About 10 miles from Las Vegas lies Red Rock Canyon. Here, the mountains have a beautiful reddish color and they rise 8,000 feet. There are cliffs and ravines composed of grey, white and red rock.
The wide empty plain beneath the hills are studded with Joshua trees and other desert plants. Call me stupid; but until I went here I had no idea of how many colorful flowers a cactus could have.
We went on a horseback riding tour to see
further than we thought our legs would take us. At one point, our guide pointed out deep ruts in the desert floor; she said these were tracks still here from when the wagon trains used to travel through the area.
One hint if you do take this tour is to wear jeans, or very thick sunscreen. We were visiting here in May, and once the tour was over, our thighs were extremely sunburned.
The canyon is easily reached, by Las Vegas Boulevard ('The Strip'), which is one of the busiest east-west routes running through the center of the city. The strip leads directly to the park entrance - Charleston Boulevard, which crosses the strip. The standard entry fee is $5 per vehicle.
The horseback tour we took was through Cowboy Trail Rides. I have included their phone number and website address below.
For $89, they'll pick you up from Las Vegas, drive you out to the Red Rock Canyon, and send you on a 2 hour horseback tour. We were very happy with them.
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Phone: Cowbot Trail Rides 702 948-7061
Website: http://www.cowboytrailrides.com/About_Us.html
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on May 2, 2004
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