Overview

Million Hills Wash is a nice 6.5-mile out-and-back hike in the wild and remote far southeast corner of Gold Butte National Monument. The hike starts from Devils Cove Road and cuts east all the way through the main backbone of Azure Ridge. There is no parking area and no trail.

The route follows an old road that runs down to New Spring on the edge of the main canyon, which at this point is New Spring Canyon. The route then runs down the canyon, which jogs back and forth following erosion patterns through layers of ancient limestone. There are no true narrows, but the route runs through narrow sections with towering limestone cliffs and wider sections with grand views of colorful hills. The route passes a high pour-over, merges with Indian Trail Canyon to become Million Hills Canyon, passes another high pour-over, and finally emerges on the east side of Azure Ridge. Hikers have a variety of options at that point, but turning around and returning to the trailhead makes for a great day-hike. Remember, it is all uphill on the way out.

Link to hiking map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ... this hike is fairly safe, but there are several water-polished pour-overs to bypass. Always be extra careful when high enough to fall and get hurt -- help is a long way away.

This is wild and remote country without services of any kind (no restrooms, no water, no gas, no food, no cell service). Bring what you need to survive. Be prepared and be self-reliant. It is a big place, but someone will eventually find you if you stay on a main road, but be prepared to survive alone for a day or two, or even longer on side roads and trails.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, this is a very remote hike, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials.

Getting to the Trailhead

Million Hills Wash is located out in Gold Butte National Monument, about 3-1/2 to 4 hours northeast of Las Vegas in a wild, remote, and scenic area.

From town, drive out to Gold Butte National Monument. From Whitney Pocket, continue south on the unpaved Gold Butte Road for 16.5 miles to a fork. Stay left onto Devils Cove Road and continue south, then east, then south again for 7.4 miles to the trailhead. These roads usually are suitable for carefully driven 2WD-HC vehicles.

Approaching the trailhead area, watch for a green splash of color down a canyon to the left, which is New Spring. Continue a bit farther south watching on the left for a carsonite Million Hills Wilderness Study Area sign and an old, closed road. There is no off-road parking. Park on the edge of the roadway; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 1, Waypoint 01), the route follows a closed road past a carsonite sign that announces entry into the Million Hills Wilderness Study Area. The old road proceeds generally downhill to the east. In about 5 minutes, hikers crest a low ridge and can see a patch of green in the canyon bottom about 0.2 miles distant, which is New Spring (Wpt. 04). The old road runs in and out of the wash and is fairly obvious and easy to follow, but note a fork in the wash (Wpt. 02) about 300 yards out where, on the return, it takes a moment or two to recall which way to go (stay right). The old road continues another 220 yards and drops into a larger wash (Wpt. 03). On the return, especially on a late return, the old road leaving the wash to the left is easy to miss.

Note in this area the rounded granite boulders. These are ancient rocks on the order of 1.5-billion-years-old. By the time hikers get to New Spring, the rocks are limestone with ages of only about 0.5 billion years, at most. The granites here and to the west were in place long before the sedimentary limestone began to be laid down, so there must be a great unconformity along here somewhere.

In the larger wash, hikers can walk directly east about 250 yards to the Cottonwood Tree that marks New Spring. However, the heavy brush (mostly seep willow, Baccharis sarothroides) makes it difficult to watch for rattlesnakes underfoot, so it is safer to exit the wash to the left and walk along more open terrain until one can circle back into the spring (Wpt. 04) from below. The spring is dry, but the soils are damp.

Just below New Spring, an old cement cattle watering trough sits in silent testament to the old days when rain fell, grass grew, and sheep and cows roamed this country.

Just past New Spring, hikers drop into New Spring Wash, a large wash that runs down New Spring Canyon. For such a jumbled landscape, the canyon runs oddly straight south to a corner where it abruptly turns left to head northeast, then almost as abruptly bends right to run southeast, turns back to the east, and finally bends northwest! After this, the canyon winds in a manner that seems more appropriate for a jumbled landscape, but here the wash follows harder and softer layers of limestone as it cuts through Azure Ridge.

At the end of the short northwest run, hikers arrive atop the first high pour-over (Wpt. 05). Bold hikers can tackle the polished rock directly, but for others, a bypass to the right climbs over a low ridge and drops down a steep, cobble-covered slope to the wash below. In this remote area, slips might be preferred to falls.

Back in the wash, the canyon turns and winds generally northward, winds around to head more easterly, and eventually arrives at a confluence (Wpt. 06) with another major canyon that merges from the north. This is Indian Trail Canyon, but it is not at all clear why a trail would run that way. Beyond the confluence, the canyon becomes Million Hills Canyon.

Continuing down Million Hills Wash in a generally easterly direction, the canyon eventually wraps hard to the left and bends back to the west. As the canyon turns back to the right, hikers arrive atop a low pour- over (Wpt. 07). This time, the pour-over is fairly easy to descend. Note the Ragged Rockflower (Crossosoma bigelovii) with the five, long white petals growing on the walls of the poor-over. This is the only place in Gold Butte where this plant is known to occur.

Winding down the canyon in generally a northeasterly direction, hikers eventually arrive at the second high pour-over (Wpt. 08). This one can also be bypassed, but it is not too bad of a down climb; hikers need to awkwardly slide under the side of the large chockstone.

From there the canyon heads generally northeasterly again until bending back to a southeasterly direction. The canyon bends again to the east, runs through a fairly narrow section of canyon bottom where the walls are not high, and emerges onto a broad desert plain (Wpt. 09). The wash can be seen to cut through another small ridge to the east, and the Grand Wash Cliffs in Arizona can be seen in the far distance.

The edge of the wash at this point (Wpt. 09) makes a nice place to stop for lunch. For most hikers, this is the point to turn around and return to the trailhead (Wpt. 01). Other hikers, however, might consider continuing down the wash and making a very long loop to the south that eventually returns to the trailhead. For those interested, review your map carefully and save some critical waypoints.