OFF VEGAS' BEATEN PATH; RED ROCK CANYON IS JUST A FEW MILES AWAY -- YET WORLDS APART.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

It gleams brilliantly in red, causing all who encounter it to stare, as if mesmerized by an open flame.

No, this is not some neon monstrosity, promising ``shrimp cocktail, $1.99'' in front of a casino on the Las Vegas strip.

Rather, the setting sun provides the wattage, a freak of geology the dramatic blaze of color.

Red Rock Canyon, while only a few miles away from the man-made gorge of electric light that is Las Vegas Boulevard, offers a stark contrast to the frenetic rhythms of the strip - and an alternative to Nevada visitors who don't get a surge of adrenaline pondering laws of probability.

The canyon, a national conservation area administered by the Bureau of Land Management, teems with desert history and crawls with current-day escapists.

It lies directly west of the city, in a crook of the Spring Mountains, which were aptly named. More than 40 springs and catch basins gurgle forth in this 197,000-acre desert oasis. Not surprisingly, long before modern dams and aqueducts, life clung resolutely to these hills: American Indians more than 1,000 years ago, then Spanish adventurers in search of gold, operators of a stagecoach route in the 1800s, later wealthy ranch recluses such as Howard Hughes.

Today, it has been claimed by those in search of back-country recreation or simple reflection. During a three-day visit in mid-January, I encountered walkers, joggers, bicyclists, rock-climbers, hikers and horseback riders. I found families spreading out picnic lunches atop great sandstone boulders and couples - perhaps as an antidote to the scrupulous climate control of the casinos - sunning themselves on rocks like lizards.

Some of the payoffs can be quite unexpected. After two days spent hiking deep into ravines and riding a horse high onto a ridge, I decided to check out a children's hike and a wheelchair-accessible path. I was stunned by the rewards: a petroglyph (ancient Indian carving on a rock) and a pictograph (ancient painting on rock).

The canyon area is like that - full of surprises.

One of the first is its proximity to Las Vegas. The drive is all of 24 miles from the heart of the strip, requiring about 35 minutes because of the creep through massive freeway construction at the 15/95 interchange north of town.

So much of the drive is spent in suburbs or suburbs-in-the-making that you'll probably wonder if you've taken a wrong turn somewhere. But about five miles past the last bulldozer on West Charleston Boulevard (which becomes Highway 159 and follows the old stage route), the luminescent red of the canyon comes into view.

The details of how this place came into existence are as jumbled as the geology itself. To simplify, cracks and crusts and thrusts and plates violently rearranged themselves many millions of years ago, such that red sandstone, tan sandstone and gray limestone marbled the area like a cake.

The effect is dazzling. The most dramatic sight is a towering swath of red sandstone that faces southwest, just inside the park entrance (daily fee is $5 for vehicles, $2 for motorcycles). The scene is particularly dramatic in the late afternoon, as the setting sun fires the rock face.

A 13-mile scenic driving loop courses through the park, but most of the visitors seem to linger here, no matter how tight their sightseeing schedules.

There are multiple ways to explore Red Rock Canyon. I chatted variously with backpackers, rock-climbers, bicyclists and one rather masochistic jogger: staggered with fatigue after running trails, she took the briefest of breaks before taking on the scenic drive itself. Because it is so close to the housing tracts of west Las Vegas, tourists don't exactly have the place to themselves.

Given the history of the region, horseback and foot transit seemed the most appropriate methods of exploration.

The Red Rock Canyon Riding Stables offer a half-dozen or so trail rides from a makeshift corral area just down Highway 159 from the park entrance. On the phone, the reservations clerk had piqued my interest with her description of the Fossil Ridge ride. ``You'll climb up the side of a mountain, where you'll see some fish fossils, some caves and some unusual rock formations,'' she said.

I embarked early one morning with my guide, Gary Plumlee, a former history major at Oklahoma State University who briefly worked the rodeo circuit before settling here.

We saw no fish fossils. We saw no caves. We saw no particularly unusual rock formations. But we did climb up the side of a mountain. The view from the top of the ridge was so impressive that I really didn't mind much that this ride fell so short of its billing.

The ridge commanded most of the park area, and the panorama had my attention wandering. Plumlee frequently snapped me back to my senses with his unique running commentary.

``Don't be afraid to give Red a kick to get him to keep up,'' he said. ``He's like a kid or a woman - he'll do whatever he can get away with.''

We passed a jumble of sun-baked boulders. ``If you come back in summer, that would be a good place to find rattlesnakes - if you were looking for them.''

We ultimately returned to the valley floor, where some padding seemed to be added to the ride to get it up to its one-hour, 15-minute promise: We passed by the lot where I'd parked my car, past a cluster of trash dumpsters, around the lower corral, left at an idle backhoe, around the empty industrial wire spools ...

Unless you're keen on getting astride a horse - or you'd like to take in some dramatic views without having to do the walking yourself - this recreational option can't be recommended. It's a bit pricey (my ride was $69, the popular rim canyon ride is $89) and, obviously, it doesn't always deliver on such promises as fossils and caves.

Hiking in Red Rock Canyon proved to be much more gratifying.

At the park visitor's center, just past the fee-payment kiosk, you can pick up a free flier that includes a map and detailed directions to no fewer than 23 hikes. The trailhead parking areas are well-marked along the scenic drive.

One of the most popular starting points is Sandstone Quarry, perhaps because of the eye-catching confluence of red and tan sandstone. A rock face near the parking lot is dramatically two-toned, and exploration opportunities abound.

During my midweek visit, I found most of the hiking trails to be infrequently traveled. Because the park is so easily accessed from the Las Vegas strip, it gets a great number of visitors, but most arrive in gambler's garb and don't venture more than 100 or so feet off the road.

When I set out for the base of Turtlehead Peak, for example, I didn't see another soul after I was a quarter-mile up the trail.

The trail was rated strenuous, and it wasn't long before it began living up to its billing. At one point, it skirted a ravine that climbed toward the Turtlehead Peak saddle. The view from here was spectacular, the scenic loop drive through the park just a faint squiggle on the desert floor below. Then the trail dropped down into the ravine itself.

There were no switchbacks to ease the ascent. Heck, after a while there was no trail, just a scramble over rocks, roughly approximating a climb up the Monte Carlo's fire escape. After an earthquake.

No self-respecting Spanish soldier of fortune would put himself through this, unless it had been verified that one of the Seven Cities of Cibola was at the summit.

More moderate alternatives are the hike from Sandstone Quarry to Calico Tanks or the hike from White Rock Springs to Keystone Thrust Fault.

The latter requires a drive up an undeveloped and extremely rocky road, such that in the parking area at the end of the road you find only trucks, four-wheel drive vehicles and rental cars. The hike's payoff is a convergence of red, tan and gray rock in a small canyon, but this sight is probably best viewed in the morning. By afternoon, the clash of colors is muted by the long shadows of Hogback Ridge.

On the second half of the scenic drive, few cars seem to stop, perhaps because their occupants spent most of their allotted time at that gash of red rock just past the visitor's center. But this portion of the route, along the base of the richly textured Spring Mountains, should not be overlooked.

It was here that I found the pleasant surprises in the children's walk and the wheelchair path. Both are found along a road spur to Willow Springs.

The Children's Discovery Trail is seven-tenths of a mile round trip and presents only gentle climbing. It might be wise to stop at the visitor's center first so you'll be able to respond to the inevitable questions. One instant, for example, you're walking amid tan rocks, and the next you're traversing bright-red dirt. The trail is immaculately maintained, with rocks fashioned into stair steps for some climbs, and your little explorers will find a flowing creek and a waterfall that was just a dribble down a cliff face when I visited.

But the real highlight is the petroglyph. It's impossible to miss, since archeology students who are examining it have constructed a barricade around it to prevent current-day social Neanderthals from defacing it. Carved into a rock face is a stick figure, about 24 inches tall, which appears to be raising its arms above its head, as if to signal some alarm. (Avoid the shrimp cocktail?)

The wheelchair route, meanwhile, is at the Willow Springs picnic area. About 100 feet of concrete pathway has been constructed, taking in a pictograph and an agave roasting pit - a Jacuzzi-sized earthen mound where ancient residents used to cook rabbit, tortoise and bighorn sheep.

A sharp eye will spot the pictograph, which is about eight feet off the ground on the wall of a rock shelter, directly above a sign urging visitors to leave it alone. Six palm prints are visible. Archeologists believe they were made 800 years ago by Anasazi Indians who dipped their hands into a homemade paint and pressed them to the rock.

Red Rock Canyon certainly will let you feel as if you're a long way from the Vegas strip. If you let it.

On my first day, as I walked out of a canyon toward Sandstone Quarry, I encountered three balky hikers, one of whom asked, in evident annoyance, ``Is there anything to see up there?'' At the time, we were standing in a dry creek bed, surrounded by red and tan canyon sides, radiant in the late-afternoon sun, with yucca, manzanita and scrub oak providing accents of greenery.

I wanted to say, ``Look around you.''

But didn't. Obviously, in Red Rock Canyon, discovery, appreciation and a sense of wonder are only accomplished on an intensely individual level.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area lies directly west of the Las Vegas strip. Quickest route: I-15 north, I-95 north, exit Summerlin Parkway, exit Buffalo Drive. Left on Buffalo Drive, right on West Charleston Boulevard. Proceed 10 miles to the park entrance on the right. The drive is 24 miles from the heart of the strip and requires about 35 minutes.

ACTIVITIES: Park hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. A full-service visitor's center, including gift shop, lies just inside the entrance. Brochures are available detailing 23 hikes in the area; two of the hikes are wheelchair-accessible. The park occasionally conducts naturalist-guided hikes, walks and talks for which there is no charge. Reservations may be made through the visitor's center: [phone]. There is a 13-mile scenic driving loop through the park. There is no entrance fee to the park for bicyclists or walkers. Backpackers must obtain back-country camping permits from the visitor's center. Horseback riding is available through Red Rock Canyon Riding Stables: [phone].

COSTS: Park admission is $5 daily for vehicles, $2 for motorcycles. Horseback rides range from $15 for half-hour children's rides to $89 for a two-hour canyon rim ride. The stables also offer a sunset trail ride with barbecue dinner for $139 per person.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, map, box

PHOTO (1) On the scenic loop drive through Red Rock Canyon, directly west of Las Vegas, a viewpoint affords a pleasant stop.

(2) Hikers pass by two-tone rock near Sandstone Quarry at Red Rock Canyon. Exploration opportunities abound at the quarry.

(3 -- color) A visitor with a sharp eye might even spot a pictography left by Anasazi Indians 800 years ago.

(4 -- 5 -- color) In Red Rock Canyon, trail guide Gary Plumlee can point our natural wonders that stand in sharp contrast to the man-made sights of nearby Las Vegas Boulevard.

Eric Noland

Box: If you go (see text)

Map: Red Rock Canyon