If you’re wanting to spend time here hiking the trails and enjoying the views, you’ll definitely need your own car. While there are Uber and Lyft drivers that will take you to the park, it’s generally much more cost-effective to rent a car for the day. Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas is about a 30-minute drive from the Vegas Strip. Getting to Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area Notable Wildlife: Bighorn sheep, burros, chuckwalla, snakes, scorpions, desert tortoise (rare) They must be kept on a leash and never left unattended – even in a car. Pets: Pets are allowed in the park and on trails. Once you enter, you can stay in the park until it closes. National Parks for one year.Įntry: You’ll need to make a reservation for an hour window to enter the park. You can also pick up an America the Beautiful Pass which will give you unlimited access to this park as well as all U.S. Red Rock Canyon lures Las Vegans and visitors alike to step outside the city and into a majestic panorama of adventure. I watched her walk slowly up the steep trail, knowing that she had a challenge ahead of her and admiring her grit. “I’ve been coming here every year since I was a girl.” “I’m just a little out of shape for birding season this year,” she said. “Do you need water?” She assured me she was fine and had plenty of water. Coming off the La Madre Springs Trail one very warm morning, I stopped a red-faced elderly woman with binoculars around her neck and shoes more suited to mall walking than hiking. High temperatures and dehydration are a serious threat for inexperienced hikers and signs advise that copious amounts of water be carried. Red Rock Canyon hosts 500,000 visitors annually, many of them from out of town and unfamiliar with the desert. At the end of the 3.6-mile trail, the La Madre Springs provides icy cold water to wet a neckerchief, soak tired feet, or watch for wildlife. Desert fox and bighorn sheep hang out in this wild place and once, on this trail, a white deer and I startled each other, only one of us delighted with the encounter. In early morning the only sounds are birds tuning up for the day. Sandstone cliffs on the right and limestone cliffs on the left look close enough to touch. Juniper, willow, pine, and mesquite trees crowd each other for a place in the sun. It is well worth the walk to hike the wild, dense La Madre wilderness. Not as easily accessed as Pine Creek and Calico Hills, the La Madre Springs trailhead is reached only after a half-mile walk up a loose, rocky road. There’s more than enough beauty at Pine Creek without scrambling up boulders to find more. Mescalito-a pyramid formation of black and red sandstone that points to the sky-teases hikers into thinking it is easy to reach but it is only after some serious rock scrambling that the more advanced trails are accessed. Bees get drunk on the many spring flowers in bloom. On this trail, old growth Ponderosa pine trees can be found near an icy creek with a meadow of dancing grasses and an old pioneer homestead just beyond the creek. ©Alexandria Olivares-Wenzel ©Karen Brown-Gordon PINE CREEKįarther down the one-way road that winds through Red Rock, the Pine Creek trail is also very popular, but an early start ensures that hikers can beat the crowds. Nothing grows in these fantastical sandstone formations except the occasional bit of scrub brush and it is this contrast of elegant color and bleakness that make Calico Hills one of the most impressive hikes and most photographed sites in Red Rock. ©John Harrison ©Karen Brown-Gordon CALICO HILLSĪt Calico Hills, the first trailhead, enormous scarlet-, coral-, and biscuit-colored sandstone formations pile on top of each other like marshmallows squished together by giant hands. While not yet familiar with all of the trails, there are three that make me forget I live in the middle of Sin City. With 26 trails to choose from, Red Rock Canyon gives Vegas hikers of all ages a place to get outside. A combination of wind and water over millions of years have shaped unique sandstone and limestone formations that provide recreation and memories. The Red Rock National Conservation Area sits on the west side of Las Vegas, just 14 miles from The Strip. OctoRed Rock National Conservation Area offers boundless beauty, plentiful wildlife, and miles of trails.īY LORI SMITHSON ©Alexandria Olivares-Wenzel
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |