Red Rock Canyon State Park

Red Rock Canyon State Park (California) is just 30 minutes north of the town of Mojave on the 14.  Probably every Southern Californian who has gone skiing at Mammoth has driven through the park, but few bother stopping.  The visitor’s center is pretty good (by California state park standards), containing some nice displays, books and the usual array of t-shirts and hats.  Ricardo campground has ample spots for tents and campers, but finding a level spot for a tent is challenging among the sites close to the cliff.  We hit perfect weather on Veteran’s Day weekend, but the presence of sand dunes along the highway indicates that wind may be the rule and calm weather is the exception.  At night, since the campground is within eyesight of the highway, the sound of truck engine brakes can be annoying.

Hiking

Hagen Canyon – near the park entrance, a parking area and marked trail head to the northwest into Hagen Canyon.  The trail is very easy and the loop totals only about one mile of walking.  Of course, the best way to hike in the desert is to head off up a wash and explore.

Whistling Ridge (South of Campground) – we took a night hike with headlamps up this well-used trail under a full moon.  Upon reaching the ridge, turn left and take the short but steep trail up the lava outcrop to the summit of the nearby peak overlooking the highway and the desert to the south.

Nightmare Gulch – A somewhat maintained dirt road accesses the Nightmare Gulch loop trail.  The ranger recommended high clearance vehicles only, but we had no difficulty in the Subaru.  A gate marks the “trailhead” – really no more than just an arroyo after the first quarter mile or so.  A couple of sign arrows will point you up the correct channel.  The wash wanders through a sometimes narrow canyon cut through the Dove Spring Formation, a lower member of the same formation that forms the cliff behind the campground.

We did not finish the entire loop, just went up about 3.5 miles, ate lunch.  A nice trail description, including a GPS map of the full loop is by Lady on a Rock.

On Sunday, we took a four-wheel drive route to near the area marked Opal Mountain on the park brochure.  Opals are found in the basalt lava outcroppings.  Collecting is prohibited, and as it turns out, we were in the completely wrong area anyway.  We stopped on the the Red Bluff ridge, where chert and flint outcrops are abundant. The north part of the ridge is outside the park, so we brought back a few pieces of chert to try tumbling.