Red Rock Canyon

Once you have seen the sights and sounds of Las Vegas, to get some nature back into your system and the sheer human gaudiness out, visit the Red Rock Canyon, a bare 20 minute drive from the Vegas strip.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada is an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape Conservation System, and protected as a National Conservation Area. It is located about 15 miles (24 km) west of Las Vegas, and easily seen from the Las Vegas Strip. The area is visited by over 1 million visitors each year.
The conservation area showcases a set of large red rock formations: a set of sandstone peaks and walls called the Keystone Thrust. The walls are up to 3,000 feet (910 m) high, making them a popular hiking and rock climbing destination. The highest point is La Madre Mountain, at 8,154 feet (2,485 m).

A loop, some 20kms long, takes you around the park. Given that some of these red rocks look absolutely spectacular with the early morning or late afternoon sun shining on them, you should either plan on spending an entire day at the park, or visit twice.

If you do plan on staying the entire day, there are several treks that can be done, in varying degrees of difficulty, from a mile long to several miles long.

A bare 15-20 minutes out of Vegas, it is difficult to be in a place so quiet, so natural, so open, and just so, well, beautiful.

© 2010, Abhinav Agarwal. All rights reserved.