Sunflower Mountain - Meadow Valley Range Wilderness, Nevada

Hike the only named mountain in this obscure, remote and rugged Nevada mountain range.

Related posts:
​Nevada Hikes
Davidson Peak - Eastern Great Basin
​Virgin Peak:  8,071' - Seeking Solitude in the Mojave

Approaching the base of Sunflower Mountain (right), a volcano that erupted 14 million years ago (m.y.a.).

GPS TRacks

Trip Stats
Location:  Meadow Valley Range Wilderness (BLM) - southeastern Nevada.
Overview:  Make your own loop-hike in solitude to the summit of Sunflower Mountain in a mountain range infrequently traveled, with the option to continue northeast along tilted cliffs to Kane Benchmark.
Distance/Elevation Gain:  5.3 miles/1,670'.  Prominence:  842'.
Difficulty:  Moderate effort Class 2, no cairns, not marked, no discernible trail - must be experienced with navigation.
Coordinates:  Trailhead:  37.06787,-114.76415.  Sunflower Mountain:  37.07292,-114.73997.
​Maps and Apps:  Printed map from CalTopo.com, Stavislost.com., Topo Maps U.S.
Date Hiked:  11/25/22.
Geology:   Sunflower Mountain's volcanic eruptions (14.7 million years ago) produced rhyolite, a silica-rich rock formed from granitic magma, which is more viscous than iron- and magnesium-rich basaltic magma.  Rocks associated with rhyolite are tuff and pumice, present on Sunflower's flanks.  The Meadow Valley Range is underlain by folded and faulted Cambrian (500 mya) through Triassic (250 mya) age rocks.  On the drive from Moapa, Nevada, this rock is especially exposed in the southern part of the range as limestone cliffs.

Open Spaces 
If you relish wide open spaces with minimal human influence, like the freedom to chart your own path to discover features that others haven't, and don't mind the occasional cactus spine jabs and rough rock-hopping, this rugged land is for you.  It's a place for open space "aficionados".  Sunflower Mountain's summit allows you to see what's going on in the Great Basin desert of Nevada:  raw, contorted, ripped and tilted geography as a result of earth's spreading and faulting.  Some say this desert land is too spare, but each plant must fight for survival, changing to adapt. This clever determination earns respect and admiration.  Many times you find unexpected things like fossils, springs and weird rocks.  I've found what looked like a miner's crucible and pottery sherds in remote deserts.  Surprise and unpredictability separate this biome from others.
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A scene from the t.v. series Yellowstone prompted me to pull The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich out of my bookcase.  In this scene, Beth, the daughter of John Dutton, the Montana ranch owner, is reading this book, wondering how to find solace.  "Solace must be discovered," her dad tells her.   Early in the book, Ehrlich states "Space has a spiritual equivalent and can heal what is divided and burdensome in us.  Space represents sanity, not a life purified dull, or "spaced out" but one that might accommodate intelligently any idea or situation."  She writes about the extreme weather and landscapes of Wyoming, and its people.   Ehrlich found solace in Wyoming after a tragic event in her life .

Some people find solace and revitalization in remote, open spaces.  Others find the same in the hubbub of big cities.  Is it an acquired preference that grows out of an appreciation for open spaces after you spend some time in them?  Or are some people more naturally attracted to them?  At any rate, the American West is rich with opportunities for solitude, solace, freedom, discovery.  The list goes on....

"The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms.  Love flowers best in openness and freedom."   -   Edward Abbey
"The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom."   -  Theodore Roosevelt
"Give me silence, water, hope.  Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes."-  Pablo Neruda

​We also stopped by the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge.  It is a tranquil place with many old California palm trees (see end of this post).  It was created to protect the endangered Moapa dace - a small fish endemic only to this area.
A sign here indicated Las Vegas showgirls used to frolic in these hot springs - there was an old cabana from years past - before it became a wilderness reserve.

Our Hike (see topo map at end of post) - 5.3 miles round-trip

• From BLM Wilderness sign, head east through open, gently rising terrain, aiming toward a gulley and saddle on a ridge between two hills for 0.5 miles.
• Short descent into a drainage and then ascend plateau to the left heading northeast, Class 2.  
• Follow this relatively flat plateau ~ 0.5 miles to the base of Sunflower Mountain.
• Class 2 steep scrambling to summit, with some loose rocks.
• We descended the west flank and then contoured around the base of Sunflower to hike down the drainage just south of the approach plateau.
• Hike back up the escarpment and head northwest toward trailhead.

Our tracks from trailhead (left) to Sunflower's summit.  We drove up road accessible by high-clearance from Kane Springs Road, seen as straight line in valley below (upper left).   We approached via climbing the plateau that lead to the base and returned via a fun scrambling canyon.
Meadow Valley Range is one of the most obscure of Nevada's over 300 mountain ranges. 
North is at top of map

Got my printed topo map ready!  You can park near this sign if you have high clearance vehicle.

Can't get enough of photographing this cool-looking extinct volcano, the only named peak in this range-
​Sunflower Mountain.

Heading east from trailhead - a lot of dead yuccas, apparently from a fire, dotted this landscape.  The new growth is a good sign.

From the BLM sign, we headed east to a shallow drainage that led to a saddle.  We headed south into a shallow drainage and the opening of the small canyon that we would hike down on our return.

Getting closer to the saddle.

From the saddle, dropping into the drainage.  On our ascent, we climbed the hill on the left; on our descent we hiked down the drainage on the right.

Reaching the top of the hill out of the drainage; from here, a long flat plateau leads to the base of Sunflower.  Looking back at flat area we just ascended.

The flanks of Sunflower mountain contain lots of light-colored tuff (consolidated ash).

Climbing Sunflower and looking back at the plateau we just crossed.

Tuff - consolidated ash.  Rock is loose in some spots, but not too bad.

Climbing an old volcano!  Great view of Kane Springs Valley and the Delamar Mountain range across the valley.

Top of Sunflower Mountain looking back to Kane Springs Valley and road we drove up on (Kane Springs road).

View southwest from summit of Meadow Valley Mountain range.

View northeast to Kane Benchmark (upper right high point).  We didn't see any traffic on Kane Springs Road in valley.

Heading off summit on the west flank to the flat spot just behind Fred in the saddle.

View of Kane Benchmark (high point on horizon) from west slope of Sunflower.

Walking along base of Sunflower back to approach plateau.

Hiking down drainage under (to the south) of plateau we climbed for approach to Sunflower's base.

Progressing down the drainage.

Looking back at entry point into drainage and the plateau we climbed earlier on our approach to Sunflower.

Welded tuff

Ferocactus cylindraceus

Unusual rock

Some cool stuff on the trail.

Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge and Palm Creek Ranch in Moapa, Nevada 
​60 miles north of Las Vegas

We stayed in our trailer two nights at Palm Creek Ranch in Moapa, Nevada.  It is a natural desert oasis.  The water is warm!

Our GPS tracks on CalTopo map, and elevation profile.
Click on map for larger file

References
Lahren, M., Trexler, J.  Crustal Evolution of the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada.  1993.  Dept. of Geological Sciences, Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, Reno.   
Pampeyan, E. H.  Geologic Map of the Meadow Valley Mountains, Lincoln and Clark Counties, Nevada. 1993.  USGS.
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