Exploration Peak Park is a wonderful park in Mountain’s Edge, a development in Southwest Las Vegas. The park entrance is on Buffalo south of Blue Diamond Rd. There is no access to the park or the peak off Blue Diamond Road itself.
The park is a great option for running in southwest Las Vegas. While it’s location and western-themed playground mean that there are plenty of dog-walkers, kids, and moms, there’s more than enough room on the paths for everyone. Speaking of paths, the park perimeter is about 0.7 miles, and there are quite a few internal path options within the park to create quarter-mile mini-loops inside the park.
5K Walking or Running Routes at Exploration Peak Park
But the real draw of the park isn’t the pavement, it’s the peak. The two are separated by a fence along the northern border of the maintained park. The peak area is not maintained the way the park is. The trails are pretty well-worn, but they are not paved, and there may be trash around.
You gain about 200 feet of elevation over about a half-mile of unpaved trail heading up Exploration Peak itself. There’s plenty of trails to access the mountain, and there are even more trails on the mountain itself. There’s the main peak, and then there’s a secondary peak southeast, about a quarter mile in-and-back from the main peak. Note that all trails on the mountain are dirt and slick rock, so exercise additional caution, especially on the downhill.
Park to Peak:
Start at the parking lot. Head north, skirting around the Western playground, to head to the gate. In the route pictured here, I avoided going straight up and ran parallel to Buffalo Rd, staying in the foothills and curving around the edge of the mountain. When I hit civilization again, I backtracked a little and then went up. I didn’t want to hit the peak quite yet, so I ran the ridge as far as possible.
This particular set of trails tallied up to 1.8 miles from the gate. Tack on a tenth of a mile from parking lot to gate and you’re about at 2 miles. As you can see, there are quite a few trails that go up and down the mountain, so one way to add mileage is to run up, then down, then up, then down. Great for hill repeats or general elevation gain practice.
Or you can finish off the last mile and change in the park itself.
As mentioned above, the perimeter of the park is a smidge less than a mile. Plan for a lap and a half to hit your 3.1 miles or 5k route. Here, I started at the gate, ran the perimeter, and at the southern edge, opted for a small shortcut, avoiding the southwestern loop.
This is quite a fun area, whether you like pavement, gravel, or dirt. The park itself has dips and swells if you’re not ready for the full-on incline of the mountain. And the mountain itself has a steeper trail that avoids the lookout if you really want to hit that uphill. For the variety and atmosphere, it’s a great Las Vegas running route.
Park-to-Park Route
Exploration Peak Park is a great starting point to build a route that connects to the other parks within Mountain’s Edge. Watch this space for a route that leverages the Le Barron Paseo Trail to connect Exploration Peak, Nathaniel Jones, and Mountain’s Edge Regional Parks.