Red Rock Canyon

The children and I celebrated the first day of Spring Break with a scavenger hunt in Red Rock Canyon hosted at the visitors center. They had to find all the bronze statues of animals hidden in the Discovery Area. Boring, right? Not really... they hid many of them and Ethan was so loud when he found one you would think we had won the lottery! The kids each earned a pin to wear, then we headed out for a fun hike to find Pine Canyon Creek. (Yes, there is water in the desert!) About 200 ft in, we found a shady spot to rest under some pines where the sand meets the water. Emma was busy mixing sand and water to make primitive sand castles while the boys counted innumerous frog eggs and caught frogs in the shallow pond. I enjoyed the peace and quiet of watching them create and explore independently. It was only 80 degrees and lovely.

We ran into quite a bit of wildlife, this time not bronzed:

A Ladybug that was kind enough to crawl across all our hands without flying away

A Wild Burro that met us on the trail and kindly moved off so we could pass

The few Chorus Frogs Matthew wanted to, but didn't, take home

An evasive Painted Lady Butterfly that stayed by for only a moment

A teasing Side Blotched Lizard that hid when the boys tried to catch it, then came out to show us he was still there

A huge Tarantula...

A Scorpion almost as big as the Tarantula...

(Thankfully, the last 2 were behind glass at the visitor's center! Eesh. )

The funniest part of the day was on the return from the hike. Matthew was leading the group. I stopped to pick up Emma and turned when I heard Matthew scream at the top of his lungs. A big dog had come around the corner on the trail and stopped in front of Matthew, who is terrified of dogs. The dog looked curious and kind, and wasn't growling. The dog stared for a minute, then turned around and ran away from us. I laughed off our shock and told Matthew he probably scared the dog more than the dog scared him! Minutes later, we met the owner who had a good laugh with us about the whole thing.

Next time you visit us in Spring, Fall, or Winter we would love to take you into Red Rock Canyon!