![]() If you take some time and use your best route-finding skills, you’ll be able to follow carefully crafted stone steps all the way to the top. It probably didn’t help that I had told them about a particularly nice petroglyph “up there”.įrom this point on, the navigation of the hike can be a little tricky, but that’s a big part of the fun. If you were wearing the wrong shoes like me, this would be a pretty good spot to turn around, unless you were being encouraged by a couple of insatiable mid-westerners to “get to the tank”. The gravel path gives way to white sand, which eventually becomes red sand and finally leads to the deep red stones that serve as steps up to the tanks. This portion of the trail is well marked and incredibly beautiful with constantly changing colors and textures. After all, I didn’t want them to get lost! I did have plenty of water with me, so I thought it would be nice to lead them along the Calico Tank trail, which begins in the wash and heads east along a pine tree lined path directly into the heart of the Calico’s. I explained how the large bowl-shaped pit was similar to the natural Tinaja’s (water tanks) in the Calico Hills just one mile to the east… and up a little bit. This is a well preserved agave roasting pit used centuries ago by the Native Americans. Of course I had to show my new friends the “prehistoric kitchen”, which is just northwest of the quarry. The Sandstone Quarry offers a terrific interpretive opportunity for a long-winded desert rat like me. I discovered that this is really an excellent place to bring first time visitors because it’s easy to access, the scenery is gorgeous, the rocks are fun to climb and there is an abundance of horticultural, historical and cultural areas of interest. There are beautiful red and white sandstone mountains, scented green pines and hardy desert oak surrounding the quarry. From the parking lot we walked a short distance to the old sandstone quarry to see a big pile of 10-ton blocks that were quarried here in the early 1900’s. The old hike leader instinct fired up and I started telling them the whole story beginning with the ancient sand dunes and ending with the modern graffiti we were standing on. They were both teachers and keenly interested in everything Red Rock. Nope, I was just standing there in my old scruffy Reeboks and official BLM volunteer wear, inspecting some fresh graffiti near the Sandstone Quarry parking lot, when a nice couple visiting from the Twin Cities struck up a conversation. I really didn’t intend to hike to the Calico Tank on this particular day, so I wasn’t wearing my hundred-dollar, high-tech, waterproof, ankle-hugging hiking boots. ![]()
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