Wednesday, November 6 – Sunday November 10, 2024
I drove from Boulder Beach to Red Rock Canyon on Wednesday. I was no in a hurry, leaving Boulder Beach at checkout time, 11AM. It was about a forty-mile drive to Red Rock. It took almost an hour due to traffic, despite most of the route being on the highway. Traffic was heavy, especially where I-11 passes through Old Las Vegas. Red Rock is on the northwest side of Las Vegas on a run-up towards the mountains. Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center is at about 3500’ elevation, while Boulder Beach was at about 1200’. I came here for the first time back around 2000. I do not recall the actual year. My brother Kenny and I met in Vegas and then went to Grand Canyon for a few days. I arrived a couple days ahead of him and stayed at Red Rock. I recall there were only a few other campsites occupied. I also remember that the Summerlin area, which is the section of Las Vegas here, was not developed anything like it is today. Today, just four miles down the road, Summerlin is a densely populated community of businesses and residential areas. It is somewhat upscale with Whole Foods, Costco, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Smith’s Grocery, and numerous other businesses. Red Rock Casino is here. It used to be an isolated place. There was very little else here, it was all desert around it. Things do change.
On Thursday I did some shopping and practical things. I stopped at Whole Foods, and I went to a place called 24 Hour Fitness. It is a national chain, similar to Planet Fitness, though not as expansive across the country. I was told they have locations in thirteen states with the business centered in California. I used my Silver Sneakers membership, which comes with my health insurance, to “join.” The real point of the whole thing is to have a place to shower.
On Friday I did a bike ride of two loops around the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive. That was about thirty-one miles. There is a thousand feet of climbing in each loop in the first five miles. The scenery is breathtaking, a winding circuit of road surrounded by mountains composed of a variety of rocks and colors. There are taller mountains, grey-white in tones, towering on the western side of the park. On the northern side, these mountains continue as a backdrop for the multi-hued tones of red rock: red-orange-rust along with cream-colored whites and tans.
The road through the park is a nicely-paved, two-lane, one-way roller coaster that rises the first five miles, rolls for a couple miles, then mostly descends for about six miles, when it joins NV 159 for two miles back to the entrance station. It travels a counterclockwise route that enters on the east side, travels north, then west, then south to the western exit. Entry is by reservation. They allow 250 cars to enter per hour, but on the reservation website (recreation.gov) there was plenty of availability. There are only seven parking areas scattered along the road. Some do not have many spots to park, and these appeared to be full, while others are larger and had plenty of space. Almost every parking area corresponds to a hiking area. There are many trails in the park, most of which enter into canyons and/or go up mountains.
I had planned to do three loops, but at the end of the second one I decided to do only two and use the afternoon to check out the Visitor Center. I had been there before, having stopped here in the Fall in 2022 and 2023, but this time I learned there is a rather large outdoor educational exhibit, something I was not aware of before this. It details aspects of the park such as wildlife, vegetation, human history, geology, weather, and impacts related to water availability.
On Saturday, I did a long hike. I began around 10AM with the intent to hike from the Visitor Center along the Calico Hills Trail. It is three miles long with an elevation gain of about 500’, which would bring me to the Sandstone Parking area and the Turtlehead Mountain Trailhead. I arrived there around 11:30. I planned to do the 4.6 mile (Roundtrip) hike up to Turtlehead Peak. But when I arrived at the Trailhead, I became aware that my day would probably take longer than I had planned. I read some reviews, and in general they said to expect to take about four hours. There were also comments that the trail was not well marked and involved substantial scrambling on loose rock. I calculated that if I did this hike, and then still have the three miles to hike back to the van, I would probably not get back to the van until about 5PM, which was later than I wanted. I would be hiking in the dark by 5PM. So, I opted to do the Grand Circle Trail, of which the Calico Hills Trail was a part. Grand Circle is an 11.4 mile trail that, like the road, circumvents the park along areas at the base of the mountains much of the way, while crisscrossing some plateau-like areas as well. I was glad of the change in plans, as it gave me a different perspective seeing the park on foot as compared to riding my bike or driving around the scenic drive. The views vary widely with each mile of walking. And I returned to the van around 3PM, plenty of sunlight remaining to the day. Well, about 90 minutes remaining.
The campground is in high demand, being full every night. I made my reservations when they first became available, six months ago, way back in May. I have a nice level campsite with a picnic table that has a large, covered structure over it and a nice fire ring. I have wood, but there are fire restrictions. Surprisingly, there have been campers every night having campfires. There is no campground host here, so no enforcement of the burning ban. It makes me question the motivations and behaviors of people. It is well marked, signs in several places, “NO CAMPFIRES.” Several people ignored it. I saved my firewood for the next destination ...
Comments