Red rock state park crack#

The trail ends at the top of Whistler’s Ridge, but you can keep exploring by either crossing along the ridge line on the right to White House Cliffs for a spectacular view of the valley, or dropping down to the other side of the cliffs for a walk through the canyon valley. It is a one-quarter mile hike with a fairly steep incline to the ridge line above the campground. The Desert View Nature Trail begins at the end of Ricardo Campground Road near campsite number 50.

Red rock state park crack#

Several times, we spotted what looked like a small cave or crack in the cliffs, only to find out that it is a narrow, winding canyon you can follow for a bit! Desert View Nature Trail The kids loved this, because they could shout “stop” at any time to jump out of the car and run to something interesting they spotted from the truck. This walk is a flat walk through the brush and desert plants - no rock scrambling, just hot, dry walking near the parking lot, so we skipped this short trail.Īfter the Visitor Center, we hopped in the car and decided to drive through the campground area along the steep, rugged, incredible cliffs, stopping on the side of the road every few hundred feet to hop out of the car and explore caves, climb rock formations, and check out the amazing views. There are numbered stops along the route that match up with a brochure you can pick up at the Visitor Center that will tell you all about the natural and cultural history of the area. It meanders through the wash below Ricardo Campground for about a quarter mile. The Ricardo Nature Trail is a walk not a hike. We thought about taking advantage of the nearby picnic tables for lunch, but they are right next to stinky vault toilets so we decided to do some more exploring. Next, we drove over to the main park area, paid the $6 entrance fee, and quickly stopped in the small Visitor Center to grab a brochure and check out a few displays and information on the animal fossils found in the park. We spent a lot of time exploring this area as the kids climbed all over the amazing rock formations. It features huge, steep, scenic red cliffs, small caves, and big rocks that you can walk right up to - no hiking needed. Red Cliffs Natural Preserve is located about one-third mile south of Abbott Drive, the main entrance of the park. Audible “wows” came from the back seat and we immediately turned off the road into a large parking area. When driving along HWY 14, we knew Red Rock Canyon was getting close, but were in no way prepared for the towering red-striped cliffs that come into view as we rounded a turn. Instead, it’s more of a create your own adventure park, where you get to choose what you explore and how long you explore. Red Rock Canyon offers visitors a variety of recreational activities, including hiking, sightseeing, off Road Vehicle driving, camping, bike riding, and even rock climbing.Ĭompared to other California state parks, Red Rock Canyon doesn’t have a lot of improved hiking trails. Things To Do In Red Rock Canyon State Park Located where the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada converges with the El Paso Mountains, the park sits directly on State Route 14, which travels through the center of the park, just 125 miles North of Los Angeles and 25 miles North of Mojave, in California’s Mojave Desert. We reached Red Rock Canyon State Park just before lunch on Saturday. The 27,000 acres that make up Red Rock Canyon State Park have no hiking restrictions, which means you don’t have to stay on the trails and you can hike anywhere you want and climb on any rock formations you want, which put a giant smile on my son’s face - climbing rocks are his favorite vacation activity! These same colorful, red-striped rock formations in the park served as landmarks during the early 1870s for 20-Mule Team Freight Wagons that stopped for water. Red Rock Canyon includes two natural preserves and features spectacular rock formations, panoramic views of the desert landscape, and sandstone desert cliffs with prominent rust staining from iron oxide that creates bold red stripes. When researching things to do in Death Valley, I came across Red Rock Canyon State Park and the photos were so stunning that hiking a few of the trails became a must-do activity on our Thanksgiving road trip. This not only made our drive easier, but it gave us time on Saturday to do some adventuring on the way.

Death Valley National Park was our destination for Thanksgiving week, but the drive from our house to Furnace Creek is more than 8 hours without traffic, so we decided to break up the drive into two parts: Home to Bakersfield on Friday night, then Bakersfield to Furnace Creek on Saturday.