Red Rock Canyon is an amazing place near Las Vegas. Canyons of Nevada What to do in Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is a nature reserve located approximately 25 kilometers from Las Vegas. It is a unique natural monument. 600 million years ago the canyon was under a layer of ocean waters.

250 million years ago, the earth's crust began to rise, pushing out salt and gypsum formations from the water. The exposure of areas of the former ocean floor caused oxidation of the rocks and they acquired a bizarre red color. Thanks to him, the canyon got its name.

The rocks of the canyon stretch for several kilometers in length, and the total area of ​​the reserve is almost 80 hectares. Between the rocks there is a small road along which you can drive a car. This will make traveling through the canyon not only convenient, but also comfortable.

Eldorado Canyon

The legendary and sometimes mythical Eldorado Canyon is located in Nevada, an hour's drive from Las Vegas. During the gold rush, the location of Eldorado was carefully hidden, and therefore the canyon was overgrown with all sorts of rumors and legends. It was believed that only a truly lucky person could find his way here.

By visiting Eldorado Canyon, you can learn about how gold miners lived, see their living conditions, hold a pickaxe in your hands and visit gold mines. The guides will tell you about the harsh laws of the Wild West and, of course, will tell you about several exciting stories of confrontation between evil bandits and valiant cowboys (the surroundings of El Dorado served as the backdrop for countless American Westerns).

In California, the first association that came to mind was the planet Mars: mountains and open spaces Red Rock Canyon They were very reminiscent of the pictures from my imagination, when I imagined the lifeless lands of this planet. And this feeling that we were on another planet did not leave the entire time we were here.

Indeed, there is something Martian in the local landscapes: sparse vegetation, I would say there is practically none, cracked earth, red rocks of bizarre shapes - the work of wind and time. And the heat... I have never seen such a scorching sun before. Of course, in winter it is not so hot here, and in spring you can even find flowers and greenery. This place has something in common with both Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon.

Red Rock Canyon in California It covers 110 km2 and is located along Route 14 in Kern County, approximately 25 miles north of the Mojave Desert. The coordinates of the exit to the park from Route 14 are: 35.364879, -117.982104, then you need to go straight along Abbott Dr Cantil and follow the signs turn left to Ricardo Campground Rd, leading to the ranger station and visitor center. By the way, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is also in the state of Nevada, so you can easily get confused when looking for information on these parks on the Internet.

The entrance to the park from Route 14 is practically invisible, so you need to carefully look at the signs so as not to miss it. Entrance to the park costs $6 (bring cash as they do not accept cards). Here is a map of Red Rock Canyon State Park in California.

Thanks to its unusual landscapes, multi-colored cliffs and rocks, desert plains, as well as its relative proximity to Hollywood, this couple has been featured more than once in various films and videos, the most famous of which is “Jurassic Park” in 1993.

Added Red Rock Canyon The similarity with the planet Mars is also the fact that we were absolutely alone here. It's amazing how rare it is to be alone in any of the parks in California. And only an hour later we saw a ranger's car lazily passing by.

This is how our car stood forlornly in the middle of a deserted park.

You can come here to wander along the hiking trails, which will open up beautiful views of the entire park:

Nightmare Gulch Loop 8.8 miles (14.2 km)

Opal Canyon OHV Trail 8.3 miles (13.4 km)

Red Cliffs Trail 0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Hagen Trail 1.3 miles (2.1km)

And if you get hungry, you can have a picnic: there are equipped places with metal rings for fires, tables, water and toilets.

And for those who want to reconnect with nature, there is Ricardo Campground Camping, which operates on a first-come, first served basis, camping costs about $25 per night.

Amazing place for a tent, it seems like you are going back in time to when the Kawaiisu Indians still lived on this land.

- an amazingly beautiful and unusual place that is really worth visiting, but it is better to do it in winter, when there is no sultry heat outside.

For most tourists, Las Vegas is the starting point for a trip to the Grand Canyon. We only had one day, plus we wanted to visit the Hoover Dam. This meant that the Grand Canyon could only be seen at a glance, spending most of the time behind the wheel. Guided by the rule “less is more,” we decided not to rush to see this canyon, but rather to calmly visit the dam and something else nearby.

I posted the dam last time, it’s time for “something” :). As part of this, a small national park 25 km west of Las Vegas - Red Rock Canyon - was developed.
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There is a fee to enter the national park, about $7 per car. For this money you will be given a ticket, a park map and a local ranger newspaper.
2. Surrounding landscapes

A 21 km long ring asphalt road runs through the park. There are parking lots at the most colorful points along the route. All such observation platforms are indicated on the map. In addition to the main circular route, there are several side branches - they are unpaved and covered with coarse gravel. Well, of course, the park has a number of hiking routes - trails, as they are called in the USA.
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Joshua tree(Joshua Tree), also known as Yucca brevifolia, is a typical representative of this desert area. Such an unusual name was given to this plant by Mormon settlers who traveled to this area in the mid-19th century. The reason for this name was the shape of the trees, which reminded Mormons of the biblical story where Jesus raises his hands to the sky while praying.
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During the Paleozoic period (about 600 million years ago), a fairly deep sea was located in this place. At this time, limestones were deposited here.
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During the Mesozoic (250 million years ago), due to tectonic movements, the earth's crust began to rise and the sea retreated, leaving evaporite formations high in salt and gypsum.
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The former seafloor rocks, which were high in iron, were highly oxidized, producing the characteristic red and orange colors.
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At first there were plains with a lot of vegetation, but the climate changed and 180 million years ago. years ago, the area began to turn into a desert with sand dunes. These dunes became lithified and are now known as Aztec sandstones.
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65 million years ago, during active orogenesis, older gray rocks crawled onto younger red rocks.
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11. In May, not all the vegetation burns out; you can also see some flowers.

12. During the rainy season, judging by the texture of the sediments, a stream runs here.

Immediately before the Europeans, the Indians of the southern branch of the Paiute tribe lived in this area.
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22. The desert landscape has its own attractiveness

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31. Another representative of the local flora

32. View from afar. Here you can especially clearly see how the old white rocks are creeping onto the younger red ones.

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After spending two days and one night in , we headed towards Las Vegas, but decided to save a little and spend the night at a campsite, a little before reaching Sin City. And, as it turned out, it was not in vain! We spent the night and morning of the next day in the Red Rock Canyon national conservation area.

There is only one campsite in Red Rock Canyon and it is located a little further from the entrance to the reserve. We arrived there just in the evening, so the sun soon set and a super-comfortable temperature arrived, when you can calmly sit in a T-shirt, looking at the sky, which gradually turns from blue to black with a scattering of stars. By the way, it was there, in the desert, that I saw shooting stars several times. But I didn’t have time to make a wish - it happens too quickly and unexpectedly!

After sunset, the lights of Las Vegas will come on behind that mountain.

A huge plus of camping in Red Rock Canyon, in addition to the warm air at night, was the complete absence of mosquitoes! To be honest, they don't exist in California either, so I keep forgetting to mention it. I remember our student hikes - as soon as the sun went down, bloodsuckers immediately began to attack you, and at night they were constantly buzzing under your ear. And here it’s warm, good, and no one bites. I would come there again for a week somewhere in the spring or autumn. It turns out to be a very economical option - to spend the night at a campsite and go sightseeing during the day, because there are so many interesting things around: Las Vegas, the same Red Rock Canyon, Sloan Canyon, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, and the Grand Canyon is very close.

In the morning, Sierra got me up before dawn, so she and I had time to see how the sun paints the mountains and desert orange

The campground is located some distance from the entrance to the Red Rock Canyon Preserve. You can go there at any time of the day or night, but you need to pay within 30 minutes after taking a place (the owner of the campsite rides on a golf cart and checks). To pay, you need to take an envelope at the entrance, fill out your information (name, campsite number, car number and number of nights) and place the envelope with money or a check in a special box.

At the entrance to Red Rock

General information about camping in Red Rock Canyon

• 72 camping sites (of which 5 are for campers)
• The campsite is closed for the summer from the end of May (Memorial day) to the beginning of September (Labor day)
• There are drinking water pumps
• Picnic tables
• Special places for fire
• Sun canopies
• There are places for caravans/campers, but there is nothing to connect them to
• There is no drainage station for campers
• Toilet without flush
• No soul

Individual places

• You can stay for no more than 14 days within a month, so as to give others the opportunity
• No more than 10 people per seat
• No more than 2 cars per place
• Usually 2 tents can be placed in one place
• Price $15/night per place

Group places

• Total 7 places for groups
• 10-15 people per seat
• No more than 8 cars per place
• Usually 12 tents can be placed per site
• Price $40/night per place
• Camping is not allowed during the day only, at least 10 people must stay overnight
• You must register upon arrival

Amazing colors and textures

What to do in Red Rock Canyon?

• Drive a car/motorcycle/bicycle along Red rock canyon scenic drive. This is one of the most popular and easiest ways to view beauty. The Scenic drive is a 13 mile (21 km) loop that can be driven at 35 mph (56 km/h), with some sections much slower. There are many small parking areas along the road where you can stop and take photos.
• Take a walk/hike. Red Rock Canyon has more than 20 trails of varying difficulty and length.
• Find petroglyphs left on the red rocks by the Indians
• Admire the local flora (Joshua tree, yucca and some shrubs, unique for their root systems that extend 100 meters or more into the dry desert soil) and fauna (terrestrial turtles, rabbits, squirrels, wild donkeys, wild mountain sheep)
• Ride a horse
• Climb another rock. The canyon is very popular among rock climbers; for them it’s simply a paradise.
• Wander around the information center, where you can learn the history of the canyon and see what animals live there

So we enjoyed touching and looking at everything that was on display in the information center. There I read about a large black wasp with orange wings that we saw many times in Peru. This wasp (also called “Pepsis” or “Tarantula Hawk”) reaches 5 cm in length, so when it flies past, it seems like a helicopter. Even a little uneasy. But you shouldn’t be afraid of them, because they don’t attack people unless provoked. But if such a wasp stings, the pain will be terrible. Fortunately, it only lasts about 3 minutes and does not threaten complications.

A wasp that easily wins a fight with a tarantula spider

But tarantula spiders are less fortunate - it is they that the female Tarantula hawk hunts. She knows how to lure a spider out of its hole by pulling a thread of the web or imitating a female spider, and then easily defeats it in a fight. By sticking its sting into an unprotected place of this huge spider, the wasp paralyzes it, drags it into a hole or buries it in a hole, where it leaves it, having previously laid its egg in its stomach. After this, the wasp larva feeds on the tissues of the tarantula for another month, which remains alive but paralyzed. In Peru, we saw a couple of times how such a wasp was dragging a half-dead tarantula somewhere.

My young rangers :)

Beyond the visitor center, we drove along Scenic Drive and headed towards Las Vegas. So, if you don’t have a goal to see everything, go hiking or climb a rock, then a couple of hours is enough to explore the entire reserve, but I would gladly return there again, just to get to know it better. In general, I liked the state of Nevada even more this time - there are so many natural beauties there that it’s impossible to catch it all at once. I’m writing this article and already thinking - “wouldn’t it be nice to go there for a couple of weeks...” :).

The rock is really red! This is especially surprising in the middle of the gray-beige desert. And for scale you can see how small people are.

Like some fangs are sticking out!

Safety regulations

I didn’t know this myself, but it turns out that in Red Rock Canyon every year rescuers have to rescue someone with helicopters, search parties and medical assistance. And not just one or two people, but more than 100! Apparently, not everyone believes that this part of the Mojave Desert experiences extreme heat in the summer and below-freezing cold in the winter, as well as strong winds, thunderstorms and lightning. So, just in case, I’ll write here about the safety rules.

• Let your friends or acquaintances know where you are going and when you should return
• Don't count on mobile communications - there may not be any here at all
• Do not leave valuables (bags, passports, cameras) in the car, so as not to tempt bad people
• When hiking, be careful as there may be spiders or rattlesnakes hiding under rocks.
• Drink plenty of fluids (4 liters per day) and have the same amount in the car per person per day. In the reserve, water is only available at the visitor center
• Be aware of high temperatures! In summer, limit yourself to short hikes, spend as little time in the sun as possible, and drink enough water.
• Choose comfortable (and not new) shoes, long sleeves and pants
• Don't forget to apply sunscreen
• When it rains, avoid the canyon bottom.
• In summer, thunderstorms often occur in the afternoon. To avoid being struck by lightning, avoid high points, hide in a building or car with the windows closed
• Be careful with high cliffs where you really want to take a beautiful photo - it’s easy to slip on the sand or small pebbles. And you shouldn’t throw cobblestones from the cliff at all - the same hikers may be walking below

The sun was very bright in the morning, so it’s better to take photos in the afternoon

And here the red mountains suddenly turn white! It’s as if someone painted them with a huge brush!

Entrance fee to Red Rock Canyon

• One day ticket – $7
• Annual pass, valid only for this park - $30
• Free with an annual US National Parks Pass. Let me remind you that an annual pass to US national parks costs $80 and is also valid in national reserves and national monuments

It is better to go to the Red Rock Canyon Nature Reserve in spring or autumn (), although at other times you can get acquainted with this beautiful place.