Once the trail nears 3900', I recommend making sure you find the trail if you've lost it at this point since it becomes fairly well-established. I had a little bit of trouble sticking to the trail during this section, but cairns help point the way. The social trail then heads north down the slope, losing about 300 vertical that would need to be reascended on the way back, before weaving in and out of some foothills and small arroyos. I continued cross-country away from it until locating a social trail that leads up to the hump, only a minor obstacle really. From the parking turnoff, I headed along an old dirt road which pretty quickly turns toward the wrong way. Spirit Mountain can be seen from the trailhead, but reaching it requires first heading up and over a small hump before dropping down to the peak's southwest slope and then ascending the peak in earnest. The bushes on either side of the road are laden with holiday decorations, and perhaps the absurdity (and sheer quantity) of the decor has prevented NPS from removing the litter. Any car can reach the trailhead, accesed via Christmas Tree Pass Road. It looms over Laughlin/Bullhead City, a casino-driven town at the southern tip of Nevada still so relatively close to Las Vegas that it's weird that the place exists. Spirit Mountain is a gorgeous granitic desert peak within the Spirit Mountain Wilderness of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the high point of the Newberry Mountains.
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