October through April is the best time to hit the trails. Summer’s high temperatures can be unbearable unless you start (and finish) the trail first thing in the morning. There are no services in the park, but gasoline, convenience stores, and restaurants are available on West Charleston Boulevard, less than half an hour from the park’s entrance.
In 1990 the area was officially designated Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area; administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the park contains close to two hundred thousand acres.
The BLM has designated the park’s thirteen-mile, paved, one-way scenic drive as a Backcountry Byway, recognizing its unusual level of beauty and interest. Most of the trailheads mentioned in this book are located along the byway, and are reserved for day use, which means the hours change according to the season. In October “day use” means 6 a.m.–7 p.m.; November-February, 6 a.m–5 p.m.; March, 6 a.m.–7 p.m.; April–September, 6 a.m.–8 p.m. The Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center is generally open 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. daily. For visitor information: (702) 515-5350, or www.redrockcanyonlv.org.
Directions: From Las Vegas take Charleston Boulevard (Nevada Route 159) west. From its intersection with CC 215 (Las Vegas Beltway), continue west 5.8 miles and turn right for entrance station and Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center.
1 Calico Basin—Red Spring Interpretive Trail
Calico Basin offers a mixed grill of the Red Rock area’s best, including riparian habitat, meadows, springs, and even some cultural resources, all within the area’s signature Aztec sandstone landscape.
An easy way to taste it all is to take the Red Spring Interpretive Trail, which starts directly behind the picnic area. This will take you up a small rise and to the grassy bench above. From here the trail makes a one-half-mile loop around the perimeter of the meadow. This trail is accessible for wheelchairs and baby strollers.
A boardwalk was installed in 2005 as part of a restoration project to protect the environmentally sensitive areas. This way, visitors can still enjoy the area without disturbing the fragile plant life. Outside the boardwalk there is a fence to keep burros and horses from trampling these areas.
Calico Basin; A boardwalk was installed in 2005 to protect the Red Spring surroundings from being trampled.
As you travel along the boardwalk, stop and read the interpretive signs. Be sure and take time to sit quietly a while on one of the many benches along the way, listening and looking for wildlife. Because of a permanent supply of water, lush vegetation, and surrounding canyons, many animals thrive here. More than one hundred species of birds have been recorded, and the area is also home to mountain lions, kit foxes, coyotes, rabbits, ground squirrels, desert tortoises, and ringtail cats. I even had the good fortune of seeing a gray fox on one early-morning visit.
There are three springs in this vicinity. Ash Spring, Calico Spring and Red Spring provided reliable and vital water sources to humans for thousands of years. American Indians used this area and were followed by homesteaders and ranchers. As you make your way around the walkway and over to the sandstone cliffs, keep an eye out for rock art. There are two types in Red Rock Canyon, petroglyphs and pictographs. Here you will be seeing petroglyphs which have been pecked into the surface of rock, unlike pictographs, which were painted on the surface. Some of this rock art is thought to be more than five thousand years old.
Once you reach the far end of the boardwalk from where you started, you will see the waters of Red Spring itself, flowing from a small tunnel or cave. If you look carefully you will see many water-loving plants such as the stream orchid, watercress, Nevada blue-eyed grass and black-creeper sedge. The boardwalk protects not only these plants but also local inhabitants such as red-spotted toads and Pacific chorus frogs.
A few biologically sensitive species also call this area home. The Spring Mountain springsnail, Pyrgulopsis deaconi, is found only in four springs, all of them nearby. The alkali Mariposa lily, which grows in the surrounding riparian meadow, is found only in a few other places in Southern California and Nevada. The largest population in Nevada is said to be the one here.
If you visited this area before the boardwalk was installed, you might remember being able to drive almost up to the base of Red Spring, and park there. As you travel along the boardwalk it’s worth a look in that area to see how it has been transformed. The old road has been covered over and replaced with native vegetation. It’s on its way to restoration as original habitat.
Although this is an excellent place to go when your time is constrained, there are hiking trails just outside of the boardwalk area that are well worth exploring when you have more leisure. There is also a picnic area, with restrooms.
Calico Basin—Red Spring At A Glance
Best season: October–April.
Length: One-half-mile loop.
Difficulty: Easy boardwalk.
Elevation gain: Minimal.
Trailhead elevation: Thirty-six hundred feet.
Jurisdiction: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Directions: From Red Rock Canyon’s main entrance drive east on Charleston Boulevard (Nevada Route 159) for 1.4 miles. Go left onto Calico Basin Drive and drive about one mile to the signed parking area and trailhead.
2 Calico Tanks Trail
The main attraction of the Calico Tanks Trail is a large tinaja — a natural waterhole or tank weathered into native rock. But the whole hike is interesting, taking you through a vegetated canyon within a white-and-red sandstone landscape.
Unless you arrive first thing in the morning you will probably find dozens of cars in the parking area. Although the hike is one of the most popular in the park, those cars did not all bring visitors to the tank. The parking lot also serves as the trailhead for Turtlehead Peak, and this is a popular area for rock climbers as well. It is also a favorite for those who come just to take a short and easy stroll around the colorful formations, and perhaps see the remnants of a historic sandstone quarry and an agave-roasting pit.
From the parking area head north along the wide and obvious trail. After about 140 yards you will want to head left across a wash, but first it’s worth a look about twenty yards ahead at the large, square blocks of sandstone, said to weigh ten tons each. These are remnants from the quarry that operated here from 1905 to 1912.
After examining the blocks, backtrack and resume the main trail, swinging to the left of the blocks, which will take you down and over a usually dry wash. Start looking on your left for the BLM sign that marks an agave-roasting pit just a few yards off the trail. The hearts of agave, a kind of yucca which still grows hereabout, were a food highly prized by American Indians up to modern times. Continue north until you see the sign marking the right-hand turn for the Calico Tanks Trail.
Follow this spur trail which will take you up a small drainage surrounded by scrub oak, manzanita, and pinyon pines. If you take this hike in late March or early April you might be treated to the showy, bright pink bloom of the western redbud, a small tree that is a member of the pea family. There are only a handful in the canyon but they are a spectacular sight to see.
This hike is a good one for all ages except young children. There is cliff exposure in a few areas, while uneven terrain and elevation gain make it is too strenuous for little ones. Most of the trail is exposed to the sun, so this can be a warm walk, but there is shade to be found along the route, except at the tank itself. Along the