Red Rock Canyon State Park

Great place for hikers and dirt bike peeps which I am either but nice place to take pics and have a picnic just don’t go in the summer for it is HOT! best time to go is the winter months but take a jacket for it does get cold. There’s ONE store in a 20 mile radius so take food with you before you go.

Red rock canyon is truly a beautiful place to visit. It is a photographers dream if you hike to the right places to get the perfect pictures. I know they also have camping, but the only thing the wife and I have done is hike the trails. The trails themselves vary from easy to hard. Some lead to some really nice picture perfect locations and others just take you around and keep you close to the entrance. Also there is parking available and it is right off highway 14.

I’ve got a feeling that the next time I come up to Red Rock Canyon State Park I will need to upgrade my rating. Reason why I am only giving 4 stars is because the woman at the Visitors Center would not help us. Admittedly, we were early. The visitors center was not open yet. She could have been nice and helpful. Instead she acted like we were a bother to her.
Anyways, we decided to take a short drive around the road close by. It made a short loop around a small section of the park. What we saw made me a fan. We stopped several times to take pictures of the scenery and take selfies.
Beautiful area! I look forward to returning so we may explore the park more thoroughly. I believe there are supposed to be some good trails for hiking!

Although we only stopped for a short site-​seeing, this area is gorgeous!

I’ve seen this mini Grand Canyon-​looking place going to and from Mammoth for forEVAH but it wasn’t until very recently that I actually decided to stop and take a look. After you turn off the hwy you go down this longish road that leads to the visitor center where you can take a nice potty break. They have exhibits describing the history and ecology of the area and there is a small campground a little off from there. Since this was just a brief visit my friends and I drove back out and parked in a little turnout and walked around the rock formation closer to the hwy. They’re really cool; the wind and water erosion make them almost look like man-​made structures in parts. I’d definitely love to come back and check out some of the hiking trails in the area and maybe camp there too! Probably will get very hot during the summer.
STEPH JUDGEMENT: Awesome rock formations, right off Hwy 14!

I’ve passed this scenic area on several trips in the past or when headed out for a long drive. But had never pulled off the highway and dropped in. I’ve always admired the sheer beauty of the rocks while driving through. This time I made it a point to stop on our return drive back home. Even more beauty. We visited the visitors center as a rest stop, and picked up a magnet. We did no hiking to explore further, since we were both very tired from the previous two days exploring Death Valley and Owens Valley along with all the driving. One tip though; beware of the outhouse/​bathrooms. The stench could literally cause you to pass out. Whew!!! And make sure you carry some hand sanitizer in your vehicle, because there is nowhere to wash your hands. Fortunately we keep a large bottle with us.

I came on a spring weekday and was the only hiker there! Surreal yet a little eerie to have an entire trail to yourself.
The main sights on the Hagen Trail are Camel Rock and the Window Rock, is addition to the high rock sides and formations the entire park is known for. I was blown away by the views!
The Hagen Trail is more of a nature walk, so it’s suitable for everyone, but you WILL be tempted to venture off the path to climb the rocks, in which case it can get more difficult depending on how high you go.
It’s a 2 mile loop with tons of wildflowers, birds, lizards, and joshua trees and GREAT for photography!

This is a nice campground. We have never stayed there yet, but will be doing so in March.
Does any know if there is offroad vehicle access to Jawbone Canyon from Red Rock?

Pretty cool place, services are limited so plan ahead. Very cool location for photographers. I enjoyed going off road and exploring with nobody else in sight.

A meditative uphill hike from the trailhead /​parking area to Calabasas Peak, with decent views. The trail is comfortably wide.

My review will be a little ranty.
I paid my $ 6 to get in. I don’t argue about the cost for a park, only what I get for it.
The visitors center was closed. THis is about 66% of why I went there. There was no obvious notice on the website about the visitor center being closed.
I looked at their website after returning «home». Over on the right side bar is a little thing that says the visitor center is closed for the winter. The sign on the visitor center door says it will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now, which do I believe?
Also checked to see how much an annual pass is for day use only for CA State PArks, and it’s $ 195. HUGE fail there, CA. The National Parks Passport doesn’t even cost half of that, and gives way more bang for the buck.
I saw a park employee driving through a campground. I tried to catch up to them (going way over the posted speed limit through there, tsk tsk state employees, violating your own rules) but he almost seemed to run away from me. Couldn’t even give me a chance to find out if they had any helpful info or not.
California is a nice place to visit, but I’m glad I don’t live here any longer.

Beautiful secluded wonderland less than 2 hours north of LA. There are campsites available for a fee, but just driving through is plenty scenic for a nice day trip. I took my dog and had a great time exploring the desert trail that offered high views of the surrounding mountains. Go, now!

Highly recommend if you like beautiful scenery and hiking!
We arrived here late at night, and were stunned when we woke up to see how beautiful it was. Left a lasting impression! Lots of hiking opportunities basically IN the grounds, nice bought bathrooms, and spacious sites.
It did rain the day before we arrived and looked like some sites were mildly washes out.

RIDGECREST, CA is a small city with a population of about 28,000. To the southwest is Red Rock Canyon State Park, located nearby on Route 14, and to the northeast is Trona Pinnacles, located nearby on Route 178. Red Rock Canyon has more things to see, and the astonishing «gothic cathedral» geologic formations can be found at the west edge of Route 14 and also at the east edge of Route 14.
COMPARISON WITH DEATH VALLEY. Death Valley National Park also has similar «gothic cathedral» geologic formations, and these are located at the end of Golden Canyon Trail, and this geological formation is called, «Red Cathedral.» But the gothic cathedral formations at Red Rock Canyon are much, much, much, much better. During my three years in southern California, I made 6 trips to Death Valley, and soon found that the only interesting things (to me) were Mesquite Dunes and Badwater. Thus, Death Valley Nat’l. Park is greatly over-​rated, and Red Rock Canyon State Park is under-​appreciated.
THE WEST SIDE OF ROUTE 14. Anyway, the pay gate provides access to the camping area, and to the little nature trail. But in the pay area, you will not find any of the glorious gothic cathedrals. To see the gothic cathedrals, you just park (for free) just inside of the west entrance, and you can walk to the north for 20 minutes, or walk to the south for an hour or so, and to the north are many world-​class glorious things to see, and to the south where there is a broad plain, or perhaps a shallow valley, there are many glorious things.
THE EAST SIDE OF ROUTE 14. Now, across Route 14 is a large parking area, which is totally free. Thee is a trail that leads you towards the east and away from the highway, but the interesting stone formation become fewer and fewer. And so, what I very highly recommend, is parking in the large free area, and walking north just to the edge of Route 14, and after a ten or 15 minute walk, you will reach a huge clearing, and at the far north border of this huge flat clearing are many glorious gothic cathedrals, plus some Joshua trees suitable for jazzing up your photos. If you leave the huge clearing, and return to the edge of the road, and then walk north for a few minutes more, there is a well-​marked path where you can climb to a higher elevation, and walk along the entire rim of cliffs that skirts the wide open area. There are some interesting pink colored stone formations up here, and some rabbits, but nothing unusual to photograph. Also, if you take the well-​marked path, you will find a fork in the path, where one prong takes you to up a small hill directly to the east (which I took), and the scenery gets bleaker and bleaker and less photogenic, and so after 30 minutes I gave up and turned back.

We only stayed here for one night on our way to another campground up north but it was amazing. The canyons and rocks are beautiful. We were here in the middle of October and it was pretty warm and very little shade so I can only imagine how hot is during the summer months. I think we will definitely stay here again and would recommend it!
I would suggest bringing fire wood… There’s none for sale near by.

Definitely worth a visit. I was jealous of the people with the four wheelers or the dune bugs, if I lived here, I would definitely have one, it’s the perfect terrain for exploring but walking can stretch for miles and miles of similar of terrain. The red rocks are fun to climb, and they wind into small caves and crevices. This would be a good spot to camp, but it isn’t well manned, meaning there weren’t a lot of people watching the park and none of the facilities were open or available, could have been that it was over the holiday, but it made you feel kind of weird about hiking too far from your parked car. Good part of this is that it felt like you were exploring nature, but very much on your own.
If you have an RV they have a lot of stations and each one is arranged in front of a rock campground with great views.

Such a wondrous place and so accessible to anyone. Whether go for a hike, trail run or hanging out, it’s for everyone. Park Services do a great job keeping the restrooms clean. I wish visitors take as great care with their trash. I picked up trash along the trail including broken glass. And worst offenses were the cigarette butts, especially right next to the damn trash can!

WOW I’ve never seen anything like this before! These red rocks were the walls of a lake 10,000 and have since turned red form the rusted iron. You can see the shells embedded in the rocks when you get up close.
Everything is obviously really sandy bc it use to be the bottom of a lake! It’s about two hours outside of la and two hours from mammoth. I wasn’t planning to make this a destination until I saw it from the freeway and really wanted to check it out. So glad I did. It was a surreal experience. I almost felt like I was on another planet. Lots of ravens and Hawks circling around, and we saw a bunch of gila monsters!
We didn’t take the hike but mostly explored the rocks before we headed back to la. Such a good pit stop and great excuse to stretch your legs
I really want to go back and check out the window cave.

Had an incredible experience.
Memorial day weekend; went down to LA for some chill time. Hung out with some friends when we landed on the idea at around 12am of just GTFO of LA and going camping.
We pop out and head on up to Red Rock unsure if we’ll get a spot (it’s first come first serve). We stop at WalMart on the way for supplies. It’s getting cold; I guess it gets cold in the desert.
We’re the assholes who arrive at 4am to Red Rock; set up our tents in pitch black. We found a great spot next to some RV’s so they likely weren’t disturbed. And fuck em anyway running their damn AC on their RV in the middle of the desert. Whatever I’m a purist.
We get a small fire going because fuck it mine as well watch the sunrise.
Nice orangeblue gradient coming up over the ridge in the distance. Tryna think what Kawaiisu thought of this place in the morning.
Eileen came out of nowhere to extoll the virtues of the Lord. She’s from the Seventh Seal of Venice or some such shit from a neighboring prison town in the Tehachapi Mountains. Gave me some pamphlet on the fall of civilization. I’m getting all interested cause I know Joshua Trees (peppered all over Red Rock) are supposed near the gates of hell BOOYAH.
The red comes from the iron in the rocks rusting. There’s desert turtles; the only one we came across was at the visitor’s center.
We were invited to a star party. We sat through a film at the Visitor Center about Saturn and it’s rings (had to get prepped for the star party ya dig). Dave was there with his telescope from the 70’s; it was a massive telescope. I think we would’ve stayed and watch Saturn rise and Venus poke it’s head out but it was too damn windy; the telescope was too shaky, Venus looked like a blurry white dot. Honestly though I was lil let down that Venus was just a tiny white dot. I was expected to see some gas clouds swirling or maybe the blackness of space as a backdrop.
We car camped and just climbed up behind the campsite. There was a trail leading up to the ridge and down over. We took that and just kind of went off trail. We hiked down a stupidly steep black rock ridge into a dried river bed. Careful now, a rock came loose and hit our friend in the back; apparently it bruised so now he has something to brag about. We were fine but maybe it was stupid. Just be careful.
There were some white lizards running about. The black rock started becoming more frequent. I’m no geologist (and I hadn’t visited the Visitor Center yet which explains everything) but hot damn did I call it; I knew the rock looked like dry lava. Gives ya some perspective.
Usually I have such a hard time envisioning how the tectonic plates crash into each other rise up from out of the Earth but I finally saw it at Red Rock. The lines slope upwards towards the sky at like a 40 degree angle; errythang we walking in is eroded plates. The wind and water doing their job all day errday 24÷7÷365. I unno I thought that was cool.
Some of the eroded sandstone looks like some ancient failed civilization; melted by the sun of a thousand days, bro. But really some of the rock formations look like facades of ancient churches or some shit. Take a second and see some shit; don’t just drink water and walk on; take some pics.
Pack plenty of water and some snacks. We emptied a coke bottle and filled it with water (in addition to some platypuses and water bottles) just to be extra careful. Snacks for when you gonna take a break to talk about life and war and politics and shit while sitting in the shade of a sandstone red rock formation like we did.
We thought for sure we’d have to hitchhike back but we just ended up walking the road back around to the campsite so it all worked out.
Go check out the visitor center. They have diagrams explaining the history of the area, the geology, all the films shot in the area (Planet of the Apes hey that’s cool). Indian tribe named Kawaiisu. Rhinos use to be in the area. Gosh so darn interesting.
Go with friends.

AMAZING! I want to give this less stars so it remains a hidden little treasure, but I will speak the truth.
This is about a 2 hour drive from LA through the middle of nowhere. Once you get to the park the scenery changes into unique rocky cliffs full of texture and color. Great for rock scrambling, photographing, or just gazing at it in wonder.
I highly recommend camping as it’s a great way to experience the park at night. Beautiful stars and eerie cliffs lit by campfires. Camping is $ 25, first come first serve. Firewood is $ 7 and available at the visitor center. I got there around 2pm and there were about 6 – 7 spots left. I imagine it would get crazy on long holiday weekends.
Oh and my favorite thing about this place… they allow dogs!