am saying.
Love when people are playing music out in the wilderness within earshot of other people. I get it if you're out alone and spooked but goodness, what's going through these peoples' heads? Too much pre workout?
Hey Ethan, I'm from up in Steamboat. I have two weeks off between jobs starting next week. Do you have any recommendations for a week long that would be hikable this early?? I don't want to drive to Southern Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona...
The Mount. Zirkel Wilderness is an amazing place to hike near steamboat. If you dont like snow I wouldnt go there though. There are alot of spots west of steamboat that are more in the desert. I would look into hiking near Craig or by dinosaur national monument! Thanks for watching!
