red rocks, blue sky
Today was a day for wandering Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, switching for the last hour of the afternoon to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. It was a day of wandering among red rocks under a clear blue sky.
I walked two actual trails, spending a good chunk of time following faint paths on the ground instead of sticking to the named trails. My morning started by moving close to the rocks in the Calico Hills, watching the small (far away) people climbing up the rocks. Did you know that Red Rock has more than 2000 climbing routes and that it is one of the top five climbing destinations in the United States? There were other folks like me walking on the flat and tilted ground, and then there were the climbers. Fascinating...
The rocks in the Calico Hills section wear the most pronounced red color, although I'd say the red was closer to a deep rust color. There are some rocks that are deep rust, some showing more of a yellow to white color, and some where the red and the lighter colors are layered together. Across the wide open space in the center of the loop road stand more jagged mountains, an interesting contrast.
I considered driving the one-way loop road in Red Rock Canyon a second time (to stop at different spots) but that will wait for tomorrow morning. Instead I headed to Spring Mountain Ranch to check the colors there. The water in the small pond was wearing an interesting shade of blue-green, a nice contrast to the blue sky. I walked around a couple of times, needing to wait a bit to cover one section since there was a (small) wedding happening at the time I arrived there. Now that's a nice spot for a wedding!
A view of the Calico Hills, courtesy of my phone
