South Oak Creek Trail, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV

Hiked Saturday, March 7. Approximately five miles, out and back. Wrapped up my last weekend of hiking in Las Vegas with a late afternoon visit to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

My initial goal was to try for a post-sunset shot of Orion and the winter Milky Way over the red rocks. I had done this last year, and hoped to try again, this year. However, the moon phase made this a little iffy, and the clouds made it impossible.

Nonetheless, I intended to do some walking out there.

Except for the clouds, the weather was perfect for hiking. I think, because of that, the crowds flocked to Red Rock, which led to a road closure of the scenic drive by late afternoon. At least, that was my guess. In any event the entrance to the scenic loop was closed when I got there. So I drove on along NV-159, past the entrance and exit to the scenic drive. Wound up parking at the second trailhead past the scenic loop exit.

Oak Creek Trail has three access points. The first is from the end of a spur dirt road that leaves the scenic loop, just before it returns to NV-159.

The second access point, called "Middle Oak Creek Trailhead," is the first major parking area on NV-159, past the scenic loop.

The third access point is a bit further along NV-159, and is called "South Oak Creek Trailhead."

All three of these trails potentially intersect, although the Middle and South Oak Creek trails obviously have longer distances to get to a more southerly location; it takes quite a bit longer to get to actual Oak Creek from the latter starts. Both also more head towards the base of Mount Wilson, before heading towards Oak Creek and Rainbow Mountain.

Formally, the South Oak Creek trail is supposed to go up to, then around, a knoll (Potato Knoll), befoe returning to NV-159. Before doing the loop, I first walked a bit up the actual canyon, walked as far as I was comfrotable, then turned around. Saw some water in the creek bed.

There are numerous use trails through the area, so figuring out if I was on the right one or not was not obvious. But I got a chance to enjoy the outdoors, either way.

The sun was rapidly disappearing as I made my way back to my car. Nice side-lighting as the setting sun dropped beneath the cloud layer. I took a last few pictures, then hurried along to my car. Thus ended my last hike in the Las Vegas area in the last two months.

Because of the whole "safer at home" thing, as well as numerous trail closures in my usual stompinggrounds, I haven't gone off on any hiking adventures in quite a while, since then.