Week 10- Red Rock Canyon

Tia Jill came to visit for the month of March.  My lovely sister is finishing up Medical School.  She is doing rotations and can do them wherever she wants as long as she pays her way to get there and get back.  Luckily, she has an awesome husband who let us have her for the month.

Place: Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is northwest of the Las Vegas Strip.  It takes about half an hour to get there from our house now.  Red Rock Canyon National Conservative Area is a 13 mile loop you can drive.  Along the way there are 13 different stopping points where you can get out and hike.  Between Labor Day and Memorial Day you can also camp out.

Cost: They charge by vehicle.  It is $7 a day for a car.  We bought an annual pass for $30 knowing we would go back on our own and when we had visitors in town.  We've already used the pass 4 times!

Hours: The park opens at 6am.  It closes anywhere between 5pm and 8pm depending upon the time of year.  It's open 7 days a week.
Best for kids age: In all honesty we couldn't do too much hiking with two kids in tow.  So if your intention is to do some serious hiking, I would want to have kids who can do all the walking on their own.  That being said, we managed well with 3 adults and 2 kids.  Even if you aren't hiking the drive itself is pretty.

We got the Ergo Baby Carrier from my mom when I had my baby shower.  We didn't use it too often with Charlie but now we use it  all the time.   Very handy for going on a hike!

Beautiful!

Charlie loved hiking and keeps asking to go again!

All of these photos were taken at the first stop along the 13 mile loop.

On the plus side: An escape!   This is the total opposite of everything I think of when I think of Las Vegas.  The various trail heads offer easy hikes and hard hikes.  The first two stops along the route had large rocks that were easy to climb.  I am not a big hiker, but these were fun to climb.  The whole area is scenic and peaceful. The visitors center is pretty nice as well. We didn't go there this first time, but have since been.  In the visitors center there are animals, including an outside area with about 5 large turtles.

At the second stop, Kirby was kind enough to give Jocelyn a bottle and hang out with Charlie so Jill and I could do some climbing.

The arrow is pointing to Jill and I

On the down side:  We haven't had any issues with it but I could see how one might.  The 13 mile scenic loop is one direction so if you pass an area and realize you want to go there you have to make the whole loop in order to get back to it.
Suggestions: Bring water and sunscreen, enjoy!
Rating (on a scale of 1-5 stars) 5 stars
Go again?  Indeed we will