Big falls is a short technical canyoneering route that is located within a large valley just below Mt. Charleston in Nevada. This limestone alpine terrain is a relatively small but beautiful region of land that is just outside of Las Vegas.

Hiking up to the top of Big Falls Canyon.

Beautiful limestone cliffs and bristle cone pines landscape the Mt. Charleston region.  There are also some fantastic trails that lead to the peak and also lead to more remote corners of the Charleston range.

Heather in the valley at the top of Big Falls Canyon

Last year, we checked out Little falls canyon which was a nice half day run through another seasonal drainage so if you are ambitious to make a day out of this range, you can grab both Big and Little Falls canyon in a day.

The top of Big Falls Canyon.

In my opinion, I think the addition of flowing water makes these canyons fantastic so I recommend going just after the roads open up in the spring run off.  You will need dry suits but you will also get some C class fun.

On this run that we had we encounters dry conditions as explained below but this section of the Mt. Charleston range was really nice and a great change of scenery.

get an early start for the threat of afternoon thunderstorms and for the volume of people that show up as the day goes on.  We got here at around 9 AM and there was plenty of parking at the Mary Jane Falls TH.

There are some routes within this region and Big falls is one of the more popular routes due to its ease of access and short but dramatic route.

The hike takes less than an hour to reach the bottom of big falls and another half hour or so, we are at the top of the technical route.  Seasonal water runs through this canyon but we got here just a bit late for the C class spring snow run off from the ridge. 

We brought wet suits but did not use them. There are between three and four drops before the long drop of 180ft. I brought a 210 ft rope to make sure we had enough and the rope bag reached the bottom. 

 The last rap is free hanging for between 160-170ft which was fantastic and would have been even more interesting with all of the water that would flow through this route in the spring. 

We will have to try our luck next spring, right after the roads open to get the best run off.