The Ultimate Guide to Traveling the Anniversary Mine Road
Anniversary Mine Road is a very scenic drive located in Clark County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It requires a carefully driven high-clearance vehicle, although 4WD would be safer.
Located in the Muddy Mountain Wilderness of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the road (State Route 41A) is totally unpaved. It’s a loop road starting and ending at the NV-167 (Northshore Road). It’s 9.33km (5.8 miles) long. This is a fairly easy drive, but it is not a piece of cake. The eastern side of the road is often scraped by the authorities and is fairly easy until you get to the midpoint of the trail where it drops down into Lovell Wash, which is fairly deep at this point. The condition here varies, simply because of the water that often goes down through here after rains.
The road is steep in parts, topping out at 647m (2,122ft) above the sea level. It provides access to an active mining operation, primitive campsites, the Ore Car Mine, the Anniversary Narrows Route, and hikes in the Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area. The Anniversary mine was started in 1921 for the production of Borax. The road begins and ends in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, but the middle portion (including the canyon) is outside of the area. There is also a lot of mining archeology along this route. Just be careful. Not recommended checking out the insides of any of these mines.