Although hiking in Red Rock Canyon NCA is not ideal in the summer months, the hike to Calico Tanks is not too bad because the trail is on the west side of the mountain and shaded most of the morning.
The trail starts at the old sandstone quarry, where at the turn of the century large sandstone blocks were cut and shipped to Las Angeles and San Francisco for decorative building facades. The sandstone was of high quality, but production and shipping was expensive; thus, the company went out of business in 1906. The quarry was briefly reopened a few years later, but closed forever in 1912. Some of the large blocks are still randomly stacked around the area, waiting for shipment.
A short distance up the trail is an Agave roasting pit, which was a seasonal cooking pit used by the Southern Paiute, Mojave and possibly Anasazi cultural groups. Agave was an important food source to the Native Americans because it could be eaten soon after roasting or it could be pounded into sheets and dried for later use. It is said to taste much like steamed asparagus. A number of similar roasting pits can be found throughout Red Rock Canyon.
The trail to Calico Tanks winds up a beautiful canyon, which has many interesting rock formations that vary in color from gray to red. Although it is somewhat hard to follow the trail, and some rock scrambling is often required, if you just keep going up the canyon you will eventually arrive at Calico Tanks.
I have been to the Tanks many times, but this is the first time that I have ever been there when the Tanks were dry. Without water, some of the allure is missing, so I have attached some additional pictures that were taken on other trips at different times of the year.
Historic file pictures taken at various times of the year.
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