Okay, strictly speaking what I’m about to share with you is not in Las Vegas, per se, but it is just outside of town and is generally considered a “must-see” destination for folks who can tear themselves away from the casinos.
Red Rock Canyon is just on the western edge of Las Vegas. It is reached by driving straight out Charleston Boulevard to the west, until there is no more Charleston Boulevard. As the road continues into the hills, one enters the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Just a few minutes after the straight road began to curve, we realized that we were in real, live desert.
The first thing we saw on the 13-mile loop road was the Calico Hills trail. The reason for the name is obvious: the contrast between red and beige rock. This is really a canyon. It was hard to believe how small people looked from above when they walked down the canyon trail. This picture shows only the top portion of the trail, but it really went quite deep into the rocks.
These boulders are formed from ancient sand dunes. The lighter-colored layers show where water leached out all the color (copper?) from the rocks. The effect is very striking, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We are fans of the sci-fi spoof movie Galaxy Quest. At one point on the road, we became convinced that the makers of that movie must have gotten the idea for their rock-monster from these boulders at Red Rock Canyon.
It was a bit hard for us to wrap our minds around the untouched beauty of this desert in such close proximity to the city of Las Vegas. Then we looked at a map and realized it is 17 miles away from town. Here are some of the mountains that rim the Las Vegas valley. (Incidentally, the name of the town means “the meadows,” and refers to the verdant valley early travelers found on their way to the Pacific.)
After having visited the canyon on our second day in town, we became much more aware of the sunset over the western hills each afternoon. This was our first view of that sun settling behind the hills, from close up.
These ancient sand dunes, these calico boulders, were our introduction to the overwhelming force of nature in the desert southwest. Later in the week we would see how humans in the 20th century absolutely conquered a portion of the natural landscape.
Thanks for the pics. We’ve often wondered what that area looked like and if it was worth a trip. Now we know: Yes!