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The closest concentration of classic Southwestern canyon scenery to Las Vegas lies a mere twenty miles west of the city centre. The sheer 3000ft escarpment that towers above Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is clearly visible from hotel windows along the Strip, with every fiery detail picked out each morning by the rising sun. What you can’t see until you enter the park, however, is that there’s a cactus-strewn desert basin set deep into those mighty walls, surrounded by stark red clifs that are pierced repeatedly by narrow canyons acces-sible only on foot.

Run by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, Red Rock Canyon covers almost 200,000 acres of wilderness. Like other such BLM areas, it’s less groomed for tourists than a national park or monument. Thus while it includes over thirty miles of hiking trails, they’re not as well signed or maintained as you might expect, and it’s all too easy for novice walkers to get lost.

To reach the canyon, just keep going west on Charleston Boulevard, from the extreme north of the Strip. The pink leaves of the trees lining the road perfectly complement the pink strata of rocks on the mountains straight ahead, though this vista has been somewhat marred by the construction of the Summerlin  residential and resort development at the west end of Charleston. This only opened in 1999, but has swiftly mushroomed to become a fully fledged suburb of the city. - SOURCE: Rough Guide

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