Ride 23 · Blue Diamond / Cottonwood Valley · advanced · all rides
Rock Candy
The rowdy tour: climb Badger Pass, drop Techno, rip Latenight down to Black Velvet, then finish on The Hurl.
⚠︎
Not yet rider-checked. This line was routed from OpenStreetMap trail data and hasn't been ridden end to end yet. Cross-check turns against the trail signs or Trailforks.
22miles
2,523ft climb
4,731ft high point
3:20est. moving
Highchunk (39%)
singletrack 93% dirt road 6% pavement 1%
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Starting GPS…
0:00.0Timer: ride to the start
elevation · drag across to follow on the map
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Get the GPS file
Scan with a friend's phone, or tap below. Then open it in your ride app.
- iPhone: tap Download, open it from the Downloads bar, then Share → Trailforks, Strava or Garmin.
- Android: tap Download, then open the file and pick your app.
- Garmin: or drag it into Garmin Connect → Courses → Import on a computer.
https://bsqrd-designs.com/dirt/rock-candy/
Getting there
Park at Late Night Trailhead
North side of NV-160 (Pahrump Valley Hwy), about 4.7 mi west of the NV-159 junction at Blue Diamond.
- Paved BLM lot with vault toilets. No fee; it sits outside the Scenic Loop fee area.
- Start and finish are the same spot. Follow the cue sheet and the arrows on the map.
Cue sheet
| 0.0 | Badger Pass Trailsingletrack via Top of Badger Pass: Techno drops in | 3.0 mi |
| 3.0 | Technosingletrack | 1.3 mi |
| 4.3 | 3 Mile Smilesingletrack | 0.3 mi |
| 4.6 | Cottonwood Pass Roaddirt road | 0.3 mi |
| 4.8 | 3 Mile Smilesingletrack | 0.8 mi |
| 5.6 | White Rhino Connectorsingletrack | 0.1 mi |
| 5.7 | White Rhino (Latenight Connector)singletrack via Tunnel under NV-160 | 0.8 mi |
| 6.5 | Singletrack connectorsingletrack via Black Velvet climbers' lot | 3.5 mi |
| 10.0 | Dirt roaddirt road | 0.8 mi |
| 10.8 | Black Velvet Access Roaddirt road | 0.3 mi |
| 11.0 | Singletrack connectorsingletrack | 0.7 mi |
| 11.7 | Landmine Loopsingletrack via The Hurl, south end | 3.2 mi |
| 14.9 | The Hurlsingletrack | 3.5 mi |
| 18.4 | Monkeyshinesingletrack | 0.6 mi |
| 19.0 | Molly'ssingletrack | 0.2 mi |
| 19.1 | Old Spanish Trailsingletrack | 1.0 mi |
| 20.2 | Singletrack connectorsingletrack | 1.8 mi |
| 22.0 | Back at Late Night Trailhead |
Know before you go
- Advanced only. Techno, Latenight Trail and The Hurl are each rated intermediate/difficult to difficult, with ledges, rock gardens and steep rolls. Walk anything you would not ride.
- Direction matters: Techno is a top-down trail from the top of Badger Pass, Latenight drops north from the NV-160 tunnel, and The Hurl is climbed from the highway end, which MTB Project says is the rideable way up.
- About 22 mi and 2,600 ft of climbing, nearly all singletrack and no shade. Pack a spare tire's worth of patience; this ground eats sidewalls.
- Bail-out at mile 11 (Black Velvet climbers' lot): the bottom of Lil' Daytona and the easy Mustang singletrack lead back to the Late Night lot in about 2.4 mi. Legal basis: BLM-designated Cottonwood Valley system, outside wilderness.
Ride smart
- Water: plan on about 2.5 L for this ride. There's none on the trail.
- Signal is spotty. Tell someone your route and your time back.
- Emergency: call 911 and say "Rock Candy ride, parked at Late Night Trailhead, Blue Diamond / Cottonwood Valley", plus the coordinates from Locate me.
- Wildlife: give horses, burros and anything with horns room, and never feed them.
- Stay on trail. Desert crust and mountain soil take decades to heal.
Report a problem or share a photo
Washout, closure, new fence or a missing sign? Got a great shot of a junction? Send it. It goes straight to Ryan; photos he approves show up on this page with your credit.
Trail photos
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End ride?
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