Highway work will close Lake Mead hiking trail starting Sunday
If you’re planning a hike into Goldstrike Canyon at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, you’d better get moving.
Goldstrike is one of two trails that closes for the summer, but it’s being shut down early this year — on Sunday — because of construction on Interstate 11 that will cut off access to the trailhead.
The National Park Service began closing the Goldstrike and White Rock Canyon trails during the summer in 2014, after a rash of heat-related emergencies over a two-year period that left four hikers dead and more than 60 others in need of rescue and medical attention.
The strenuous Goldstrike Canyon trial starts on the Nevada side of Black Canyon and leads down to Goldstrike and Nevada hot springs and the Colorado River.
The White Rock Canyon Trail starts on the Arizona side of Black Canyon and features multiple trails leading to Arizona Hot Spring, Liberty Bell Arch and the Colorado River.
White Rock Canyon will close for the summer on May 15. Both it and Goldstrike will reopen on Sept. 30.
Summer hiking safety tips and maps of the closure areas are available on Lake Mead’s website at https://www.nps.gov/lake/.
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.
