Kyle Canyon Slots - Summary Page

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This page last updated on 06/09/2019

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Directions: This hike is located on the edge of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, about 30 minutes northwest of Las Vegas. From Las Vegas, drive north on Highway 95 to the Kyle Canyon Road Exit. Turn left onto Route and drive west 12.3 miles to Harris Springs Road. Turn left onto the dirt road and go several hundred yards and turn right onto the Kyle Canyon road, just before Harris Springs Road heads up the hill. Refer to the map in (Fig. 02). Marked in yellow ia the route we either drove or hiked. Travel another 1/2 mile to where the road ends. This is the Slots trailhead.

Description of Area: The Kyle Canyon Slots is a short .2 mile one-way walk through a narrow slot, then through a somewhat longer narrow canyon, followed by a second narrow slot. More than 100 feet high, the canyon walls are made of cemented alluvial materials, and as such, exhibit considerable differences in erosions. Once through the "slots" you are presented with the vastness of the Kyle Canyon wash.

06/03/2019 Trip Notes:  I have visited Kyle Canyon Slots three time, the first back in july of 2012 with Harvey Smith and again today with my friend Jim Herring. The picture in (Fig. 01) at the top is the road leading to the Kyle Canyon Slots. The shot is (Fig. 03) is just a few feet before entering the lower slot area. The view in (Fig. 04) is looking at the lower slot located on the map in (Fig. 02). In the canyon area between the two slots (Fig. 05) there is a large area open to the sky above that is filled with a variety of desert scrub and the few wild flowers. There were a few birds flying in this  semi-shaded area. After walking through this area you are confronted with the upper slot (Fig. 06). As you pass through the upper slot you enter the wide Kyle Canyon wash (Fig. 07). To the left you can see a trail that goes up the side of the wash. On my first trip, we hiked 187 feet to the top of this trail that provided us with a view of the wash below all the way to Mt Charleston in the distance (Fig. 08). On that same trip, after hiking up the wash for about a mile we then decided to make a rather strenuous climb up the north side of the canyon wall to get an idea of where we were in relation to the Kyle Canyon road and other landmarks. The panoramic picture in (Fig. 09) is looking back down into the wash from the top of this climb. (Notes continued below)

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(Fig. 09)

Trip Notes Continued:  After walking around the area and taking pictures, we back tracked through the slots and decided to drive a little further up Kyle Canyon road to see if we could drive up to the plateau overlooking Kyle wash. A couple of miles up the road there was a turn-off the provided a dirt road that led to the top of the plateau on the south side of the road. Refer to the map in (Fig. 10). The elevation at the turn-off is 5,814 feet. The cement barrier about a quarter of the way up is 5,833 feet. The elevation at the top of this road is 5,908 feet, a climb of about 110 feet. Though there are several road at the top we decided to drive the route across the plateau to a point that exits back down to Kyle Canyon Road. Refer to the map in (Fig. 11). Though not close enough to the upper edge of Kyle Canyon wash, you can see from the map that this road parallels the wash. It slowly climbs to an elevation of 6,385 feet at the exit on the map. We were amazed at how many wild flowers we found along this road and stopped at several locations to take pictures (Figs. 13 thru 19). In places there were fields of Desert Globemallow (Fig. 12). I have never seen so many in one spot before. When we reached the end of the road, there was a locked gate. Luckily we were able to drive around it, only because I had a jeep.

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Note: Every attempt is made to provide accurate information, but occasionally depictions are inaccurate by error of mapping, navigation or cataloging. The information on this site is provided without any warranty, express or implied, and is for informational and historical purposes only.