Griffith Peak Trail Rebuild, Part 3!

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Enjoy alpine meadows, open vistas, and wildlife while helping build Griffith Peak Trail!

Be a part of the volunteer trail crews that will rebuild Griffith Peak Trail this summer! Sleep under the stars, breathe in the mountain air, experience Mt. Charleston Wilderness up close, and appreciate trails in a new way. Building trail side-by-side with other outdoors lovers is a fun and immensely rewarding way to give back to the places you love. Lace up your boots and join us!

For this project, we’ll camp along South Loop Trail, 4.2 miles and 2,900 ft. up from the trailhead. Each day we’ll put on our day packs and hike to Griffith Peak Trail. Trailwork will consist of using pick-mattocks and mcleods to cut and level trail tread. There’s truly no better way to get to know Mt. Charleston Wilderness!

Difficulty Level: Strenuous - This project involves daily hikes of up to 6 miles on challenging terrain, at elevations of 7,500 - 10,800 ft, while carrying tools and all of your gear for the day. Participants need to be of a high general fitness level to move at a pace that will allow the group to reach trailwork sites by a set time. Participants should have some experience in the outdoors. This trip will be physically strenuous and extremely rewarding.

About the Trail - Located in Mt. Charleston Wilderness, 5.6 mile Griffith Peak Trail has been closed since being decimated by the Carpenter One fire and successive flooding in 2013. The trail is currently under an array of logs and, in some places, non-existent. Before wildfire, the trail provided a quieter alternative to South Loop Trail and offered views of the back of Red Rock Canyon. Reopening Griffith Peak Trail will give hikers additional access to alpine Bristlecone Pine forests, Griffith Peak (11,059 ft), and Charleston Peak (11,916 ft). We’ll be approaching Griffith Peak Trail from Kyle Canyon, via the South Loop Trail.

About the Trailwork - This project doesn’t require any prior trailwork experience. You’ll receive a safety and training session before working, including proper techniques and tool use. We typically leave camp at 8 am and return by 4 pm. Be prepared be away from camp all day by carrying a day pack with lunch and at least 3 liters of water. We’ll be on the trail Thursday - Sunday. We hope you can join us for the whole hitch, but you can also come for as little as two days. If you arrive part way through, you’ll need to meet us on the trail.

What You’ll Need - Sturdy closed-toe shoes, long pants, and a long-sleeved shirt are required for this project. You’ll need a day pack and the capacity to carry at least 3 liters of water. You’re responsible for your own camping gear and snacks as well as transportation to and from the project. Because there’s limited packing space, we’ll be asking some volunteers for this project to use tents that have already been packed up the trail.

What We’ll Have - We’ll provide tools, gloves, and hard hats. We’ll have group camp gear, including ample water and cooking gear such as stoves and tables. We’ll be making dinner for everyone at night, have a breakfast bar and coffee in the mornings, as well as basic sandwich fixings so you can make lunch for the day.

Camp - We’ll be camping along South Loop trail, 4.2 miles and 2,900 up from the trailhead. We strongly encourage you to make use of our pack support to get your gear up the trail on Thursday. That way, more of our energy is spent building the trail rather than hiking up it. We’ll share more information with you about how to prep your gear to be packed. Otherwise, you are responsible to backpack your gear up to camp.