Carpenter Canyon Road

Total Miles
12.4

Elevation

2,099.11 ft

Duration

--

Technical Rating

5

Moderate

Best Time

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

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Carpenter Canyon Road
16

Trail Overview

The trail starts out as a good, wide gravel road. Mostly Creosote bushes at first. About 1 mile in is the BLM Pahrump Fire Station. Shortly after passing the fire station, the road narrows and gets a bit rutty. The first Joshua Trees appear about 2.6 miles in, with Cholla and Barrel Cactus making a showing about 3 miles in. Snow-capped Charleston Peak at 11,811 feet becomes visible at about 3.5 miles. About 6 miles in the trail has become a single-lane high-clearance road. The trail climbs through a Juniper forest and terminates in the pines.

Photos of Carpenter Canyon Road

Carpenter Canyon Road
Carpenter Canyon Road

Difficulty

Good gravel road becomes rutted with loose rocks, sand and washes with short, steep grades.

Technical Rating

5

Status Reports

Maria Van Den Ouden
Sep 25, 2024
4x4
Open
The trail started off easy, but got very tangled due to very bad weather and was becoming more technical our friends who had a manual drive truck could not make it and would not go on, we could have gone on in our jeep, but turned back due to their failure, you must have four-wheel-drive to get through the soft dirt and technical rockfall that happened in the last storm
Ian Navarrete
May 05, 2024
4x4
Open
Rough/Deteriorated
Washboard
Lots of changes seen on this trail. Rocky and Tight sections before the campground. Lots of pinstripe action and maze finding to get thru. Do not follow the old trail. Stick to the left of the original trail and follow the creek bed all the way up.
Kirk R
Apr 08, 2024
4x4
Obstructed
Downed Tree
Washout
Downed tree blocking the trail at 36.22219, -115.75104 approximately 1.9 miles from the top, 1/2 mile north of Loop Boundary Rd. An erosion ditch is beyond the tree, too wide to straddle and too narrow to drive through with a Jeep Wrangler. Unable to locate a bypass trail around the obstruction. There is also substantial flash flood debris and rocks in the Carpenter Canyon trail at the Loop Boundary Rd junction but this is relatively easy to pass for access to Loop Boundary Rd.
Bob F
Mar 10, 2024
4x4
Obstructed
Washout
Deep Snow
Downed Tree
trail was washboard midway, partial washout which is easier than 2 months ago, a few more trees have fallen, but road can still used to the carpenter canyon signs towards the top. we pulled to small off road trailers behind us up and back. made for some tight qtrs in a few spots, we stayed overnight and returned.

Access Description

Trail begins at the south end of Pahrump, NV at the intersection of HWY 160 and Carpenter Canyon Road. Head East on Carpenter Canyon Road.

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