Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is located just a few miles northwest of Las Vegas.  Had we known about it two years ago, we might have visited it then; but I just learned of it this year when looking up interesting places to visit on Pinterest.  We left the campground around 9 am and entered the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area about 40 minutes later.

There was a tour group in front of us driving these open three-wheel vehicles that looked like a lot of fun to drive.

We parked the car and walked up to what was probably the nicest visitor center we have ever been to -- and this is not even a national park!

They had all kinds of exhibits and most of them were outside and beautifully designed to incorporate and teach you about Red Rock Canyon, its history, its wildlife, and its beauty.

This is a view of the red rocks from inside the visitor center.

We saw some wildlife while at the center.  What in the world is this??

A big lizard.

And there was this big tortoise.

The male tortoise has this big hook like thing under their necks that are used for sparring with other male tortoises during mating season.

Chuck tried to wrestle this big lizard.  :)

I just made friends with the tortoise.  :)

Bonnie and I were the brave ones and petted this snake.

Of course, if you haven't figured it out by now, all of the wildlife we touched were metal statues or replicas.  :)  Now you really didn't think we would touch a snake did you!  :)

Probably one of the coolest exhibits of the visitor center was the view!

After we left the visitor center, we began the 13 mile scenic drive around Red Rock Canyon.  Our first stop was at Calico where the red rocks and sandstone were spectacular.

Some of the rocks were a marbleized mixture of red rock and sandstone.

We didn't bring our hiking shoes today but that didn't keep us from enjoying the views of the beautiful red rocks of Red Rock Canyon.

We continued driving along the scenic drive and the red rocks became even more prominent...

as well as the layers of sandstone and red rock.

Our next stop was at what had been an attempt at a sandstone quarry that lasted from 1905 and 1906 but was determined to be unprofitable.  Some of the quarry blocks are still there.

You could also see where the big sandstone blocks had been quarried with channeling traction equipment.  The giant blocks weighed as much as 10 tons.

We continued our scenic drive enjoying the views along the way.

There are numerous hiking trails in the Red Rock area and had the temps been cooler we would have liked to have tried some of them out.  Maybe next time???

After completing the scenic drive, we drove back to the campground and ran errands to Wal-Mart and Costco that afternoon.  Chuck and I even got about an 1 1/2 hour nap in!  :)

Tomorrow, we leave Las Vegas and head to another canyon, one of our favorites:  Zion National Park.