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Hiking at Red Rock Canyon, part 1
Feb. 21st, 2023 09:48 pmNorth Las Vegas Travelog #2
Red Rock Canyon NCA - Sat, 18 Feb 2023, 9am
I'm calling this series my North Las Vegas Travelog to differentiate it from any ordinary Las Vegas travelog. Aside from the fact that we're literally staying at a hotel in North Las Vegas this weekend— which is like kind of like staying in Newark when visiting New York City— we're doing little of what people normally associate with visiting to Las Vegas. Last night we stayed in our hotel room instead of going out to casinos or shows. Then we got up early this morning, packed our hiking bags, and headed out to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area west of town.
Red Rock Canyon is a beautiful area of sandstone bluffs at the base of the mountains west of town. You can just barely pick out the red rocks in the distance looking out the window of your high-rise hotel on the Strip, if you know where to look... or you can drive 15 miles west of the glitzy casinos and be right there. We prefer to be right there.
This is at least our 5th visit to Red Rock Canyon. We try to visit whenever we're in Las Vegas for something else. This year I'm leveraging my business trip to Las Vegas by extending it through the weekend— all on my own dime, of course. I did a similar thing last year in March. I never did get around to finishing blogging about our visit here last year. Or if you want a sneak peak of what lies ahead, read my blogs from a visit in 2018.
These rainbow hued cliffs... well, rainbow if your colors are red, orange, yellow, pink ,and white— are called the Calico Hills. They're the first thing you pass by on the one-way loop drive in the Red Rocks conservation area. That drive, BTW, now requires a permit and an advance reservation. It got so popular over the years that overcrowding became a problem. The reservation system now is a nuisance but it does make the visit less chaotic.
Our hike for today doesn't start at the trailhead in the picture above. There is a trail there, but it skirts along the base of the rocks and provides access the starting points for numerous technical climbs. Our trailhead is a bit further up, the Calico Tanks trailhead.
This trail doesn't start out looking like much. ...Well, it's still quite attractive even looking in this direction, at the yellow sandstone bluffs and the high desert mountains beyond them. But it's what comes next that'll knock your socks off. So lace your boots up tight & see why we keep coming back here.
Keep reading: Ascending the Calico Tanks Trail
Red Rock Canyon NCA - Sat, 18 Feb 2023, 9am
I'm calling this series my North Las Vegas Travelog to differentiate it from any ordinary Las Vegas travelog. Aside from the fact that we're literally staying at a hotel in North Las Vegas this weekend— which is like kind of like staying in Newark when visiting New York City— we're doing little of what people normally associate with visiting to Las Vegas. Last night we stayed in our hotel room instead of going out to casinos or shows. Then we got up early this morning, packed our hiking bags, and headed out to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area west of town.
Red Rock Canyon is a beautiful area of sandstone bluffs at the base of the mountains west of town. You can just barely pick out the red rocks in the distance looking out the window of your high-rise hotel on the Strip, if you know where to look... or you can drive 15 miles west of the glitzy casinos and be right there. We prefer to be right there.
This is at least our 5th visit to Red Rock Canyon. We try to visit whenever we're in Las Vegas for something else. This year I'm leveraging my business trip to Las Vegas by extending it through the weekend— all on my own dime, of course. I did a similar thing last year in March. I never did get around to finishing blogging about our visit here last year. Or if you want a sneak peak of what lies ahead, read my blogs from a visit in 2018.
These rainbow hued cliffs... well, rainbow if your colors are red, orange, yellow, pink ,and white— are called the Calico Hills. They're the first thing you pass by on the one-way loop drive in the Red Rocks conservation area. That drive, BTW, now requires a permit and an advance reservation. It got so popular over the years that overcrowding became a problem. The reservation system now is a nuisance but it does make the visit less chaotic.
Our hike for today doesn't start at the trailhead in the picture above. There is a trail there, but it skirts along the base of the rocks and provides access the starting points for numerous technical climbs. Our trailhead is a bit further up, the Calico Tanks trailhead.
This trail doesn't start out looking like much. ...Well, it's still quite attractive even looking in this direction, at the yellow sandstone bluffs and the high desert mountains beyond them. But it's what comes next that'll knock your socks off. So lace your boots up tight & see why we keep coming back here.
Keep reading: Ascending the Calico Tanks Trail
