I’ve known about Prison Hill Recreation Area in Carson City, Nevada for the entire time we’ve lived here, but for some crazy reason, we never went there until now. And it did NOT disappoint!

Prison Hill Motorized Recreation Area Overlook
Prison Hill Motorized Recreation Area Overlook

The boys and I went down in our 4Runner as usual with Shawn and Dirt Squirrel in their Power Wagon and Brent and Sam came down in their Jeep JKU. We started off exploring the loop trail which climbs to the high point of Prison Hill. At the summit you can enjoy expansive views of the Carson Valley and Carson Range which sits between the valley and Lake Tahoe.

All along the route are cool rocks to check out and scramble up. The kids enjoyed that part for sure. Continuing on from the summit on what is marked on the area map, which you can find on Carson.org, down to the Carson River, but it soon becomes impassible, or at least sketchy in a regular vehicle. An ATV, Motorbike or UTV would do fine.

Prison Hill Recreation Area Trail Map
Prison Hill Recreation Area Trail Map

So we retraced out track and found a cool little moon rocks area to do some rock crawling. Check out the video above for some cool 4×4 action with the Power Wagon, Jeep Wrangler JKU Sport and our 3rd Gen 4Runner.

Power Wagon Rock Crawling at Prison Hill Recreation Area, Nevada
Power Wagon Rock Crawling at Prison Hill Recreation Area, Nevada
4Runner, Power Wagon and Jeep Wrangler at Prison Hill
4Runner, Power Wagon and Jeep Wrangler at Prison Hill

Prison Hill GPS Track

Prison Hill Recreation Area GPS Track
Prison Hill Recreation Area GPS Track

Prison Hill Info

Directions to Prison Hill Motorized Access

From Carson City take I580 to Fairview Drive exit. Cross over to Edmonds and head south to Clearview. Turn Left and then Right on Gentry. That will take you to the access point. GPS TRACK

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