For what it's worth, that 'Flashback' link at the bottom of the page has bad info. In an article about everyone's misidentification of Sunrise Mountain, it misidentifies Sunrise Mountain!
"Both Sunrise and Frenchman are partially topped with Vishnu Schist..."
The Precambrian rocks of Frenchman Mt are at the base, on the W side, not the top. I'm not aware of any Precambrian rocks on Sunrise Mountain. I know there is a Wikipedia entry that claims the mountains are capped with Vishnu Schist, but that entry is very wrong.
You might examine the USGS reports for Las Vegas and Lake Mead; these two reports are split at Sunrise Mt, so both are needed to get the full picture. They are at:
Vishnu Schist has actually never been identified near Frenchman Mt. There is, however, a gneiss that looks similar to other gneises that are correlative with the Vishnu Schist. The supposed Proterozoic rocks at Frenchman Mt. have never actually had a radiometric date determination, at least that was published by early 2007.
EDIT: thanks for partly changing the text. However, I'm still curious about the PreCambrian rocks supposed to be at Sunrise Mountain. I've never seen any indication of these rocks on geologic maps. Since Frenchman Mountain is not closely related to Sunrise Mountain -- this discrepancy doesn't surprise me.
Once more, there is actually no Vishnu Schist in this area; only gneisses that look similar to other gneisses presumed to be correlative with Vishnu Schist.
We had a lot of trouble figuring out how to get started on this hike. The most success we had was by driving to the END of the parking area across from Frenchmans -- there is an old dump but it's not too terrible. At the end of the area, there was an old road that leads immediately up and over. Follow that road up the hill at the dump and then start bearing LEFT. We placed a cairn at the beginning of a trail that leads around the steep slope on the left very easily. It's not at the base of the hill but further up. Walking through the wash/canyon/valley at the bottom was difficult. The path leads straight along and takes you right around to the next part of the journey.
We spent a lot of time messing around finding the trail. I loved the climbing around up the ridges and discovering all sorts of small treasures - flowers, little animal holes, nests etc. We were well covered for the sun - which was blazing in late April.
This hike is sort of the opposite of Frenchmans as it is unclear and very wild. But we eventually located the summit and enjoyed reading about "four fun guys and a stripper" who had been the last to enjoy the summit views of Nellis Air Force Base...I'm thinking .... helicopter??
cp0915 - Feb 21, 2007 9:42 pm - Voted 10/10
FlashbackFor what it's worth, that 'Flashback' link at the bottom of the page has bad info. In an article about everyone's misidentification of Sunrise Mountain, it misidentifies Sunrise Mountain!
MoapaPk - Apr 19, 2007 4:53 am - Hasn't voted
topped?"Both Sunrise and Frenchman are partially topped with Vishnu Schist..."
The Precambrian rocks of Frenchman Mt are at the base, on the W side, not the top. I'm not aware of any Precambrian rocks on Sunrise Mountain. I know there is a Wikipedia entry that claims the mountains are capped with Vishnu Schist, but that entry is very wrong.
You might examine the USGS reports for Las Vegas and Lake Mead; these two reports are split at Sunrise Mt, so both are needed to get the full picture. They are at:
Las Vegas Geology
Lake Mead Geology
The Proterozoic Rocks begin with "X".
Vishnu Schist has actually never been identified near Frenchman Mt. There is, however, a gneiss that looks similar to other gneises that are correlative with the Vishnu Schist. The supposed Proterozoic rocks at Frenchman Mt. have never actually had a radiometric date determination, at least that was published by early 2007.
EDIT: thanks for partly changing the text. However, I'm still curious about the PreCambrian rocks supposed to be at Sunrise Mountain. I've never seen any indication of these rocks on geologic maps. Since Frenchman Mountain is not closely related to Sunrise Mountain -- this discrepancy doesn't surprise me.
Once more, there is actually no Vishnu Schist in this area; only gneisses that look similar to other gneisses presumed to be correlative with Vishnu Schist.
MissRealtorWood - May 6, 2014 12:00 am - Hasn't voted
Sunrise hike beginningWe had a lot of trouble figuring out how to get started on this hike. The most success we had was by driving to the END of the parking area across from Frenchmans -- there is an old dump but it's not too terrible. At the end of the area, there was an old road that leads immediately up and over. Follow that road up the hill at the dump and then start bearing LEFT. We placed a cairn at the beginning of a trail that leads around the steep slope on the left very easily. It's not at the base of the hill but further up. Walking through the wash/canyon/valley at the bottom was difficult. The path leads straight along and takes you right around to the next part of the journey.
We spent a lot of time messing around finding the trail. I loved the climbing around up the ridges and discovering all sorts of small treasures - flowers, little animal holes, nests etc. We were well covered for the sun - which was blazing in late April.
This hike is sort of the opposite of Frenchmans as it is unclear and very wild. But we eventually located the summit and enjoyed reading about "four fun guys and a stripper" who had been the last to enjoy the summit views of Nellis Air Force Base...I'm thinking .... helicopter??