Black Canyon Wilderness
Lake Mead National Recreation Area

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In Black Canyon

The 17,220 acres of the Black Canyon Wilderness are contained within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and are administered by the National Park Service.

The area is a maze of peaks and side canyons that extend from the top of the Eldorado Mountains down to vertical cliffs rising above the edge of the Colorado River.

The geology is primarily volcanic in nature, which means there are remnants and artifacts in places left over from the old mining days. There are also petroglyphs and ancient lithic scatters spread throughout the area. Vegetation is sparse and primarily typical desert shrubbery. Water is very scarce but in hiking around you may come across mountain lions, coyotes, desert bighorn sheep and lots of jackrabbits. You'll also find desert tortoise, side-blotched lizard and the always-attention-demanding rattlesnake.

In the northern section of Black Canyon Wilderness you may find some springs and hot springs.

River rafters deep into Black Canyon

Black Canyon Wilderness topo map

Vertical photo of Black Canyon courtesy of the National Resource Conservation Service (USDA).
Upper and lower photos of the Black Canyon are courtesy of the National Park Service.
Topo map courtesy of National Geographic Topo!
Text is available for re-use under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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Black Canyon WildernessLake Mead National Recreation Area

Black Canyon Wilderness
Lake Mead National Recreation Area