Dispatches From The Field - 5/14/11 - Arden Peak (Run For The Towers)

My Dad is a hunter.

That statement means nothing to this post other than the fact that if you put him on a dirt road, he is looking at everything other than where he his driving. I can remember as a kid riding shotgun with the windows down and my Dad looking for animals. We never drove off the road, but I had some moments along the way where I wondered if we were going to make it.. No wonder I have no hair now. I could continue to whine about my Father's driving but I am definitely my Father's son. I'm actually worse, because I do the same thing, only on pavement and I am looking for trails.

Can you imagine the conversation with the Police? "I know officer, but do you see that trail running up the side of the hill over there...what do you think the elevation gain is on that? That's got to be zone 4 the whole way up for sure!"

Yeah, not good.

Coach Cyndee had hills on the training agenda today and so I thought that Arden Peak would be a good one to try.

Arden Peak. Black Mountain is just out of the picture to the right.

To the south of town is the Anthem development. We never built from the center out in Vegas, but rather we built in clusters all over the valley and then filled in from there. It's still common to see empty lots in the middle of the city everywhere as a result. There are three major community developments in the city: Green Valley, Summerlin and Anthem.

The homes in Anthem have been built right up to the base of Black Mountain. As Vegas (along with communities across the country) try and improve their recreational trail systems, more money has been spent on their development. The Anthem East Trail is a part of this development.

Traveling 7.5 miles of the foothills behind Anthem, this trail has can be pretty tough and has zero shade. I have run it from both sides and that is how I came across the Radio Towers on Arden Peak.

The Shadow Canyon Trailhead for the Anthem East Trail.

(Directions for Shawn - Go south on Eastern to Anthem. Stay left on Anthem Parkway at the fork in the road with Eastern. Make a left on Atchley (just past the Walgreens). Make a left on Shadow Canyon Road. There is a small 6 car parking area on your left with the trailhead toward the top of the hill.)

The trail is paved on both ends and there are restrooms at the Anthem Hills Park side trailhead. Dirt road and singletrack in the middle portion. The trail is not very technical but it does have some very steep sections and a lot of switchbacks.

Anthem East Trail moves left over the hill. The Arden Peak access road moves to the right.

The trail to Arden Peak is basically uphill the entire way with you starting on the Anthem East Trail. From the Shadow Canyon trailhead, the paved portion takes you to a flood control collection area. If you take the singletrack to the right of the flood control basin it will take you to the Black Mountain Trailhead. Left and across the small dam in the front of the collection area keeps you on Anthem East. Keep going straight onto the dirt and broken gravel road and this will take you up to the fork in the trail that is pictured above. Left keeps you on Anthem East and right will take you to the radio towers.

I was feeling a little slow, chugging my way up the hill, but the view is more than worth it.

Looking back at the Las Vegas valley.

The radio towers seem closer than what they actually are. The service road that you work your way up constantly works its way around the sight line, so you think you are almost there and then you clear the hill and realize that you still have a ways to go. The grade is fairly consistent the entire way. I have to say that all the flat speed work that I have done lately has not been helping my mountain climbing ability.

Before you can get all the way to the last set of towers, the road is gated and access is restricted. I had visions of men in dark sunglasses and black suits. Maybe a dog with bad teeth that talks would be thrown in as a sidekick...

End of the line just short of the third set of radio towers.

The nice part is what goes up, must come down. Where my size kills me going up the hills, it works really well going downhill on a bike and reasonably well on the run. The trip down the trail was obviously much quicker than the trip up. On the way down, a pickup truck passed me on their way to the towers, I squinted at their windshield to see what was up. The two guys seemed to be wearing t-shirts and did not have a pug...

The middle tower at the turnaround.

The run was really enjoyable and I would do it again. Nice cardio workout and a little over 5.5 miles round trip. Enough to make you feel it, but not so much that you're going to destroy the rest of the week for training. Early morning does give you some shade on the upper portion of the road as you move around the east side of the hill.

There is a fair amount of foot traffic on the lower portion of the trail but people are courteous and the trail is wide in these areas. Overall, I'm going to have to give it 3 stars. Trail profile in the Garmin link below.

1:12:15/5.63 miles
Garmin Details