R is for Red Rock Canyon

The family that hikes together ...

Red Rock Canyon, just 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip was the site of our traditional family reunion hike in 2010. None of us knew it existed until a friend mentioned going horseback riding there. It was perfect for us. 

We’d come together from the rolling hills of Virginia, the bustle of Phoenix, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and Reno to commune with family members who had last been together in 2007. The famed red rock stood out against the azure sky, and we admired the beauty of the place. A group that contained artists and writers as well as lovers of the outdoors, we were enthralled. 

 

 Zooming in with our photo lenses, we were able to capture climbers that were rappelling off the firey red rock.

Known also for serving as home to different Native American tribes in the early days, Red Rock Canyon proved to be a cultural resource. One outstanding thing was the petroglyphs that stand in the Red Spring area. There are two different types of rock art. One is petroglyphs, which were carved or pecked into the rock's surface. The other is pictographs, which were painted on the rock.

In Red Rock Canyon, the most common type of rock art is petroglyphs. The dark "desert varnish" over light-colored limestone makes a perfect medium for petroglyphs. The Red Spring area is home to a wide variety of styles of petroglyphs.

Other evidence of the presence of Native Americans are the "tools and trash of everyday living.  Broken pots and stone tools are pieces of the puzzle that, when put together, tell the story of ancient ways of life and human adaptation to the desert."

With a full half-dozen of us shooting photos, we got some beautiful shots of the area. The magnificent rock formations and fauna showed us a side of Las Vegas that we had never even considered. 

 

We spent only a few hours at Red Rock Canyon and only scratched the surface of the myriad activities there. But the grandeur of the views as we hiked along made a lasting impression.

~ xoA ~