Red Rock Canyon is Nevada’s first National Conservation Area. Located in Nevada’s Mojave Desert, it’s well-known for its red sandstone peaks, Native American petroglyphs, and its spectacular views. One of the most awe-inspiring aspects of Red Rock Canyon is the Keystone Thrust Fault, a prominent geological fault that formed about 65 million years ago that pushed limestone rock layers over younger sandstone rock layers.
To enter Red Rock Canyon, a timed pass is required, which we booked for 11.30am. The drive in was breathtaking–the Keystone Thrust Fault is one of a series of massive red rocks striped with different tints of yellow, grey, green and other colors.
Turtlehead Trail Hike
Since we arrived late, the parking lot closest to hike Turtlehead Peak was full, but we were really lucky to snag the only RV spot available.
Just ahead of our RV adventure, Lisette had purchased hiking poles to help her on the trip. While Lisette is comfortable walking uphill, going downhill is a major struggle–she doesn’t trust herself when walking down a slope, and she’s got a constant fear of sliding! While this was only the second time she’d used the hiking poles (the first time was at Valley of Fire), she started to get a bit more accustomed to understanding how it worked this time around.
Since we had only planned to do one hike, we chose Turtlehead Peak, which was about 4.6 miles and is advised to take 3.5-4.5 hours, which the ranger recommended to us. The hike features incredible, panoramic views from a Red Rock Canyon Peak. While it is an accessible peak, the hike turned out to be a bit too strenuous for Sheila (lots of scrambling over rocks), so Michael borrowed Lisette’s hiking poles to finish off the climb while Lisette and Sheila waited at one part of the hike, which still provided awesome views of Las Vegas in the distance and the canyon below. Fortunately Michael did have the poles, as it turns out there were some fairly steep rock faces to climb up, down and around!
It was another 1000+ft of elevation, scrambling up very loose rock before making it to the peak. There was some residual snow on the ground in one spot but the hike was hard work and there wasn't a lot of shade. Coming down was even harder as the trail was very difficult to find and Michael went off-trail several times.
Petroglyph Wall Trail
Before leaving, we did one final short hike–the easy Petroglyph Wall trail (where yes, there are fascinating petroglyphs that are about 800 years old), before heading to the RV park that we’d booked just outside of the park.
Red Rock Campground
While there were no hookups, there was a dedicated spot with a picnic table, potable water and toilets. We set up camp, and had dinner once again outside, sitting on our deck chairs with the awning out and looking up at the beautiful starry sky.
The sun sets fairly early at this time of the year (around 5.30pm), and it gets dark pretty quickly after that, so we’ve started to adjust our body clock by going to bed early (around 10pm or so), and waking up around 6am, as the sun is starting to rise (a big difference from our late night owl ways staying up past midnight at home in San Francisco!). Our days are full, and Sheila is starting to snore and dream now at night, which we’re taking to mean that she’s getting used to–and enjoying–her days on the road.
Route Map
