Red Rock Canyon just 15 miles away from Las Vegas is truly a natural wonder.  For those that do not know this world of its only is only 15 miles west of Las Vegas. The edge of Las Vegas almost reached the canyon but still remains a very mysterious and world of its own. The area is known for its striking red colored sandstone/limestone formations found in this valley. Some of them formations are 1800 feet in height and can been seen from just about anywhere in Vegas.  Although you can see the outer mountains and formations far away red rock is actually very hidden behind them below in a valley/canyon. 

Red Rock is composed of many different areas like on the west side of it are the Wilson Cliffs which are composed of various mountains like Rainbow Mountain, Indecision Peak, Sandstone Mountain just to name a few.  The north side is very full of nature mainly all desert and trails. While the east side consist of many hills one of them known as Blue Diamond Hill. Then finally on the southern part is a valley is a mining community named Blue Diamond which has alot of history but said to be cursed by its location meaning that its developing so quickly that its actually so close to red rock that its starting to take away its natural beauty. 

When I lived out in Las Vegas I had a few people tell me stories that went on up here. One time I knew this woman who was hiking at night with her family when over one of the hills was a glow pulsating light. The moments later all these white eyes started to follow them to the car. She said they were very big and oval. But I have also heard stories about people feeling watched in the canyons, UFO activity, and many bizarre deaths. Some people come up missing out here while others die from accidents related to rock climbing. There also seems to be a large number of suicides up in the canyon which makes me wonder if there is some other force of energy at work here. 

Nonetheless the area is very large and hopefully over the years I can make a few return trips out here. Its such a big area with miles of trails in the various canyons one could get lost quite easily here. Our first investigation of the area we focused on the Calico Basin area which is part of red rock just on the opposite side of the valley is all. We still did alot of hiking, rock climbing and exploring here as you can see. 

Calico Basin people actually live in and some were here before red rock became a tourist area. We had a nice picnic here and I did alot of exploring. There is an area here called red Spring which flows out of the mountainside. There is a small cave that goes about 10 feet in which people go inside to have drum circle ceremonies this is where the spring flows out from. The spring proved useful many years ago when explorers and ranchers first arrived here in the 1800s. They traveled the old Spanish Trail in cottonwood valley. In 1905 the railroad came to Vegas and redrock which improved transportation for the export of cattle and minerals.  This spring became a vital source of water for the local ranchers like Ella Mason, The Spring Mountain Ranch, and Sandstone Ranch which all lived near it. In a few areas we hiked we did find a few stone foundations from these early pioneers. 

The area is very secluded from the rest of the world so there are some very large mountain lions, burros, prairie dogs, and sometimes even mustangs wandering the canyon. I would of course say to use caution cause these mountain lions can leep and climb far better then we ever could. 

Another area called Pine Creek Trail which has a stream that runs through it in the spring time caused by the snow on the peaks melting and mild rain which gathers in the porous sandstone. In the canyon in the 1920's lived a homesteader named Horace Wilson who lived here about a decade till he moved to Las Vegas. In the canyon our the foundation remains to his home. He must had seen alot through the years of being out in seclusion. 

Then in the Calico Basin area there are many petroglyphs or pictoglyphs left behind by the native americans who once roamed these areas. Throughout red rock one could see quite a few of these on various rocks. I was really disappointed that I did not find any and I did alot of rock climbing on the investigation to some very secluded areas. The La Madre Springs and White Rock loop also have these petroglyphs all over including an agave pit and a fair amount of woods. This may be one of the only areas in the Mojave desert that has woods perhaps because of all the springs and shade from the mountains. 

Then we have icebox canyon which is full of mountain lions at night but if you were to venture out daring enough at the end of it you would reach a cliff with a drop off of about 1000 feet and a giant pool of water. So all in all the area is very huge totally about 22 trails including the Icebox Canyon Trail.

Some people visit red rock to see the very famous Spring Mountain Ranch which has a whole separate history but is a tourist attraction to the area. Some people enjoy visiting the Super Summer Theatre which has a theatre in the meadow a total outdoor theatre on cool desert nights. 

Not much else to say about the area the photos actually speak for itself which I worked very hard at. One can fathom the possibilities of ghost wandering these canyons at night and other outer worldly craft hovering deep within the canyon walls.

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Rick-AngelOfThyNight

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