Red Rock Canyon NV

[JeffH]

My great-niece was getting married last weekend so we went out early in order to get in a hike on Saturday, only a 35-minute drive from the strip. I've visited this place before but never hiked more than about a mile, including getting out at every parking area to explore. So this time I chose the White Rock loop, which is 6.2 miles of desert goodness, add about a mile if you decide to visit La Madre spring (we didn't).
November is a great time for the weather out there, warm in the sun and noticeably cooler in the shade and breeze. We created a spot for the Ranger at the upper White Rock parking area, every spot was already taken at 10:30 in the morning. Heading up the trail, we saw a few bright shirts ahead of us but no one nearby. As we walked on we didn't see anyone for over a mile so I think they took one of the alternate trails. Anyway, this trail loops around the entire mountain/hill/collection of white sandstone, gaining a bit of elevation from the start. That is followed by what felt like a couple miles of downhill through some red dirt areas to a popular trail to La Madre spring. I asked some hikers there about it, they said plenty of water was flowing which made me a little sad we didn't go up there. Since we still had plenty of water it wasn't a need... Reaching the picnic area on this side of the hill meant lots and lots of people, but we were getting a little pressed for time so we just powered through to the return trail to White Rock. We had some conversation about trail etiquette, since a couple in front of us were proceeding very slowly along this single track while holding hands the entire time. I'm all for that, however if people are consistently just 10 feet behind you it's time to pull over and let them pass! The last part of the hike was actually a little more downhill followed by a very sunny uphill mile to the parking area. All told, we spent about three hours out there including a couple of breaks and a little side trip for me to check out some petroglyphs.

Just a few photos...

Entrance to the park

Lots of rock climbers in this area, the bright red is visible from the strip

The section that gives the park it's name

Looking across toward White Rock about four miles away

Parking area with a tiny outcrop of the rock behind, the white is much different than the rest of the park

On the trail, looking over to the first photo above

Topping out on a little ridge this amazing canyon view opens up - it explains just why I like to go out hiking

Looking back to where the previous photo was taken, actually mixed color rock in this section

White Rock from the other side, near Willow Spring

Last section, we went downhill first and then lots of up - I would not attempt this in the summertime

[Sean]

Beautiful pics. Is that near Turtlehead?

[JeffH]

Turtlehead is roughly the distant center of the last picture. Parking area for our trail was where the white rock meets the rest of the desert. Of course we had to descend all the way to the bottom of that gulley just to walk back up on the last leg of our hike.