Red Rock Canyon

After a meagre hotel breakfast – spiced with a heated conversation between two men of opposing views of their new president who were almost ready to get at each others throats– we headed out of Las Vegas towards Red Rock Canyon. Driving through the outskirts of the city one could almost forget that this is such a hub of activity: the residential areas look just like any here in the southwest.

It’s a short drive to this National Protection Area, and we should not have been surprised (but were!) how much traffic was headed towards it, a far cry from deserted Cathedral Gorge State Park. But of course: this is a prime recreation area for the more than two million people living in the city and surrounding area. We weren’t too worried, though: usually the crowds thin out considerably on longer hikes. While it was already 17 degrees Celsius in the city the temperature dropped degree by degree on our way up the mountain, and when we reached the visitor centre it was only +10, with a brisk wind blowing. We paid a visit to the centre to find out which hikes were suitable for us and decided to hike the six-mile White Rock loop trail. Before we headed out we watched the NPS film, as always a great way to get an overview of the park’s special places, history, flora and fauna. 

Our trailhead, the 'Willow Creek' trailhead, was located about half way along the ‘scenic drive’ which loops through the park for about thirteen miles. The scenic drive is a one-way road wide enough for vehicles to pass, so that there is ample opportunity to take in the scenery at the pace most comfortable for everyone. Pull-outs allow for photos, and trailheads are all accessible from it. The ranger we had talked to had suggested we might want to have our lunch in the picnic area of Willow Springs, just to the south of our trailhead. There, he said trees would hopefully give us some protection from the wind. 

Thus fortified and bundled up in several layers of clothing, wearing hats and gloves, we started to hike uphill on the White Rock trail. After about half a mile another trail branched off towards La Madre springs, continuing up the hill, while our trail wound its way through a nice stand of trees. Now, it was by far not as cold anymore, and we soon took off first one, then another layer. The scenery to the left and right was spectacular. Red Rock Canyon bears its name with good reason: red and gold are the prevalent colours, rocks coloured in calico fashion or adorned with broad red stripes on lighter coloured background. 

We estimated how many people we would meet on this trail and thought between ten and twenty was a generous guess, but at the end of the hike we had counted twenty-five, which still doesn’t make a six-mile hike crowded, of course. The trail reminded me of hiking in the Sedona area with its up-and-down (though quite a bit of up on the first half – the elevation gain was about 250 m) through the Utah pines and juniper. 

Close to the highest part of the trail we left the trees, and soon we put on one of the discarded layers of clothes: the wind had not stopped by any means, and now we were more exposed. On the long way down we had the mountains to our right, with a wide view ahead. In the distance we could see Las Vegas from time to time, but soon it was hidden behind the chain of hills closer to us again. Trees were much scarcer on this side, and we got to know another facet of this interesting landscape. Now we found the strange erosion features we had seen in the video: small red bumps on the light coloured rock, like pimples, almost. 

After the White Rock parking lot and trailhead the trail continued to descend at a moderate rate. Several joggers overtook us, water bottles in hand, obviously here for the exercise rather than the landscape. ‘Eight miles an hour … ,’ we overheard one telling his running companion. No, that was not our speed at all. 

The sun had almost slipped behind the mountains, and my hands were getting cold again. The trail led us down into the draw not far from the Willow Creek parking lot, but before we reached it we passed a big boulder with petroglyphs, the ‘hands’ really clearly marked.

 Right at its foot I found some interesting looking leaves that seemed to sprout from a kind of bulb, almost like a fennel bulb. A few steps further I found a lot more, some with buds just waiting to open.  Not long now, and everything will burst into bloom around here. I hope we will catch at least the beginning!