Nelson Roller Coaster

One of our favorite trails in Nelson, Nevada. We usually run the Nelson Loop by combining Copper Cache, Roller Coaster and Goldmine trails. Roller Coaster is great run either direction. There are really only one main obstacle on this trail that give it it's rating. The first hill if starting from the Nelson Cutoff Road is steep and rutted. The highlight of the trail is stopping at one of the many overlooks and seeing the view of the Colorado River. Although not very challenging this trail is fun and has great views.

Love this trail, I was visiting for the Christmas holidays and rented a stock 4 door jeep, and had a lot of fun. Only saw two or three other vehicles out there, I was curious if my Toyota tundra could have done this trail and realized I don’t think so without it scraping or bottom out in areas as a full-size truck is probably too long.Looks like there are other great trails in this area that are not on this site yet hopefully they will be soon? Next time I’m in Vegas will definitely be checking out the other trails.

I did this route on my way to Vegas from Oklahoma for a meeting and it was...awesome...and intense! My stock Tacoma TRD Off-Road did great. I entered the route off of Highway 95 north of Searchlight, NV. The route starts by traveling along a powerline service road and quickly climbs in elevation affording a great view of the valley and Hwy 95. I will confess that I was initially disappointed in that I wondered if I'd ever need 4wd! If you enter off the old Nelson cutoff road, you start immediately with a monster climb (this is where I ended.) The road has more side routes than you can imagine so you could easily spend a day there. It also passes many abandoned mines which could be interesting for an adventurous soul. Now, on to the 'roller coaster.' This was one of the more intense trails I've done. I did it alone and certainly could have used a spotter at times. I kept having to get out of the vehicle, plan a route, drive a ways and repeat. The hills are so steep and quickly descend again that at times all I could see out my windshield was blue sky. 4wd low is a must and at only one point did I have to lock my rear diff. At the bottom of particularly steep hill, my front skid plate and my rear tow hitch scraped as the approach/departure angles were so great. No damage was done, fortunately. There are many points with excellent views and wonderful scenery. I enjoyed it so much I did the trail again many months later with a co-worker on a day trip out of Vegas.