Sloan Canyon's Fall Closure Stops at Nawghaw Poa Road, West of Anthem's Trailheads

BLM's two-year Sloan Canyon closure covers one road and one parking lot, and neither one is in Anthem. Nawghaw Poa Road and the parking area at its end have been closed since November 12, 2024, while crews build the new Sloan Canyon Visitor Contact Station. The Shadow Canyon Trailhead off Anthem Parkway leads to the Anthem East Trail, Black Mountain, Park Peak and Fracture Ridge, and it is not part of that work zone.

That changes how an Anthem fall hike gets planned this season. The construction news, the reroutes and the volunteer repair days all cluster at the Petroglyph end of the conservation area. The north edge, where the conservation area meets Anthem, runs on its usual schedule.

What the Closure Actually Covers

The Bureau of Land Management's Sloan Canyon page gives the closure window as November 12, 2024, to November 11, 2026. During that time, Petroglyph Canyon Trail and the 101 Trail are rerouted, and their parking has moved to Democracy Drive. BLM's map coordinates put the Nawghaw Poa trailhead west of the Shadow Canyon parking lot, on the side of the conservation area closest to Inspirada. The agency also says new residential construction keeps changing the directions there, and it suggests searching a map app for Nawghaw Poa Road.

The building going up is substantial. The federal statement of work calls for a visitor facility of roughly 3,000 square feet with welcome and exhibit space, conference rooms, offices and public restrooms. Outside, the site plan adds parking, shade structures, an amphitheater and an accessible half-mile interpretive loop. Federal contracting records show Atherton Construction LLC of Henderson won the contract on August 29, 2024, with a total value of $15,734,985 including options.

November 11 on Paper, January in Practice

The official end date is now five weeks away. A Friends of Sloan Canyon volunteer listing points to a later date for the building itself:

"We will be raking the trail, moving rocks, and vertical mulching to prepare the area around the Visitor Contact Station for the grand opening in January."

That line is from the description of an October 25 trail restoration morning. The page doesn't print a year. No BLM notice or local news report found for this post confirms a specific opening day, and none moves the November 11 date. Expect January 2027 for the building, and expect the road and lot date to stay tentative until BLM posts an update.

The Petroglyph side has a second complication this fall. Friends of Sloan Canyon says the conservation area got heavy rain in early August, which damaged switchbacks on Petroglyph Canyon Trail and sections of Cowboy Trail. The repair schedule shows how much of the fall's work is happening away from Anthem.

The Fall Repair Calendar

These dates come from the Friends of Sloan Canyon events list and the individual event pages:

1. Saturday, October 24, 3 to 7 p.m. BLM volunteer information table at Inspirada Fall Fest in Aventura Park. Volunteers can take a two- or four-hour shift.
2. Sunday, October 25, 9 a.m. to noon. Trail restoration around the new Visitor Contact Station. The Friends describe it as a good first project for people new to trail work.
3. Saturday, October 31, 9 a.m. to noon. Switchback repair on Petroglyph Canyon Trail, with at least half a mile of hiking.
4. Saturday, November 14, 8 a.m. to noon. Cowboy Trail repair. It's capped at 15 volunteers and requires at least four miles of hiking, sturdy closed-toe shoes or boots, and a water bottle.

Each of these events is either at the Petroglyph end or at the Inspirada end. The calendar has nothing scheduled at Shadow Canyon or at Anthem Hills Park.

Anthem's Own Doors

There are two Anthem entry points, and they work for different hikes.

To reach Shadow Canyon Trailhead, take Anthem Parkway south to Atchley Drive, the first street past the Hampton Road signal. Turn east and drive 0.4 miles to Shadow Canyon Drive, then follow it south for 0.7 miles to the lot. Hiking guides also call this spot the Shadow Canyon Access Point, and the parking area sits at about 2,966 feet. The routes up Black Mountain and Park Peak start here.

Anthem Hills Park and Anthem East Trailhead, at 2256 N. Reunion Drive, is the City of Henderson's entry. It has walking trails and restrooms and is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

From Shadow Canyon, the three main outings differ a lot in effort. The published distances also vary from source to source:

The Black Mountain range comes from two measurements. Bird and Hike's GPS log records 3.78 miles one way, which is 7.56 miles round trip, and a 2,064-foot difference between trailhead and summit. AllTrails lists 7.1 miles round trip and 1,994 feet of cumulative gain. Bird and Hike last updated its route pages in 2024, so check current trail conditions before going, especially after the August rain.

Dogs, Crowds and Clocks

The two ends of the conservation area have different rules, and that matters for anyone hiking with a dog. AllTrails lists leashed dogs as allowed on Black Mountain and the Park Peak loop. BLM bans dogs on Petroglyph Trail and in Petroglyph Canyon. Service animals are allowed.

Petroglyph Canyon also limits group size and keeps set hours. No more than 20 people can be in the canyon at once, and BLM suggests that groups join a ranger-guided hike. BLM's posted winter and spring schedule for Petroglyph Canyon started October 1 and runs through May 19, daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thanksgiving hours are 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and Christmas hours are 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. BLM's schedule says those hours include the Visitor Contact Station, but this fall that station is still a construction site behind the road closure, so for now the hours apply to the canyon by way of the Democracy Drive reroute. BLM lists the Petroglyph Trail outing at 5.5 miles. The trailhead has no restrooms, so the closest public ones are at Aventura Park and Montagna Park.

The canyon holds more than 300 rock writing panels and nearly 1,700 designs, dating from the Archaic period to the historic era. When the new station opens, BLM may close its lot during busy weekends and holidays. Calling ahead before a group visit is the agency's advice.

After the Descent

Shadow Canyon is a short drive from Anthem Village Drive, where Rebellion Pizza is at 2540 Anthem Village Drive. In July, the restaurant announced a deli and sandwich counter called Rebellion Market for the space next door. The market's page now has pickup and delivery ordering links but is still titled "Coming Soon." If you want a sandwich after a Black Mountain hike, check the page before you head over.

For a Petroglyph Canyon visit, plan on the Democracy Drive reroute until BLM posts the road reopening. None of the posted closures or repair dates include Shadow Canyon or Anthem Hills Park.

At Jenn Taylor, we keep track of the neighborhood details that make Anthem home, like which trailhead is open on a fall Saturday. If you're curious how being this close to Sloan Canyon affects your home's value, request a personalized home valuation and we'll go through it with you.