Overview

The El Dorado Wagon Road Trail is a 3.0-mile one-way hike following an old wagon road that once connected Searchlight to Nipton. The trail parallels Highway 164 at a respectable distance as it runs through a forest of Joshua Trees on nearly level terrain inside the southern boundary of Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area.

Parts of the trail are easy to follow, but other parts are overgrown with shrubs and bunchgrasses, making route-finding a bit challenging. Because this trail follows the trace of an old wagon road, it generally runs straight, so when the trail is faint, hikers should assume that it continues straight from the last more-obvious bit of trail.

This is a point-to-point trail that runs between two trailheads. As such, hikers can walk in either direction, but here the trail is described as running westward. With two vehicles, hikers can walk the trail point-to-point. Otherwise, hikers can walk all the way out and back, making a 6-mile route, or just walk part-way out, turn around, and walk back making for a shorter route.

Link to map.

The El Dorado Wagon Road Trail sits in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone, which generally is characterized by Joshua trees mixed with creosote bush and lots of other shrub species, plus wildflowers in the spring. In this area, however, the understory is mainly composed of bunchgrass species. There are 12 species of grasses in this area. Big Galleta, Bush Muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri), and Fluffgrass are most common, and fortunately, there are few invasive grasses. This Mojave Desert grass community was common before ranchers arrived in the 1880s, but now it is rare.

Farther out the trail, cactus become common. Watch for Buckhorn Cholla and Beavertail Pricklypear, which are fairly common. Silver Cholla, Brown-spined Pricklypear, Matted Cholla, and Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus are uncommon here, and Searchlight Pricklypear (Opuntia curvispina) is rare.

Keep an eye out for Curve-billed Thrashers and Gilded Flickers, in Nevada found only in this area. More common bird species include Common Raven, Loggerhead Shrike, and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers. Mojave Rattlesnakes also occur here, so keep an eye and ear out in the dense bunchgrass.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ... this is a fairly safe hike. There are many cactus and other things with sharp points, so be careful walking around.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. This hike goes into Wilderness, so pay particular attention to respecting the land. This hike is fairly long, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials. Cell phones might work, but don't count on it. Hikers in serious trouble can walk south to the highway.

This is a nice, easy trail in a scenic area, but louder vehicles on the highway can be heard, so it isn't the purest of wilderness experiences.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area, about 1 hour south of Las Vegas, just west of Searchlight. From town, drive south on Highway 95 to Searchlight. In downtown Searchlight, turn right onto Highway 164 (Joshua Tree Highway) and drive west for 8.2 miles to Wee Thump East Road. Turn right and drive north, past the windmill for 0.5 miles to a pullout on the left. Park here; this is the Wagon Road Trailhead.

The Hike

From the Wagon Road Trailhead (Table 1, Waypoint 01), the trail runs northwest, past a trailhead sign with a map, following the old wagon road.

Starting out, one of the largest Joshua Trees along the trail is encountered only 50 yards out, and for people only wanting a petite adventure into a Wilderness Area, there is a nice sitting log (downed Joshua Tree), only 100 yards out (Wpt. 02). There are only three such convenient places to sit and rest along the trail, so use them if you've got them.

In the first 300 yards of trail, the trail keeps curving slightly to the right to eventually run north-northwest, but then it gently bends left to run nearly straight west-northwest. At about 0.28 miles out, the trail passes the second downed Joshua Tree (Wpt. 03), which again, makes a nice place to sit and quietly experience the wilderness area.

About 170 yards past the second downed Joshua Tree, the trail passes between two curious Joshua Trees. In this area, we have Eastern Joshua Trees, recently determined to be a species different from Western Joshua Trees. Western Joshua Trees live in places like Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, up along the eastern Sierra region, and western Nevada (distribution map). The two species are recognized by several characteristics, but perhaps the easiest is the growth form: Western Joshua Trees grow tall like trees with a trunk, while Eastern Joshua Trees are shorter and more shrub-like, branching closer to the ground. Here, however, we have a tree-like one and a shrub-like one growing side by side. As they say, the plants don't read our research articles.

At about 0.63 miles out, the trail again bends gently left to run due west, and at about 0.70 miles out, passes a pricklypear cactus on the left. This sprawling, long-spined cactus is a Tulip Pricklypear. During winter, pricklypear often turn red.

At about 0.82 miles out, the trail passes the third downed Joshua Tree (Wpt. 04) near the trail. This is the last nice place to sit and relax before reaching the end of the trail (2.2 miles ahead where there is no convenient sitting).

Just past this third downed Joshua Tree, hikers will notice the first of the Banana Yuccas growing along the trail. This is a higher-elevation species, and more will be seen up the trail. There seem to be few of our lower-elevation Mojave Yucca in this area, but more of them will be seen up the trail too. The area also becomes thick with Buckhorn Cholla, which make for a minor hiking hazard.

At about 0.9 miles out, the trail bends lightly left to run nearly straight in a southwesterly direction. By about 1.36 miles out, the trail makes its closest approach to Highway 164, and larger vehicles might be seen through the Joshua Trees some 200 yards distant. From that point, the trail bends gently right to run northwest away from the highway.

In this area, the trail becomes fainter and more overgrown with bunchgrasses. Some bits of trail are more obvious, but others are not, and this part of the trail gets little foot traffic. Hikers should keep in mind that the old road generally runs straight, so when one bit if trail is found, hikers can continues walking in the same direction to find the next bit. There are more obvious parts than obscure parts, but the obscure parts always feel a bit disorienting.

At about 1.8 miles out, the trail bends gently to run due west, and in this area, the trail become more obscure than before where hikers need to connect the dots of trail bits.

At about 2.36 miles out, the trail passes Searchlight Pricklypear (Opuntia curvispina) growing on the edge of the trail, which is rare and found only in the area around Searchlight.

At about 2.54 miles out, now heading northwest, the trail crosses the first wash (Wpt. 05) of the entire hike. On both sides of the wash, the trail is obscure, and it would be easy to turn left to follow the wash upstream. As before, the old road tends to go straight, so hikers should cross the wash continuing in the same direction that they entered it. Shortly, hikers will find another bit of obvious trail.

About 40 yards after the first wash, the trail becomes obscure and crosses a second wash at an oblique angle (Wpt. 06 to Wpt. 07). Where the trail starts down into the wash (Wpt. 06), hikers can look ahead and see the trail in the distance, still going generally straight.

After crossing the wash, the trail climbs onto higher ground, and here the rocky soil is different from that see so far. While previous soil conditions support dense stands of bunchgrasses, here the soil supports a dense stand of Blackbrush. Blackbrush is a middle-elevation species that grows very slowly. Dense stand like this suggests the area has not burned in some 500 years.

Because the blackbrush grows so slowly, and because the soils here don't support dense stands of grasses, the trail is once again easy to follow. The trail bends gentle to run west, then bends gently again to runs southwest and gradually gets closer to the highway. Eventually, the backside of the trailhead sign comes into view, and shortly thereafter, the trail bends hard to the left (Wpt. 08) at the only real turn on the entire trail. Two carsonite signs mark this bend because the old wagon road continues straight, but hikers need to turn left into the Blackbrush and Buckhorn Cholla.

Now heading due south, the trail is obvious, but shortly it becomes more obscure, but the trailhead sign is more-or-less visible ahead. The trail drops into a broad, sandy wash and runs out towards the trailhead sign. Adjacent to the sign, a gap in the highway fence permits entry into the Sprint of Wilderness Trailhead (Wpt. 09) parking area along Highway 164.