Not many people understand the geologic wonder and beauty of a place so close to Las Vegas! Red Rock Canyon is literally only a few minutes outside of town. The area offers everything from touring, hiking, climbing, and sightseeing. The geology is significant and impressive.

The first thing to do is to take the 13-Mile Loop Drive. At $6.00, it is a bargain. There are many views and overlooks along the way. There are two Calico Vista Points that give you a complete panoramic view of the rich, red sandstone that gives the canyon its name. The Sandstone quarry is also a very interesting location, where Aztec sandstone was literally cut out. You can still see rectangular blocks and cut-outs.

Picnic sites are available at Red Spring and Willow Spring. Additional pullouts, offering views of wooded canyons and desert washes, are located at Icebox Canyon, Pine Creek Canyon and Red Rock Wash.

Several short hikes offering a diversity of environments and scenery are accessible from the loop drive. A short trail to the bottom of the canyon at the second Calico Vista leads down to the Aztec sandstone and, after seasonal rains, to small pools of water. There is easier hiking at Sandstone Quarry where many small canyons await exploration. The Calico Hills are riddled with natural water catchments called potholes or tinajas (tee-nah-haz). After rains these natural water tanks fill up with water and may be home to small insects, insect larvae and fairy shrimp.

A spring that flows year-round and a seasonally cascading waterfall await the visitor after a short, 0.3-mile hike to Lost Creek.

Icebox Canyon has a maintained trail which leads in for .8 mile; the end of Icebox Canyon is reached in another half mile by "boulder hopping" in the canyon bottom.

One of the most popular hiking trails is into Pine Creek Canyon. A two-mile round trip hike leads to the ruins of a historic homestead near a running creek, surrounded by large ponderosa pine trees and other water-loving vegetation.