Two canyons, two fantastic parks located outside of bustling Las Vegas, Nevada.
When one thinks of Las Vegas, many don’t think of the natural beauty that surrounds the city. Within a couple hours’ drive, you can visit some great parks, like Death Valley, Lake Mead, Zion, Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon, and Sloan Canyon. Those last three parks I visited in one trip back in early March right before the whole pandemic thing blew up in our faces.
It was a revisit to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. I last visited the park in July 2018, not the best idea, by the way. The temperature is so much more agreeable in March. The first trail I did a portion of was the Calico Hills Trail, which runs along a series of, well, hills. This trail works best with a partner and a second vehicle, so I only did a portion and backtracked back to my car.
The Calico Hills and the trail below. I did not hike this portion of the trail.
This is the section of the trail I did, because I am a genius. The other side looked too boring.
The Calico Hills are really cool up close.
There was a small, dry stream bed at the bottom.
See, it was worth it going the more difficult way.
The rock is slowly falling away.
The striations on these rocks are just awesome.
The stream bed widens. This is the point where I turned around.
The scenic drive has a bunch of cool vistas like this one of the desert landscape.
The next hike was the Willow Spring/White Rock combo trail. I again didn’t do the entire hike as it wasn’t a loop.
The trail starts in the Willow Spring Picnic Area at the base of a very rocky hill.
Rocky, but with a lot of vegetation. Didn’t really see any animals though, probably due to all the screaming school children nearby.
It was a nice trail though.
The trail eventually goes up into the nearby hills.
Lots of life in this desert.
I turned around after I got some views.
The Calico Hills in the distance.
The last trail was a short excursion on the Oak Creek Canyon Trail. My goal was to get to the canyon. I was getting tired though, so I turned around before I got there.
Oak Creek Canyon is a lot further than it looks. A LOT.
I got pretty close.
It was an easy trail at least and a good way to end my time on the trail and then head off to the strip.
The next day before heading home, I stopped at a park I’ve been trying to get to for a while, Sloan Canyon Conservation Area. There are a bunch of trails you can do in the area just south of Henderson, which in turn is south of Las Vegas. However, my goal was the petroglyphs and I found them. Honestly, it isn’t hard. It’s a loop trail. The short way requires some scrambling. It’s going to be a steep climb instead of a nice decent if you go the other direction but it was a easy trail otherwise.
Very easy trail at the start.
You eventually end up in a wash. Most of the trail stays in this wash until you reach the petroglyphs.
The canyon area where the petroglyphs can be found! Look closer!
There they are!
Many of the dark boulders here have petroglyphs. What some represent are still a mystery.
Reminds me of the petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument.
These boulders are completely covered.
The trail continues on from there for some more great desert hiking.
You can see the Las Vegas Strip from here.
A bird friend.
Both Red Rock and Sloan Canyons are an easy drive from Las Vegas. Sloan Canyon can be fairly busy as it receives more than 2 million visitors a year. Best time to visit is the winter months, when the weather is the most favorable for hiking. It can be a bit hot in the summer.
Check out my next update where I head back to my home state of Michigan!
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Check out more national parks and other public lands!
