Vegas, Day 1: Hiking Red Rock
Clark County, NV
After an afternoon of travel yesterday, we made it, so let the vacation begin! The flight wasn’t bad. We had a short layover in Albuquerque, but it was actually a nice little break. My sister and I grabbed a bite to eat and talked a bit, which was good thing. Even though, we landed in Sin City at 5:30pm, we had a pretty light evening. After a brief reunion at their house, we headed out for dinner at the Elephant Bar in The District at Green Valley Ranch. The food was good and the atmosphere, was perfect. It was a fairly happening place, but not too Vegas crazy. After that, we planned the next day and went to bed early.
It worked out, as we all naturally woke up early and refreshed, ready to tackle the day. We decided to stick around their house and just take day trips. So, by 8:00 am, three of us, as one of our friends was unable to get off work for the day, headed out to hike around Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, fifteen miles east of Las Vegas. On the way we picked up soome Cliff Bars, sandwiches and water, so we were set for the entire day.
We stopped at the new Visitor Center for a bathroom break before hitting the trails, but ended up staying for a good half hour. Inside, the center is very sleek, but somewhat empty. It has a great view of the Red Rocks, but little else. However, you walk out back and you hit the gold mine. It has a decent size, modern exhibit. It’s actually kind of neat. The theme is a merging of the four elements, water, fire, earth and air.
It’s kind of an interesting park. It’s not part of the National Park System, but the National Park Service annual pass does work. The area is actually maintained by the Bureau of Land Management, as part of its National Landscape Conservation System. Originally the Red Rock Recreation Area, the Bureau designated the 10,000 acres of the eastern most part of the Mojave Desert as a National Conservation Area in 1990. The switch allowed for more funding to maintain the site.
Eventually my sister had to push us along to get to the the trail!
Calico Tanks
Calico Tanks
Las Vegas Overlook
It was a good start to the day. It wasn’t too difficult and covered a variety of landscapes as it wound its way back into the Calico Hills. It takes you from open desert, into a small canyon area, scurrying up rocks, to a hidden water pool, then up to a ridge with a great overlook of Las Vegas. It’s an out-and-back hike, so from the lookout, we just bee-lined it back to the car.
Willow Springs
It was a nice area. Fortunately, as it was a work/school day, it was rather vacant. There was a handful of cars parked near-by, we didn’t really run into anyone else during our lunch break. It was nice and peaceful. Our friend told us it was a nice change. He said he usually avoids the area because it’s often very crowded with families… which is not surprising. Lucky us!
After finishing off our sandwiches, we meandered around the area. There were a few petroglyphs scattered around the area to see. We also leisurely walked up the Lost Creek/Children’s Discovery Trail to a some-what hidden water fall. The trail was maybe a half mile or so and very easy. It simply weaved its way across relatively level land. This was the busiest trail we went on today, although, we still had some good luck in terms of timing. It was fairly empty as we walked up, but on our way back we passed a lot of people (and their dogs). It seems like it was getting to get a little crowded in the small area surrounding the waterfall and its pond rather quickly.
The funny thing is, while we were at the falls, there was a couple with two unleashed dogs, a German Shepard and an Akita. The dogs were going nuts. They were just so excited, running all over the place, with the owners constantly calling them. One almost knocked my sister down. It wasn’t an issue, but as we walked back to the car, every group we passed also had a dog. The first pair were small dogs, which only resulted in a few loud shouts from the initial owners. Then came a medium-size Boxer pulling his owner forward. Not long after passing them, we heard an eruption of barking, which made us chuckle. The next group had a smaller dog, but we were too far to hear how that went over. Finally, just as we reached the parking lot, we passed the final ingredient to what could have only been a K-9 mess. An group of older individuals were beginning their trek with their very small, fluffy dog. We all laughed as we passed, joking that one was in trouble.
Ice Box Canyon
The moderate 2.6 mile in-and-out travel goes back a narrow box canyon to another small waterfall. It was fun. We had to zig-zag across a small creek, fight through some brush and climb a few rocks. A few places it seemed we lost the actual trail, but we were close (not that you can get too far off of it). Without a doubt, we took the hard way up the final stretch! We literally climbed up a very flat rock until we no longer felt comfortable. I actually made it to the top pool by the waterfall, but suggested the other two not follow me. The climb up was tricky at the top and I felt lucky I hadn’t slipped down. The way down, we did have another close call, as we slid down a smooth rock, down a small drop onto a very narrow ridge, with a large pool of cold water waiting to catch us. We all laughed at ourselves because we were afraid of hurting ourselves if we fell, just how miserable the hike out would be after getting drenched. Unfortunately, we all made it down without incident.
After finishing that hike, we called it a day. It was fun. We left the park at 2:00pm, after more about five hours of hiking. Not bad. On the way out, we did catch a glimpse of a few wild burros in the park.
In the evening, we met up our other friend and went out to dinner. We decided to return to The District and ate at Balboa Pizza Company. I definitely give the pizza there two thumbs up. We tried the Goat Cheese and BBQ Chicken pizza and both were excellent.
We tried to watch 180-degree South, but we all fell asleep minutes into the movie, so it was postponed for another night. Off to bed early again for us!
Today’s Flickr set: hiking pics
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