Red Rock Canyon State Park (CA)

[Bluegreen kayak]

It seems like every western state has a "Red Rock" park of some variety. This would be the one on Highway 14 in Kern County, close to my son's place in Ridgecrest. We spent part of a March day there and enjoyed it immensely. We took the Desert View Nature trail, which started at the end of the campground and quickly split into three choices. Since son likes to go up, we took the one heading to the hilltop.





Below is the multi-colored view from the top of the hill. It includes some areas that were closed due to the raptor nesting season, but what a feast for the eyes!


Coming down the other side, my son decided to explore some tilted rock outcroppings. He's much braver than I am.



What a glorious prospect we had - after a steep descent, the trail faded out and the valley opened up. We could go anywhere.




First we ventured down a wash between some curious dark rocks, ending in a steep dry fall. Again, my son is more comfortable with risky places than I am.






Then we wandered up more sandy draws and hilltops. We came across these odd round rocks, first a few individual ones and then this big group. I have no idea what they are.  They're very hard; we were unable to break one open. Any thoughts?




Eventually we reached the bottom wash, which had such an Egyptian feel to it - my son compared it to the Valley of Kings (which we've only seen in grade school textbooks, unlike some of our more adventurous travelers).




We wandered into this baby slot canyon which led up to a high ridge that would take us back to the trailhead.




The final part of the ascent took a lot of will power to get me through it. It turns out that I can manage a steep drop off and a narrow trail, but if the trail slants down into the abyss instead of being level, every cell in my brain is opposed to going forward.  We made it anyway; looking down, I caught these mud drips that looked like statues, maybe the twelve apostles?




Finally we were over the ridge (next time we're walking around it) and on our way back to son's car.




Sigh - the more places I go, the longer my list of things to do becomes. This is another one I hope to hike again.

[netllama]

Wow. I've driven past there so many times (usually enroute to Death Valley), but never spent any time. Clearly, I've missed out on some amazing scenery.

[MojaveGeek]

Yes, I've gone by the area and wondered.... Thanks for showing us what's in there!

[Daymoth]

Oh yes its a great stop place! We spent half a day in 2019 exploring the trails. There are cool rocks on both sides of the road. Totally recommended