Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive

Good to know before you go

• The Las Vegas Valley

  Fill the tank and fill your water bottles here in Summerlin. There is no fuel and no store on the loop, and the desert takes water out of you faster than it feels like it should.

• Summerlin

  If you are going to want a picnic later, buy it here. Spring Mountain Ranch has lawns and shade at the far end of the drive and nothing at all to buy.

• Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center

  A large paved lot wraps the visitor center, with accessible spaces close to the doors. It fills on winter weekends by mid-morning, and the overflow rows are a long walk in full sun.

• The Calico Hills

  Two small pull-offs, Calico Vista One and Two, both signed and both short. If the first is full, take the second — the view differs by about a hundred metres of frontage.

• Sandstone Quarry

  A big gravel lot, one of the largest on the loop, and still the first to fill on a cool Saturday. Vault toilets at the far end.

• The Keystone Thrust

  The White Rock and Willow Springs pull-offs along this stretch are the practical places to stop and study the contact line. All are short gravel bays off a one-way road.

• High Point Overlook

  A wide paved pull-off with room to turn a large vehicle, and the best sightlines on the loop for the least effort. Accessible from the car without walking.

• Willow Springs

  A short spur road leaves the loop for the picnic area and the parking is limited and shaded, which makes it the most contested lot on the drive at lunchtime.

• Ice Box Canyon

  A modest pull-off with vault toilets, and one that overflows onto the shoulder on cool weekends. The trailhead is at the far end of the lot.

• Pine Creek Canyon

  A large lot set back from the loop road with vault toilets, and the last substantial trailhead before the drive drops back down to the highway.

• The Wilson Cliffs

  The Red Rock Overlook pull-off on this last descent is paved, level and easy to enter, and it lines the cliffs up better than anywhere on the highway below.

• Spring Mountain Ranch State Park

  A paved lot by the ranch house with accessible spaces and shade at the edges. Easy turning room for anything you are likely to have rented.

• Bonnie Springs

  If you want the closest thing that still exists to what Bonnie Springs was, it is back at Spring Mountain Ranch — same springs, same cliffs, still open to the public.

• Blue Diamond

  Park on the street by the mercantile. It is a residential village, so use the marked spaces and keep driveways clear.