One Park, One Museum, One Stamp at a Time
Our big move to WashingtonThe summer of 2018 was to be a key period in my life thus far. I was getting married in July and we were moving from Los Angeles to Spokane, WA to started our new married lives. I had accepted a job at a middle school in the Spokane area and my future wife was eager to go back to school full-time. We figured we might as well get all of our major life changes out of the way in one fell swoop. The day I wrapped up school for the year, we packed a trailer and hauled all of our possessions up to WA before heading to my cousin's wedding and visiting San Francisco. We had a few loose ends to take care of in LA and then we were set to drive my wife's car up north and start our new lives. This gave me the opportunity to plan a 1,500 mile road trip designed specifically to see amazing new sites and fill up my National Parks Passport. We were going to drive from LA to Las Vegas, head north to Great Basin NP and then through Idaho and Montana before arriving in our new home in WA. I will break down the trip based on the stops we made each day. Red Rock Canyon NCALiving in LA, we made it out to Vegas on a fairly regular basis for weekend getaways, to visit my family in the area, or to catch an event. We have ventured all over Las Vegas but had never made it out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. We stayed 2 nights at the Aria on the Strip and planned one of our two days in town around the valley's natural areas. We got up early and drove out to Red Rock where we put our new America the Beautiful Pass to work for the first time. Red Rock is run through the Bureau of Land Management but is connected to the NPS service through the Old Spanish NHT. Red Rock has a beautiful visitor center just inside the entrance station that has some indoor panoramic viewing areas, in case the desert heat is too much to go out and explore. The main area of Red Rock Canyon is based on a one-way 13-mile scenic driving route that winds throughout the park. The scenic drive has a number of parking lots and trail-heads that allow for you to get out and see the landscape up close. We arrived early enough that we could go on one good hike before the summer heat became too much to handle. We chose the Calico Tanks trail as it was supposed to be moderately strenuous while having a taste of all the different elements that make Red Rock Canyon special. We climbed over smooth red rocks, up stone staircases, and past large agave plants. We also made a stop at the brief Petroglyph Wall trail. This cliff-side features great examples of Native American wall art and dates back as much as 800 years. The Petroglyph Wall is a short walk from a parking lot near a picnic area and is well worth the brief stop. Red Rock Canyon was an awesome place for a morning hike and we would love to make it back here some day to try out some of the other trails. I love the desert and its harsh landscape and Red Rock is an awe-inspiring place for desert scenery. From Red Rock Canyon, we made a large driving loop around Las Vegas to make a quick drive by Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. My research indicated that these areas are not well developed and we were not ready to go off-roading through the desert in a Honda Civic so we just made a short pass. I made a stop at the Southern Nevada District Office for the BLM to pick up their stamps and get some information about points of interest north of Las Vegas. The woman at the entrance desk was friendly and helpful. We then headed to Walmart to stock up for the rest of our road trip which would feature far more campsites than it would luxury resorts. After a fun morning taking in Las Vegas' natural side, we ventured back toward the Strip and the man made wonders for which Vegas is better known. New Units Visited: 1
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Total Affiliated Areas This Year: 9 Total Units: 23
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