CALICO LOOP
3.16 Miles | 35 minutes 35 seconds | +/-1,083 ft elevation
Overview: I moved to Las Vegas in late 2002 and immediately became enamored with Red Rock Canyon. Every free minute I had was spent exploring the labyrinth of sandstone walls and scrambling to the top of each ridgeline that crossed the sky. Almost every trip started at Red Springs, at the time, a relatively unknown part of the park where fewer people visited. After a few trips to the area, I pieced together a route that circumnavigated Calico Mountain and began running it on a regular basis to see what kind of time I could post. My first few forays at the route were all around the one hour timeframe, but after rehearsing each section, I found a rhythm to the course that eventually led to my best attempt back in mid-September 2003. In the years that followed, I made several more attempts at breaking that time, but I never came close to beating my time of 35:35 again.
September 25, 2003 | Red Rock Canyon NCA, NV
CHALLENGE MAP
CHALLENGE INSIGHT
Overview: As a kid who had just spent the last two decades buried in a sea of trees on the east coast, the openness and the friendliness of the sandstone made Red Rock Canyon feel like a giant playground. It was a place that I immersed myself in every chance I could and this particular run ended-up becoming a monthly ritual for me over the course of 2003.
The Approach: Back in ‘03, the Red Springs Picnic Area was little more than a dirt parking lot, which really helped keep the crowds down. Time started once I stepped onto the trail heading up towards Cannibal Crag. This section is a steady slog filled with loose sections of trail that required a steady output of energy to keep any type of upward momentum.
Stairmaster: A slight downhill section out of Cannibal Crag provided a much needed speed boost as I hopped over the creek and began the climb to the top of Stairmaster. This is my favorite section of the run and although the name would imply stairs, its actually a choose your own adventure through a labyrinth of boulders and brush straight up the gulley.
Summit: The top is marked by this Juniper and in order to make an attempt at my personal best, I needed to be here in under 9-minutes, which is borderline masochistic. From the top, its another roulette of options to choose from, but my best attempts involved hugging the wall on the left and skirting the ledge for a few meters before down climbing back into the wash.
Descent: There are a lot of places to make costly mistakes on the down climb as it’s easy to get off course and get trapped in a dead end. Eventually I made a mental map of different rock features to help aid in the navigation process, but I doubt I ever went the exact same way twice in all my attempts.
Guardian Angel: Eventually the canyon narrows to a pass that features a huge boulder and an intricate carving of a Guarding Angel. A quick glance at the watch and anything over 12-minutes would spell disaster for beating my personal best. There is just too much ground to cover from here on out.
Black Pools: This section is a bit tricky and requires a drop in speed in order to navigate the series of pools that fill this section of the canyon. Depending on the time of year, the sides of the pool would get super slick, making it slow going for a few seconds.
Tourist Junction: Once you exit the canyon its on to the Calico Hills Trail network which is where I would start to drop the hammer through the long stretches of groomed trail. An intersection with the Calico Hills I parking pull off offers another gauge of time and anything over 23-minutes means I’d either shut it down and enjoy the scenery or pick-up the pace.
Tourist Wash Deviation: To avoid the people in this section, I would inevitably deviate from the trail and navigate the wash at the base of Calico Hills. There were a few tricky sections and down climbs that need to be navigated, but after a few attempts this proved to be the best and fastest option.
Lower Calico Wash: The wash eventually converged with the trail again and this is where the soul searching began. In order to beat my time, this is where I would need to shave precious seconds and began a constant increase of speed before hitting the seemingly vertical section of trail around Modern Mecca.
Modern Mecca Hill: At this point its kill or be killed. This hill always feels straight up and required an all out blitz of speed to prevent loosing momentum and walking. I tried to never look at my watch, but I would inevitably take a glance once I crested the hill. From here on out it was an all out assault on the downhill which looking back, was probably a bit reckless.
Red Spring Picnic Area: This final stretch is usually an out-of-control, all-out, arms-flailing, legs-flying down hill bomb for the ages. The trail is really just a reclaimed 4x4 scar filled with calving chunks of rock and loose gravel. Once I hit the parking lot the clock stops and I’m either elated or frustrated. Either way, I have loved every freaking minute of it and sometimes, I would even run it all over again. Just for fun.
No Pants, No Problem: From Lake Las Vegas to Red Rock Canyon was a solid 45-minute drive. So, when I arrived for a run one night straight from work, and realized I had forgotten to pack my shorts, I couldn’t just turn around and go back home. So I decided to just use what I had and ended up turning my shirt into my shorts, which ended-up looking like a giant diaper. Although I didn’t set any records, I still put up a pretty decent time.
