"⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mack the Knife! Road is closed at 2.7mi before the mud springs trail at 2.9. great camping around this area and is accessible via passenger car if it's not winter. As suggested, I took Mack's North first then traversed the class 4 ridge to the South summit. Decent rock most of the way but extremely sharp. " — MikeERodriguez • Jul 25, 2025

"The attached track does not have the approach recorded. It starts at the turn off from McFarland Canyon which was the approach. From the car we dropped down into the canyon and followed a dirt bike trail up the canyon to the turn off. There are some zigs and zags in the first section of the track because we were exploring an alternate, more direct route up to Macks Peak. It might be better to turn out of McFarland Canyon one gully earlier to link up with the route this track shows. We'll explore that in the future. The loop can be done clockwise or counterclockwise. If clockwise it is best to descend the way that the other track for this loop shows from July 31, 2024 summits. We felt that the route was better done clockwise...because of the easier descent at the end of the day. Good luck! Have fun! Be safe!" — Heartattackbruce • Aug 9, 2024

"This was the first time to do this route. Sections of it had previously been done, but the entire route. I couldn't find any record of two of the sections of it ever being done....the approach up the North Ridge and the exit out McFarland Canyon. This route is a great alternate to the "standard" routes that people follow over and over again. The TH that we used is the end of FR570. It gets very narrow with tight turns just after mile 5. You can park where the road turns right and goes down steeply into the wash. This will add about 1.5 miles to the hike. I think that it would be best to do this route in reverse to what we did. Go up McFarland Canyon to access Macks Peak, across the Knife Edge to Macks North and down the North Ridge, tagging Peak 8862 on the way. It was the first time I had done the knife edge in reverse (from the normal way of doing it) and I found it to be a little more challenging. If you are using the attached track to navigate the route, be aware that there is an exploratory zigzag on the knife edge section that you don't have to do. Use your intuition to straighten out the route. The knife edge section can also be longer if going the opposite way to what we di..." — Heartattackbruce • Jul 31, 2024

"We took Forest Road 570 instead of FR 571, so instead of driving all the way back, we ascended the northwest ridge up to the summit. There was plenty of exposure along a knife-edge ridge en route. Fun! Much less loose rock than the standard route." — Kevin • Oct 18, 2013

"With a Group of Hiking Las Vegas (52 Peak Club)Decided to try a new route today - Mack's Traverse. Took the standard route up to Mack's Peak, then traversed the gnarly class 4+ ridge over to Mack's Peak North. There was an awesome knife-ridge & some fun climbing along the way. Fun day!" — Nuernberger • May 17, 2013

"Decided to try a new route today - Mack's Traverse. Took the standard route up to Mack's Peak, then traversed the gnarly class 4+ ridge over to Mack's Peak North. There was an awesome knife-ridge & some fun climbing along the way. Fun day!" — Kevin • May 17, 2013

"Beautiful slabs to climb on. Hit the peak with friends. On the way down, loose rocks avalanched and took me out. Including one strike to the back breaking three wing bones. Lots of loose rock - use caution!!!" — havingfunlinda • Jun 15, 2012