Around Las Vegas

Red Rock Canyon

A half hour drive from Las Vegas Strip is a place that seems a world away. Forget the neons, the smoke, the gambling and enjoy the nature at its best in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. You will need a car to get there and the $5 entrance fee, but I believe it's worth seeing this place. The landscape is beautiful, with its grey limestone and the bright red sandstone rock formations (hence the name). A 13 mile one way scenic road loops around the area. You can enjoy some short hikes and good rock climbing. We were there on a weekday and there weren't many people around. I imagine this place is a lot more crowded on weekends.

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Valley of Fire State Park

This beautiful state park is located about 60 miles (97 km) northeast of Las Vegas. To get there take highway I-15N and then the Valley of Fire exit. The name of the park comes from the red sandstone formations, which were formed over 150 million years ago from great shifting sand dunes. The landscape is simply spectacular. At different sites in the park you can see Indian petroglyphs (rock art) done by Anasazi Pueblo farmers, the ancient people who lived in this area. There are many hikes within the park, which brings me to another topic. We couldn't do any of the hikes, because we visited the park in August and it was incredibly hot. All we could think about was how to find the next shaded place. For this reason we decided not to go too far away from the car and we didn't do any hikes (well, we did only a short one, to see the Anasazi petroglyphs but that was all). I guess the best seasons for visiting Valley of Fire are spring and fall.

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