The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada is an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System, and protected as a National Conservation Area. It is about 15 miles (24 km) west of Las Vegas, and easily seen from the Las Vegas Strip. More than two million people visit this area every year.
The conservation area features a set of large red rock formations: a set of sandstone and a wall called Push Keystone. The wall is 3,000 feet (910 m) tall, making it a popular hiking and rock climbing destination. The highest point is La Madre Mountain, at 8,154 feet (2,485 m).
One-way ring road, 13 miles long (21 km), provides vehicle access to many features in the area. Several side streets and parking areas allow access to many roads in the area. The visitor center is at the beginning of the ring road. Road loops are also popular for bike tours; starting with a moderate climb, then mostly downhill or flat.
Red Rock Canyon is a canyon-side accessible only by primitive roads without escort from a beautiful loop that is mostly just off-road or high permission vehicles can access. State Route 159 cuts through an unnamed but frequently visited valley; it is generally, but erroneously, referred to as Red Rock Canyon. The Wilson Cliffs, or Keystone Thrust, a large stone wall, can be seen to the west of SR 159.
To the southern end of the National Conservation Area is the Spring Mountain State Park; Bonnie Springs, a replica of the western ghost town; and the village of Blue Diamond.
Video Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Histori Edit
Penduduk asli Amerika Edit
The first humans are attracted to the Red Stone area because of the water resources, plants, and animal life that can not be easily found in the surrounding deserts. Hunters and gatherers like the historic Southern Paiute and the much older Indian Archaic tribe, or Desert Culture Native Americans, have succeeded in occupying this area.
A total of six Native American cultures may have been present in Red Rock for thousands of years. The following chronology is an estimate, from now on to ancient pre-history:
- Southern Paiute - 900 to the modern era
- Patayan Culture - 900 to the beginning of the historic period in the 1800s
- Anasazi - 1 AD to 1150.
- Door/Gypsum- (Archaic) 3500 BC to 1 AD.
- San Dieguito - 7000 to 5500 BC.
- Paleo-Indian (Tule Springs) - 11.000 to 8000 BC.
Many petroglyphs, as well as fragments of pottery, remain today throughout the area. In addition, some roasting holes used by Native Americans in Red Rock provide further evidence of human activity in the past.
Modern history Edit
At the beginning of the 20th century, around the time the first European Americans settled in Las Vegas nearby, the Excelsior Company operated a small sandstone quarry near the northern area of ​​a beautiful circle. It proved to be uneconomical and closed. Proof of quarry existence includes several large sandstone blocks that have been abandoned.
The Red Rocks has been the location of films for films such as Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger at Bells of San Angelo (1947) and was the location for The Stalking Moon with Gregory Peck in 1968.
In 1967, the Land Management Bureau assigned 10,000 hectares (4,000 hectares) as Lands Red Rock Recreation. In 1990, a special law changed the status of the Red Rock Recreation Park into a National Conservation Area, a status that also provided funds to defend and protect it.
Howard Hughes Corporation, the developer of Summerlin, has diverted land adjacent to a protected area, to provide a buffer between development and conservation areas. On the west side, the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is adjacent to the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area.
Maps Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Biology Edit
The conservation area is one of the easternmost parts of the Mojave Desert; the lowest elevation of the area, from 3,600 to 4,500 feet (1,100 to 1,400 m), is in the Lower Sonoran Zone, while the area of ​​4,500 feet (1,400 m) above is in the Upper Sonoran Zone. Character layers of sandstone in such a way that a number of springs throughout the year can be found in the side slopes of the valley.
About 600 plant species are known in the area. Common types on the valley floor include Joshua tree, Mojave yucca, yucca banana, creosote, and blackbrush. Higher than Utah juniper and Sonoran scrub oak (also called live oak scrub) dominate. Agave is easily recognizable in red stone niches, with its thick foliage and flowering stalks that reach twice the height of humans. The footprint of Calico Tanks has a plaque about prehistoric agave roasting holes. The Ponderosa pin can be found at the top of the valley, where it connects to the Spring Mountains.
Wild burros are a common sight, such as rabbits and ground squirrels. Desert bighorn sheep is sometimes seen at higher altitudes. During rare rainy seasons and summer rainstorms, small red-marked frogs can be seen emerging from puddles.
Conservation Area is a protected habitat for desert tortoises. A habitat in the Visitor Center accommodates eight women and two men.
Climate Edit
Geology Edit
The Red Rock area has a complex geological history, which for millions of years, helps create a dramatic landscape in the region.
The Red Rock area was under the ocean basin in the Paleozoic Era 600 million years ago. Up to 9,000 feet of sedimentary rocks are deposited and eventually mined into limestone. During the Mesozoic Era 250 million years ago, the Earth's crust began to rise due to tectonic shifts, and sea chips and sandstones precipitated. When the basin becomes an isolated evaporite formation of salt and gypsum is deposited. The oxidation of iron minerals in the sediments produces the red color of some rocks. Deposition by rivers and in swamp environments resulted in the formation of petrified wood in the area.
In 180 million years ago, the climate continued to change and the area became a desert with a vast expanse of dunes shifted. These dunes accumulate over a large area, up to half a mile thick, and mined, cemented with calcium carbonate and iron oxide. They evolved as colorful Aztec Sandstone.
During a period of mountain development called Laramide orogeny about 66 million years ago, Keystone Thrust Fault was developed. Keystone is part of a series of thrust fault that extends to many parts of western North America and through the Red Stone Conservation Area. This fault movement forces the dark gray sedimentary rock over pink rocks, forming a diverse landscape of colors that can be seen on today's mountains. This drive is exposed at a distance of 13 miles along the steep cliffs of Red Rock.
Lee Canyon thrusters may contain more than 4,000 m (1,200 m) of terrigenous rock at the base. The Wheeler Pass thrust may contain at least 11,000 m (3,300 m) of these stones as well.
Activity Edit
Red Rock provides a wide range of activities, the most popular being hiking, biking, rock scrambling, and rock climbing. Horse riding and camping are also allowed on special lanes and in designated areas. Cars and motorbike clubs often do group drives through 13 mile scenic drives. Use of ATV is not allowed in the area.
Aside from the obvious dangers of climbing rock faces and cliffs, visitors are told that temperatures can routinely exceed 105Ã, Â ° F (41Ã, Â ° C) in the summer, so they should carry plenty of water. Visitors who hike inland with predetermined paths are advised to travel alone, and must notify others of their plans. Risks include the presence of poisonous venomous snakes and floods/lightning from lightning storms.
Rock climbing Edit
Although the Yosemite-sized walls offer a number of challenging paths, technical climbing activities were not recorded before 1968. The first modern route, rising in the early 1970s, is described in several books. The rocks are Aztec Sandstone, a fairly dense varieties with hard surface varnish. Many inclines involve climbing a single crack system that is hundreds of feet in length.
The Red Rock climb covers a wide range of lengths and difficulties. Long and easy routes have made this area a popular hiking camp, but the canyon also offers many difficult climbs as well. In recent decades, this vast appeal and the classical nature of many routes have made the area an international destination for rock climbers.
Popular sports climbing areas include Calico Hills and Sandstone Quarry. Red Rock has many traditional climbing areas, including single-pitch areas such as Brass Wall and Necromancer Wall, along with multi-pitch areas such as Eagle Wall, Aeolian Wall, Mescalito and Solar Slab. The free and large long-walled help routes are found in features like Rainbow Wall, first up for three days in 1973 by Joe Herbst and Larry Hamilton.
Hiking Edit
Wildfires occur in Red Rock. From the loop area, visitors can see the damage caused by this incident as well as the ability of the desert to heal itself over time.
Recent fires appear to be in part triggered by invasive thick growth, non-native red brome and fraudulent grass. They also compete with native plants in the area for resources. So far, the Bureau of Land Management has not yet developed a plan to control these weeds, as control methods such as the use of herbicides can harm and damage native plants.
Several significant forest fires have been burning in the NCA Red Rock Canyon in recent years, including:
- 1998 - Fires occur in the loop area. In 2003 regrowth made it difficult to find the burn area.
- June 25, 2005 - The Fire Goodsprings spent over 31,600 acres (12,800 ha), burning the southern area of ​​Red Rock NCA.
- July 22, 2005 - Lightning causes a fire of 800 acres (320Ã, ha) in the loop area.
- September 6, 2006 - But another fire started by lightning in a circle near the visitor center and burned about 1,500 hectares (610 hectares).
- July 2013 - Carpenter I shoots. Burned mainly in the NRA Spring Mountain, but penetrated in the northwest part of the conservation area. Can be easily seen from SR 157 Kyle Canyon Road. Caused by lightning at nearby Trout Canyon.
Gallery Edit
See also Edit
- Desert of La Madre Mountains
Note Edit
References Edit
- Urioste, Joanne, Red Rocks of Southern Nevada, American Alpine Club, 1984 ISBNÃ, 978-0-930410-17-9
- Clinesmith, Larry L. and Elsie L. Sellars, Red Rock Canyon Plants, Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association, 2001 ISBN 978-0-9707179-0-0
- Handren, Jerry, Red Rocks Climber II Guide , 2016 ISBN: 978-1-4951-8204-4
External links Edit
- Red Rock Canyon BLM Site
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- Flower RRCNCA by BLM
- Red Rock Canyon Interpretation Association
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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