A GORP Content Partner Adapted from Backcountry Byways by Stewart Green

Backcountry Byways Near Vegas Red Rocks and Gold Butte Drives

Red Rocks

Red Rocks Drive is one-way, paved byway that makes a thirteen-mile-long open loop around the perimeter of a desert basin rimmed on the north and west by towering cliffs and rugged mountains. The well-maintained road has eight pullouts that offer grand scenery and spectacular views. Traffic, except on weekends, is generally light. The byway is open during the warmer months from 8 a.m. to dusk; in winter the hours vary with the length of the days.

General Description: A Type I, thirteen-mile, one-way, paved, open loop road through the spectacular Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area nineteen miles west of downtown Las Vegas. Special Attractions: Hiking trails, backpacking, birdwatching, rock climbing, wildlife observation, photography, picnicking, scenic views, visitor center with interpretive displays. Location: Southern Nevada, about nineteen miles west of downtown Las Vegas and sixteen miles west of the Las Vegas Strip on Charleston Boulevard (Nevada State Highway 159). Travelers should exit west from Interstate 15 at the Charleston exit. Another route leaves Interstate 15 on Nevada Highway 160, proceed west to the intersection with Nevada Highway 159 and drive north to Red Rock Canyon. Byway Route Name: Red Rock Canyon Loop Drive. Travel Season: Year-round. Spring and fall are the best times to visit with pleasant temperatures ranging from fifty to ninety. Summer is very hot, with temperatures soaring to 100 and above. Winters are generally mild, but can have cold and windy periods with now on the byway. Camping: No camping along the byway loop. There is primitive camping in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area just south of the byway at the Oak Creek Canyon entrance. Inquire at the BLM Red Rock Visitor Center for more information. There are several campgrounds in Toiyabe National Forest in the mountains north of Red Rock Canyon. There are also numerous private campgrounds in the Las Vegas area. Services: All services are available in Las Vegas. Nearby Attractions: Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas Museum of Natural History, Old Mormon Fort, Nevada State Museum, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, Floyd R. Lamb State Park, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Valley of Fire State Park, Toiyabe National Forest, Gold Butte Back Country Byway, Bitter Springs Trail Back County Byway. For More Information: Las Vegas District Office, 4765 W. Vegas Drive, P.O. Box 26569, Las Vegas, NV 89126. (702) 646-8800. The Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center's telephone number is (702) 363-1921.

Weather along the byway is mild in spring and fall, with daily temperatures ranging from fifty to ninety. Summers are hot. Expect highs over 100. Winters are pleasant with warm days and cold nights. There can be periods of light snow or rain.

The BLM Visitor Center, at the start of the byway, is the best place to start your drive. Inside are exhibits that detail Red Rock Canyon's geology, natural history, and history. Maps, brochures, books, and handouts are also available. The center is open daily from 9 AM to 4 PM.

The byway climbs northwest from the Visitor Center toward the Calico Hills, a scenic outcrop of Aztec sandstone domes seamed by narrow, redrock canyons. Two overlooks provide great views of the hills. Short trails begin at each overlook, leading down across a wash and into the hills. In spring you can find small pools of water among the rocks, vital drinking holes for the area's forty-five mammal species. The Red Rock Canyon region teems with wildlife, including wild burros, bighorn sheep, kit fox, coyote, mule deer, and bats. Cooler temperatures than the surrounding desert, forty natural springs, and a diversity of plants in the deep canyons provides ideal habitat for animals.

A good 2.5-mile hike to Calico Tanks begins at Sandstone Quarry, at the western end of the Calico Hills. The trail follows a wash north and east to a large tinaja or natural water tank. This and other pools in the bedrock fill with rainwater and are often brimming with insect larvae and fairy shrimp.

Continuing up the byway, the road offers spectacular views west of the Wilson Cliffs, a long escarpment of towering 180-million-year-old sandstone walls formed when the region was a vast dune field that extended from here eastward into Colorado. The cliffs are a direct result of the Keystone Thrust Fault, one of the worlds' best examples of a thrust fault where one section of the earth's crust plates is thrust horizontally over another. The younger dolomite formations some fifty million years ago in a shift of the earth's crust. Hence the older rocks rest directly above the youngest rocks.

At the byway's mid-point, a short spur road leads to Willow Springs Picnic Area in steep-walled Red Rock Canyon. The spring seeps from under a sandstone overhang above the road. Nearby are several Indian roasting pits, including one of the largest in southern Nevada. Dependable water sources along the cliff escarpment made this area attractive to Indians as early as 3500 B.C. Indian cultures that lived here included the Anasazi, Patayan, and southern Paiute. Examples of Indian rock art are found on dark sandstone walls in Red Rock Canyon. Remember that all cultural artifacts are protected by federal law. Red Rock Canyon is also a popular rock climbing area.

An excellent 2.5-mile round-trip hike scrambles into Ice Box Canyon, a deep gorge sliced into the escarpment. At the trail's end lies a seasonal waterfall, steep, heavily-varnished cliffs, thick vegetation, and cool temperatures. It's a good hike for a hot day. This area is another favorite spot for climbing.

The last stop on the byway is the Pine Creek Canyon overlook. Along the rippling creek below grows a rare pocket of ponderosa pine, perhaps a relic grove of the large pine forest that covered this area after the last ice age some 10,000 years ago. Normally, they grow thousands of feet higher atop the mountains west of the byway. A two-mile round trip trail leaves the overlook, passes filled with birds song and wind.

The byway drops away form the mountains at Pine Creek and wanders over a wide outwash plain studded with Joshua trees before emerging onto Nevada Highway 159 a few miles southwest of the Visitor Center.

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Las Vegas Drive Away: Gold Butte

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