Red Rock Day

Sunday, 10 February 

Last night was Sprinty’s 300th night camping since being adopted by Kris and Darrell almost 39,750 miles ago in February 2017 in Boise Idaho.

Today marks three months since Sprinty left home in Canton on this trip

And we added the Nevada sticker to the map, Sprinty’s 36th state he has camped in since February 2017.  An interesting coincidence as Nevada was the 36th state added to the Union.

The weather forecast was for a high of about 50 degrees, with a wind advisory of winds 35-45mph, with gusts to 50-60mph.  We considered hunkering down, staying off the road, and staying at the Escapees Co-Op park  another night as it was really nice, but the forecast low temperature of 26 degrees motivated us to head out.  Fortunately, the winds were from the southwest, so Sprinty was not blown about too badly.

While doing a load of laundry late yesterday afternoon, several of the long-term folks at the Escapees Co-Op park offered a number of suggestions of things to do around Pahrump.  One they said was a “don’t miss” was the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area located about 15 miles west of Las Vegas.  

Wow, what an awesome place.  Over 200,000 acres with a couple dozen hiking trails ranging from easy to strenuous.  We stopped at the overlook to take a photo, which was especially challenging to do in 60mph gusts.  It was too windy to hold the camera still.

Here is a panoramic photo from the overlook:

We stopped at the Visitor Center to learn more about the area, and watched the video.  We learned more about the sights to see on the hikes.  The design of the Visitor Center included a wall of windows looking over the Calico Hills area:

While today just was not a pleasant day for hiking and enjoying the Conservation Area, we put it on our high priority to revisit when the weather is more cooperative.  We did drive the 13-mile one-way scenic loop drive which was beautiful.

Photo of Calico Hills:

As we went through Las Vegas to our next destination, we made a couple of stops to take advantage of things like Home Depot, Whole Foods and Barnes and Noble.

We thought about giving Sprinty the thrill of cruising down the Las Vegas strip, but decided not to.  We then headed north to Valley of Fire State Park bear Overton, NV and Lake Mead, another amazing area of red rocks.  First stop was to the campground to secure a place for a couple of nights.  Valley of Fire State Park does not do reservations - it is all first-come/first served.  The hookup sites were all taken, so we picked a nice site against the rocks.  The campground is surrounded by red rock formations, which also provided some wind protection in addition to stunning views.

Photo out the window:

Once we secured a campsite, we headed for the Visitor Center to gather information to plan our hikes and sightseeing.  As we left the Visitor Center, the rain that had been following us from Pahrump finally caught up with us.

Thanks to our Weboost cellular booster, we even get to enjoy cell service that is otherwise completely unusable without the booster.