The Best Side of Last Vegas: Hiking Calico Hills at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

 

Calico Hills

Date: December 27, 2020

Place: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas, Nevada

Coordinates: 36.146478, -115.430646

Length: 3.8 miles

Level: moderate

 

I'm going back to the family vacation we did in Las Vegas in the winter of 2020 after our original plan to camp in Death Valley National Park had to be cancelled because of Covid-19. Our vacation was for nature hiking and we started it at the Pertoglyphs at Sloan Canyon and the Clack County Birding Center. On the following day we went to the prime destination on our itinerary - Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 15 minutes drive northwest of Las Vegas. We've been there once before during a road trip we did with visiting friends in the summer of 2012. It was a good time to explore it again now that the chikas were older and that the weather was nice and cool. 

I don't know if it was because of the pandemic or if they'd started the practice before hand, but Red Rock Canyon NCA were now implementing a timed entry policy. We reserved our entry time for the morning and arrived at the park around 9:00 am. Our first port of call  was the visitor center, and already there Pappa Quail was finding birds. 

Phainopepla, male

 

The road inside the park is one way and there were no return privileges, so we needed to figure out what we wanted to see so we could see them in the counter clock wise order. It wasn't difficult actually. We stopped at the first pullout parking are of the first attraction of the park - the Calico Hills, and exited the car. 

Calico Hills

Our first intention was to look around and then drive to the next lot, but the parking spaces were filling out quickly and the trail along the hills looked very attractive, so we decided to hike right then and there. 

The thin trail that stretched northwest at the foot of the hills looked pale on the soil's background. It was fairly empty of People although as the time passed more and more visitors were coming down from the road. A sign explaining about the Calico Hills was posted at the trailhead. These hills are made of sandstone, called Aztec Sandstone, which is pressed sand from an ancient sea that once covered this area. The red color is of oxidized iron minerals containing minerals in the rock. 

Calico Hills Trail

I took a quick look to the southeast. I could sea the faint line of morning sunlight below the thick blanket of clouds that covered the sky above us. It was such a big difference from yesterday's bright skies day. I also noted the seem between the sandstone hills and the lower, soil covered mounds below them. 

Apparently Red Rock Canyon NM is an attraction not only for hikers but also for rock climbers. When we got to the lip of the wash below the Calico Hills we had a nice view of a few climbers who were practicing their skills on the hard sandstone face.

Rock Climber

Sandstone weathers in many interesting and beautiful ways. Little washes form the creases between the masses of the hills and create sheltered places for plants and animals to thrive in the desert ecosystem. 

The line right at the foot of the hills is also a place where plants find extra moisture - it is when the runoff water coming down the hill slopes first meets soil and is absorbed by it.

The trail stretched along the seem line at the bottom of the hills and we walked northwest along that trail. Eventually it separated from the hills with a trench that was deepening with each step, between the trail and the walls of the hill. Looking down I could see much thicker vegetation, and more rock climbers on their way up or down the rock face. 

On one of the higher points I turned and looked behind me to the southeast. The thin line of sunlight was still struggling to shine under the thick blanket of winter clouds. For the first time that morning I thought that it might actually rain. 

We kept moving along the Calico Hills. The trench that separated the trail from the hills rose up and widened, and the trail descended mildly to meet the rock bottom. 

Calico Hills Trail

I checked the vegetation along the trail as we made our way down. Most of the plants were of familiar genera, although I wasn't sure about the species. 

Buckwheat, Eriogonum sp. 

The hills were growing taller as we moved along the trail. Now there was added another rock layer of cream white color on top of the red rock layer. 

The rock formations were absolutely fantastic. The way the sandstone weathered, creating multiple shapes that gave the entire area a very outlandish appeal. 

The desert vegetation has its own appeal. Most desert plants are spiny and hostile-looking, and with a very good reason - in an area with limited water and food, they need to defend themselves from hungry and thirsty herbivores. 

Mohave Yucca, Yucca schidigera

Part of the trail was on the sandstone rocks and not always it was easy to tell where it was. The trail markings in these places were large chicken wire tubes filled with stones. Following these tubes we made our way down into the crevice below the hills. 

Calico Hills Trail

As usual on our family hikes, I was back at the rear, taking the time to look at the interesting things along the way, like this lovely rust colored barrel cactus that blended in well with the reddish rocks. 

California Barrel Cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus

Pappa Quail and the elder chika also took their time when they saw birds. We didn't seer very many birds on this hike. Of the birds we did see, the most common was the Woodhouse's jay, a species that only recently was split from the California scrub jay to be considered a separate species. 

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

All throughout our hike the thick blanket of clouds hung low in the sky. At some point I noticed that the sun was almost right above us. Still, it did not burn through the clouds. 

Some weathering patterns leave holes inside the sandstone rock masses. Needless to say, whenever we encountered such holes that were large enough and close enough to the trail, the chikas (and sometimes their mother too) were compelled to check them on the inside. 

Pillars and pinnacles were also common rock formations, having split from the main Calico Hills mass when cracks were widened by runoff water.

The cracks in the rock are often widened not by water alone. Plants, especially trees, take root in the soil that accumulates in these cracks, and their ever widening roots create pressure on the rock, contributing significantly to the splitting force. 

I was quite surprised to see a handful for wildflowers on this hike. Considering how late in the year is was, and how long a drought this area has been experiencing, I had not expected to see any bloom at all. 

After some more descending, we found ourselves at the bottom of a wash that run within and along the line of the Calico Hills. 

The wash was shallow at first, but soon enough it deepened, with the red sandstone walls rising on both its sides. 

The wash featured some more hollowed sandstone rocks. These holes were more open, revealing the weathering circles pattern inside. 

The deepest part of the wash had walls that towered well over our heads. In fact, I think this was the part that gave the 'canyon' part to the Red Rock Canyon park name. This part of the wash had a lot of vegetation inside it, some of it quite serious trees. 

There was other interesting vegetation growing inside the wash. This place enjoys more shaded time in the summer, and more water running through and retained underground than any of the surrounding area. The plants growing there didn't show the effect of the long drought. They were green and healthy looking. 

Plants were not the only interesting things there. Some of the wash bed stones had some pretty interesting patterns themselves. These were not the red sandstone, but darker, much harder rocks that were washed down from a harder, younger rock layer on top of the hills. 

Eventually the wash shallowed again and we followed the trail out of it and back to the seem line between the rocks and the soil. At our exit point from the wash we had a nice view of the light colored top layer that was above the red sandstone. 

Another Woodhouse's scrub jay posed for us on a nearby yucca plant that grew at the seem line below the hills. He eyed us carefully as we walked past, but stayed put on his perch. 

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

Of the trees that grew in the rock crevices I recognized only the pinion pines. They too looked quite healthy, showing no sign of the long drought. 

On our way up along the seem line we passed right by a huge boulder that rolled down from the top of the hills sometime in the past. That boulder was twice the height of Pappa Quail. Under different circumstances I might have tried climbing it. I'm sure other people did. 

Some times the color contrast comes in surprising forms. On the mild slope of the soil area a single, very yellow shrub which was probably completely dry, stood out against the surrounding 50 shades of gray. 

I couldn't have enough of the red sandstone formations. Be it mushrooms, hollows, creases or gulches, they were all very beautiful and looked very much alive, even though they were rocks. 

The rock scene would not have been complete without the garden growing on them. Those hardy plants that found a secure home in a tiny crack in the rock face and work for years to enlarge it. 

I caught sight of the silhouette of a mistletoe-baring tree way up on top of the hill. It is one of these desert sights that make it look so unique and outlandish. 

Of course, very little else say 'desert' in America more than the cactus plant. This barrel cactus looked very impressive, despite the fact that it was nearly dead. It could have been the drought, although most other plants there didn't seen to be affected. 

California Barrel Cactus

Small clusters of agave decorated the gravel near the trail. Each agave unit grows thicker and larger until it is time for it to bloom.It blooms once, then dies. Its siblings grow on the side from the root crown. In the photo below there's the mature, already dead agave, its younger siblings offshoots growing on the side. 

Utah Agave, Agave utahensis

Step by step we were getting closer to the white rock layer on top of the red sandstone. It could be that we were ascending. In fact, we were, generally, ascending. The rock layers however, were not completely horizontal either. We were approaching the meeting point with the top layer. 

Calico Hills Trail

Meanwhile I was enjoying the view of the gap that deepened below the trail once again. Inside it grew lovely trees and rock mushrooms. On the far side was a pile of large boulders that seemed to have collapsed fairly recently. Seeing such a rock collapse might be very impressive, from a safe distance, of course. 

At last we were at the level of the white rock layer, which also was sandstone only less iron minerals. There were much higher mountains behind it but they were obscured by the low clouds. 

Here too, the vegetation right by the rock slope was richer and more lush. There was a clear advantage to growing right where the runoff water hits the soil. 

It was also the north end of the Calico Hills Trail. There was another parking lot there, and the trailhead to the Calico Tanks Trail which we would hike later in the afternoon. Now though, we needed to return to our car, so we too the narrow trail that turned toward the main park road. 

Cholla, Cylindropuntia sp.

A bit away from the Calico Hills we had a better view of the Rainbow Mountains on the other side of the park. The park road continues all around the valley and below these mountains, where trailheads lead into the canyons between the mountain gaps. Three days later we would hike that part of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. 

Rainbow Mountains

Near the trail I found a familiarity - the creosote bush. I have seen vast desert flats covered with creosote but here there were only a few of them, here and there. They were not the dominant bush. Perhaps further below behind the road they were. 

Creosote, Larea tridentata

Then Pappa Quail and the elder chika made an exciting sighting - a chukar! I haven't seen chukars since my childhood, when their flocks would run through our family farm. Chukar were introduced to the southwest desert to be a game bird. They made their home in the wilderness and now they are part of the local fauna. We saw three chukar somewhat together and fllowed them a bit until they moved away from the trail. 

Chukar

We reached the road and started southeast. The road was very quiet most of the time, with only an occasional car coming our way and passing slowly. Also, in a perfect timing, it started to rain. Not a heavy rain, not even a drizzle. Just a constant dripping that was enough to spot my glasses and the camera lens, and to raise the smell of first rain in the air. 

The road shoulder is also a line where vegetation grows thicker, and for the same reason it does below a rock cliff - the runoff water from the road gives them extra moisture, a precious commodity in the desert. It was by the shoulder of the road that I found another plant that was in bloom - a tiny flowered buckwheat, of a species I didn't identify. 

Eriogonum sp. 

We were all hungry by now and ready for lunch. Much of our walk back was dedicated to the question of where we should have our lunch - Pappa Quail and the chikas weren't happy with the thought of having a picnic in the rain, even if it was just an annoying drip. I wasn't too hot on this either, but I also didn't want to leave the park. 

Patience they say, is a virtue. And rain in the desert is a fleeting event. It was certainly so all of the 2020 winter, and that day in Red Rock Canyon NCA as well. Before we were back in the car the dripping stopped. It was still cold though, but we all agreed that it was ok to do a picnic lunch now. 

We got to the car and drove to the parking lot on the northwest end of the Calico Hills Trail where we had seen some picnic tables earlier when we walked by. There was no need to move the car again after our lunch - we had already decided that our next hike would be the Calico Tanks Trail, which started right there at that parking area. We had seen the Calico Hills from below, now we were going to see them from above.