Red Rock Canyon is an amazing place near Las Vegas. Red Rock Canyon - an amazing place near Las Vegas Canyon Rock

Red Rock Canyon (Nevada, USA) - exact location, interesting places, inhabitants, routes.

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The natural wonder called Red Rock Canyon is located just 27 km from the man-made wonder - the magnificent Las Vegas. But unlike the glittering rainbow of the US gambling capital, this small reserve in the southern Sierra Nevada has only one color - bright red. It is this color that is used to paint the rocks cut into bizarre shapes by the wind, soaring into the cloudless blue sky. These ones are similar to Martian landscapes attract more than a million tourists every year. However, after wet winters, the cracked soil of Red Rock Canyon is covered with a bright green carpet. The beauty of the desert coupled with geological and archaeological sites make the park a center of attraction for campers and Nevada guests tired of the noise of Vegas. And here are the remains of ancient petroglyphs - in such extreme conditions the life of the Koso Indian tribe once flourished.

What to see

Red Rock Canyon is part of the Mojave Desert, stretching between California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada. Its sandstone rocks got their bright red color due to iron oxide, which began to actively form after the ocean left these places. Yes, on the site of this desert territory there was once a sea.

The main feature of the reserve is a 20-kilometer tourist road. Driving along it, visitors get acquainted with the geological history and splendor of the canyon. It is along this path that the most Instagrammable spots are found, including the famous Calico Hills, Indian limestone braziers, handprints and pictographs. Another must-see site is the Keystone Thrust. Here, 70 million years ago, two lithospheric plates collided with each other with such force that one of them literally climbed onto the other. The result was a two-layer “pie” of gray limestone and red sandstone.

As a bonus, you can see wild animals - permanent inhabitants of the park. The preserve is home to more than 200 species of mammals, including donkeys, rabbits, coyotes, mustangs, bobcats and cougars. And the most characteristic plants: Joshua tree, cacti, banana yucca, juniper, Ponderosa pine.

Despite the apparent wildness, gazebos with equipped picnic areas and toilets are scattered throughout the park; Observation platforms are marked with special signs.

In addition to the endless jagged rocks, the exhibition at the visitor center is also worth a visit. The exhibition area is divided into 4 sectors, symbolizing Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Each contains artifacts that tell the story of all aspects of Red Rock Canyon: history, geography, plant and animal life. And, of course, about people (man appeared here 10 thousand years ago). Also in the center you can take cards from tourist routes- there are only 19 of them. There is a souvenir shop that sells walking poles, souvenirs, soft toys and park paraphernalia.

Practical information

Address: Nevada, Las Vegas, Scenic Loop Drive, 1000. Website (in English).

Entrance to the park is free for hikers and cyclists. Entry for Vehicle: car - 15 USD, motorcycle - 10 USD, bicycle - 5 USD. From September to May there is a campsite in the park. Prices on the page are for October 2018.

Well, thanks to warm California - Nevada was ahead of us.
America's national parks (particularly Nevada and Arizona) are another reason to make a mandatory stop in Las Vegas.
After a fair amount of surfing on the Internet, looking at a lot of photos and coordinating the route by time and place, we decided that the move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas should certainly include an inspection of the Red Rock Canyon.
After a quick breakfast and loading up on water and fruit at the supermarket, we set our GPS to Vegas. My daughter entered all the maps of the route into the navigator back in Washington, however, we got lost several times in 6 days, because the Americans are constantly building roads, the maps cannot keep up with the road construction, new junctions appear, and the GPS arrow sometimes hangs helplessly on the screen, not knowing which way to turn. Eh, they don’t steal, apparently in America (or at least they don’t steal as much as here:)), which is why driving on the roads is a blast! :)
From LA to LV about 4-5 hours. As soon as you leave the City of Angels, civilization practically ends, if you count the wonderful roads, the road signs attached to them and the occasional gas station. This is how you find yourself in the Mojave Desert, the same one that seems absolutely monotonous from an airplane. I tried to take photos directly from the car, since stopping on the highway would waste precious time. So I apologize for not very good quality. But I really wanted to convey to you this unique beauty of the picture - an unrealistically blue sky, whose blue is further emphasized by sand and low mountains.
The Mojave Desert is called the American Sahara. It stretches across 3 states - California, Nevada and Arizona and even covers part of Mexico. In Nevada, tourists usually visit Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire and Death Valley. All three - national reserves. We were told that the most cruel of all is Death Valley. In the summer (and this is from May to October), the thermometer exceeds the 50-degree mark; flies, for example, are simply afraid to fly so as not to burn their wings - they crawl. A person losing up to 1 liter of water per hour and without replenishment can simply die from dehydration.
From Vegas, Death Valley is approximately 3.5 hours away, and Valley of Fire is 2.5 hours away.
Basically, you need to set aside a day for each park. Therefore, you need to come to Vegas for at least a week, and “playing” here takes the most last place, if you want to plunge into the atmosphere of the Wild West. Driving through the desert, you remember American westerns, Indians, saloons, the gold rush, everything that you saw on the screen, but it’s just nearby...
Red Rock Canyon is only 30-40 minutes from Vegas. Therefore, we decided to end the daylight hours there, and then go to the hotel in Vegas.
I don’t know why this place is called a canyon, maybe we didn’t have time to see everything. Red Rock Canyon seemed like a combination of desert and colorful mountain ranges, with its charm and unlike any other place. In winter, from November to February, the park is open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., in March and October it closes at 7 p.m., and in summer the longest period of operation is until 8 p.m. As in all American parks, there is an entry fee: $7 per car, but they also give you a route map indicating all the points and walking routes and a newspaper introducing the flora and fauna of this natural wonder. At the entrance there is a VISITOR CENTER. Near each View Point there are equipped parking areas and mandatory free toilets, some are even suitable for the disabled. Digressing a little, I will express my quiet admiration for the democratic approach of the Americans to the so-called Restrooms, or in common people - “latrines” :). Wherever we are - in museums, parks, memorials, gas stations, train stations, airports, shopping centers and so on. etc. - toilets are free everywhere, with a full set of paper, soap, towels. Eh, old Europe, why are you charging 2 euros for the most human need! :) Moreover, Ukraine keeps pace with Europe here, unfortunately...
We got to Red Rock Canyon without passing Vegas, just catching it out of the corner of our eye. We arrived an hour before the park closed and saw a stunning sunset. I deliberately do not process these photos and the photos of the Grand Canyon (will be in the next review) in Photoshop, so that you can see what the American mountains of Nevada look like - alternately gray, red, yellow, white. (I don’t know, but for some reason they remind me of halva or sherbet. :)).
How the sparse vegetation clings to life - I was able to recognize, if I’m not mistaken, only cacti, yucca and some conifers.
“Live” it looks simply grandiose! Moving from one point to another (and the roads are asphalt, immaculately smooth, these are not our “goat paths”, where infantry cannot pass and an armored train cannot rush by :)), we watched the colors change: the sun was setting, and the mountains were illuminated from bright orange turned into pastel colors - pink, pale purple, golden.
Night fell somehow completely imperceptibly, everything became quiet and calm... And when the mountains merged with the sky, we drove to the sparkling lights of Vegas in the distance - there night life just started...

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 tourist 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 around hiking trails, which will open 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.