Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
The unique geologic features, plants and animals of Red Rock represent some of the best examples of the Mojave Desert. The conservation area showcases a set of large red rock formations: a set of sandstone peaks and walls called the Keystone Thrust. The walls are up to 3,000 feet high, making them a popular hiking and rock climbing destination. The highest point is La Madre Mountain, at 8,154 feet.
When looking at these mountains from a distance, you would think they couldn't possibly sustain much life. Enter The Native Americans: The first humans here were attracted to the Red Rock area due to its resources of water, plant, and animal life that could not be easily found in the surrounding Mojave desert. Hunters and gatherers such as the historical Southern Paiute and the much older Archaic, or Desert Culture Native Americans, have successively occupied this area.
We took advantage of this spectacularly beautiful day to take a scramble up into these mountains to take in the views of the surrounding area. We took over a hundred photos of our hike into the mountains. I have chosen a few of the best ones to share with you.
The thing about this hike that kept taking my breath away (beyond the climb!) was how blue, blue, blue the sky was in contrast to the reds, tans and browns of the landscape. What a contrast to the smoggy skies of the LA area we will see later in our trip.
We saw very few people on our hike. Another bonus of traveling to places like these in the off-season.
We had to work our way through some pretty challenging terrain as we went along. Thank goodness we had Steve as our guide. He regularly climbs here with a group of friends, so knows which ways to take us up the mountains.
When given the choice, I was always ready to crawl through the cave instead of climb up and around it. I usually got Rowan to do it with me too.
Canyon Scrambling
Scrambling is "a walk up steep terrain involving the use of one's hands". Canyoning often involves scrambling. So I guess we are technically Canyon Scrambling here, since we are in a canyon.
Steve and Rowan demonstrate the technique here.
It is amazing to see how life can literally cling to the rocks, as this tree demonstrates (kinda like Steve and Rowan too, in the photo above!)
We stopped at the top of our mountain path to have a snack and some water before we started our descent down the other side of the mountain. This was the perfect time for a group photo.
Look at the crazy blue sky! Wow!
As we came down the back side of the mountain, we were looking for wild Big Horn Sheep. Steve and Ann have seen them before when hiking here. We couldn't seem to spot any today.
This is a great photo to show the the scale of where we are hiking. See if you can find Steve in this photo (and I am zooming in on him!).
WooWhoooooo! We did it!
What a wonderful day! Now all we could think about was getting in that hot tub back at cousin Ann's place and watching more football :o)
Next, we're off to La La Land.........
Next, we're off to La La Land.........
