Red Rock Canyon NCA

 Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape System and protected as a National Conservation Area. And yes, the senior pass is accepted here. Also we learned that a senior pass allows you to recieve a 10% discount in the gift shop as well.

 First stop for us was the Visitor/Interpretive Center...the best we have ever seen. The center covers 1,600 square feet and has an outdoor exhibit area. The displays explain natural resources...


fire...



...air and...

...rocks...

...wind.



A one-way loop road, 13 miles long, provide vehicle access to many of the park features.

Several side roads and parking areas allow access to many of the trails located in the park.

The Red Rock area was located under a deep ocean basin 600 million years ago.

Sediments up to 9,000 feet were deposited and eventually formed into limestone.

A significant geologic feature is the Keystone Thrust Fault. About 65 million years ago, it is believed that two of the earth's crustal plates collided. The thrust contact is clearly defined by the sharp contrast between the grey limestones and the red sandstones.

The Conservation Area is a protected habitat for the Desert Tortoise.

This area is one of the easternmost parts of the Mojave Desert.

Wild burros are a famaliar sight as are rabbits and ground squirrels.

This area has been used as a Native American trade route, a passage for sheep herders, a stagecoach road, a railroad track, and a truck stop.

The beautiful cliffs have been used as a backdrop for many TV shows and films including Lassie, Bonanza, Wagon Train, and Lost in Space. Even though no dinosaur fossils have been found in or around the canyon, scenes from Jurassic Park were also filmed here.

Wildfires, especially those that occured in the loop road area, allows visitors to see the damage caused by these events as well as the ability of the desert to heal itself over time.

 This fire, caused by lightening, occured in 2006. This area is fenced off. This is all that has regrown in 61/2 years.

Can you see the rock climber in the picture above? I zoomed as much as I could...the park provides a wide variety of activities...most popular are hiking, biking, and rock climbing.

Red Rock Canyon NCA is a beautiful park. Thank you to Merikay (merika-merika.blogspot.com) who commented on an earlier post that she had enjoyed Red Rock Canyon. We did too!

 

Thanks for stopping by...we do appreciate you taking the time to share our adventure with us. Have a great week...ours sure has started off with a bang thanks to Steve and Joan (fosj-steve.blogspot.com).

Y'all come back soon!

Hoover Dam

No trip to Vegas is complete without seeing the Hoover Dam....just 30 miles southeast through Boulder City.

 The Bureau of Reclamation (nope, cant use your senior pass here) has conducted tours through the Hoover Dam and powerplant since 1937.

Today close to 1,000,000 visitors a year  take the tour.

As many as 20,000 vehicles drive across the dam between Navada and Arizona everyday.

The Hoover Dam can store up 2 years "average" flow from the Colorado River.  Lake Mead was made when the dam blocked the Colorado River and flooded the Mojave Desert. The surface area of Lake Mead is 146,000 acres. It is the largest reservoir in the USA.

Lake Mead has a maximum depth of 590 feet and is 115 miles long.

 Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall. At the base it is 660 feet thick or two football fields measured end to end. At the top it is 45 feet thick. There is enough concrete in the dam to build a 4 foot wide sidewalk around the Earth at the Equator.

Las Vegas gets almost all of its water from Lake Mead.

 Each of the 17 generators can supply electricity to 100,000 homes.

Each generator weighs 4 million pounds.

The Colorado River is 1,400 miles long and supplies water to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Phoenix.

The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge carries US Route 93 over the Colorado River. As early as the 60's, the route over the dam was identified to be dangerous and inadequate. The bridge was completed in 2010 and the bypass route was opened to vehicle traffic. It was the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the US and incorporates the widest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere.

 

 

 

There are 8 miles of tunnels through the canyon walls.

Every state in the USA furnished supplies and materials for the construction of the dam.

 

Thanks for dropping by today. We have lots of new followers this week. I can not believe we have passed 40! Looking forward to a picnic and hike (heading back to Valley of Fire...yeah!) on Sunday with Steve and Joan from fosj-steve.blogspot.com. They are volunteers in Lake Mead NRA....just down the road from us. More later...

 

 

Look what we found in Boulder City on the way home....ummmm hard decision....felt like a snickers blizard kind of day to me!

 

Y'all come back soon!