Red Rock Canyon

(10AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Upthrust

On our last day in Las Vegas, our plane wasn’t scheduled to depart until 9:50 pm, so we checked out of our room and checked our bags with the bell desk, and took a tour with Pink Jeep Tours of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

We didn’t see much wildlife on this trip, but it is there if one looks far and long enough. Both a chipmunk and a squirrel ran across the road in front of the jeep and one of our party spotted a small thin lizard. But there is often more…as you can see by visiting this site.

What we did see were awe-inspiring panoramas of hills, mountains and side canyons…and vegetation. The words “dead stinking desert” should not be used together…unless maybe one is referring to Death Valley.

And we saw an Anasazi campsite.

Calico Hills

The area was formed as part of what is called the Keystone Thrust. Roughly, the Pacific plate pushed under the continental plate. That gives some strange geological features and sequencing. You can see some of the uplift in the photo to the right, clearly taken when we were on the freeway approaching the site.

As we got closer, we could start to see the redness that gives the area its name. The photo shows the Calico Hills, which form the east side of Red Rock Canyon.

Dead, you know

We stopped at the Visitor’s Center on the way into the area, which was a good thing because my camera batteries had died.

Reloaded, I got some images of deceased animal remains…

Never Alive

…a sculpture of a desert iguana…

…and a real live chuckwalla in an aquarium.

Live Chuckwalla

Oh, and they had some petroglyphs, hoping that by showing them, they might stem the need for visitors to find and possibly deface other works in the area.

Petroglyphs

Close-up Petroglyph

Debbie purchased a flute.

Flute

We drove onward, first towards the Calico Hills.

Callico Hills Panorama Left

Calico Hills Panorama Right

Vegetation in a desert? Well, of course there is.

Pinyon Pine

Up at the top of the previous photo was a balanced rock formation that Debbie wanted a picture of. The balancing rock had been defaced, it turns out:

Balanced Rocks

End of the Hills

Geological Change

And the Calico Hills were eventually left behind…

Hills Left Behind

…in favor of taller structures…

New Hills

La Madre Mountains

…with a lot more vegetation than one might expect.

Vegetation

The way out of this is back whence we came:

The Way Out

Can you imagine crossing this in a wagon…with riders going on ahead to discover that beyond these mountains is another range…and beyond that is more desert…until one comes to the Sierra Nevadas. And there is no pass through those directly in front of us.

No Pass

No Way Out

Those tall plants out there are agave.

Agave

These willow indicate there is water close underneath…an oasis, if you will.

Oasis

And we have some juniper pine, so now we can make gin as well as mescal…

Juniper Pine

…and prickly pear cactus…

Prickly Pear

…and desert oak…

Desert Oak

Juniper pine, pinyon pine and desert oak in abundance in the La Madre Mountains, which form the northern end of Red Rock Canyon.

La Madre

I was intrigued by some caves:

Cave 1

Cave 2

Sage…

Sage

…and Mormon Tea, which (ironically) is loaded with ephredine…

Mormon Tea

…and immature desert rhubarb.

Desert Rhubarb

And we came to the Anasazi site. It is probable that the first people in the area were Tule Springs Indians, although there is no evidence. There is evidence of Pinto/Gypsum (3,500 B.C. to 1 CE), Anasazi (1 CE to 1150 CE), Patayan (900 CE to early 1800s), and Southern Paiute (900 CE to present)

Anasazi Historical Site

…with hand paintings…

Hand Paintings

Anasazi Historical Site

…and a large baking pit, indicating they were here for some time. I imagined an exploration party, establishing this as their base camp, looking for a way for their people to expand towards the west.

Anasazi Oven Pit

Anasazi Historical Site

We drove on…southward along the west side of the canyon…

West Wall

West Wall 2

Some of the side canyons had more water in them…as evidenced at times by the presence of ponderosa pines marching out.

Side Canyon

Side Canyon 2

The views were incredible.

Side Canyon 2

The red stripe of rock reminds us where we are.

Red Rock

Occasionally we might even pass old wagon tracks (foreground).

Tracks

And we return to the lower altitude vegetation dominated by yucca, sage, and Joshua trees, which aren’t trees at all, but rather a type of yucca.

This young Italian gentleman took the tour with us.

Fellow Traveler

Here Debbie studies the map of the Old Spanish Trail, the trade route from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, explored by John C. Fremont and Kit Carson, but which had been in use by the Spanish since the 17th century.