May 2026: At TAP's request, BLM team modifies entrance to Red Rock Overlook trail, enabling first time access for people with disabilities to the only paved trail at Red Rock Canyon!
For years, the entrance to the Red Rock Overlook Trail and a picnic area has been blocked to people with disabilities by a gate, adjacent boulders, vegetation, and parking spaces. It could only be accessed through loose gravel around the gate, not an option for many who use motorized wheelchairs or other adaptive equipment. The trail was not a closed area, but the entrance had been blocked to prevent parking on a helipad at the trailhead, a legitimate concern. The current BLM team has been fabulously receptive to Trail Access Project's input about the need to modify this entrance, and the boulder has been moved! For the first time ever, people with disabilities who use all types of adaptive equipment have access to the stunning panoramic views from the only paved trail at Red Rock Canyon NCA! (The new Legacy Trail will eventually also fit this bill once it extends to the visitor's center from Summerlin.)
Updated Red Rock Overlook Trail Access Information:
Length 0.2 mi. one way
Type of trail Out and back
Trail width 6.5 ft.
Surface asphalt
Elevation gain 38 ft.
Maximum grade 11.4% near the upper end view point
Typical grade 4.2%
Maximum cross slope 8%
Typical cross slope 3%
Obstacles Paved trailhead was barricaded until May 2026, but the BLM has moved the boulder barricade at TAP's request!
Accessible Features Sheltered picnic tables at the trailhead, smelly vault toilet. Benches at trail’s end overlook
The Red Rock Overlook trail offers panoramic views of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is the western backdrop of the Las Vegas valley. The trail is located on Nevada Route 159 within the Conservation Area managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The trail is rarely used because it offers almost the same views as from the overlook parking lot, but it allows one to get away from the crowds there with an uphill climb. This trail is not on the Scenic Drive so reservations are not required during peak visitation season, winter.
The old asphalt trail is generally intact but broken locally with one gap up to 15 inches. Typical grade is moderate but one 36-foot-long section has a slope of 11.4. This section would be “marginal” under U.S. Access Board guidelines. Cross slopes typically exceed 3% and up to 8% were measured.
The Trail Access Project's trail assessment of this and other trails in southern Nevada was funded by the Federal Highway Administration through a Recreational Trails Program grant to Get Outdoors Nevada and Trail Access Project, administered by Nevada Division of State Parks.
Spring 2026 Update: Sensory Experience Trail at Red Rock Canyon has been awarded funding!
The Sensory Experience Trail at Red Rock Canyon dreamed up by TAP's own Ed Price has been awarded funding by the Federal Highway Administration through a Recreational Trails Program grant! Friends of Red Rock will serve as the grant recipient and official project manager for this project, and we are incredibly grateful for that team's partnership, time, and effort on this project, as well as that of the BLM team and the Nevada Blind Children's Foundation. Check back here for updates!
December 2025: Working toward a Sensory Experience Trail for Red Rock NCA visitors who are blind or visually impaired!!
After experiencing a beautiful example of such a trail created by MassAudubon on Boston's north shore, Trail Access Project's President, Ed Price, has coordinated a fabulous project team--Friends of Red Rock, the Bureau of Land Management's Red Rock National Conservation Area's planning team, the Nevada Blind Children's Foundation, and our team--to plan and build a sensory experience trail on a portion of the Moenkopi Trail at Red Rock Canyon NCA. This type of trail would have a rope guidance system and interpretive elements that would enable people who are blind and visually impaired to independently experience the magic of a Red Rock hike--the smells of the creosote after the rain, the crunch of the gravel along the trail, the lizards chirping...for the very first time. We are currently identifying funding options for the project. Check back here for updates!
Fall 2025/Winter 2026: Before the accessible trail itself, how do we get people to the trailheads?
Our adaptive outdoor event participants’ only transportation is often Regional Transportation Commission Paratransit. Paratransit cannot be chartered and is restricted to the central Las Vegas valley. It even excludes some City of Las Vegas parks, Clark County Wetlands Park, and all surrounding public lands.
Thus, we are actively seeking funding options to provide transportation for our participants from the Las Vegas valley to natural hiking trails at Red Rock Canyon, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and the Spring Mountains around Mount Charleston--basically to get people to the trailheads where our adaptive hiking and mountain biking events start.
This project will allow some of our participants to visit Red Rock Canyon, Lee Canyon, or Lake Mead for the very first time.
Please let us know if you'd like to get involved in this effort!
Spring 2025: New accessible trail gates installed at 3 Red Rock Canyon NCA trails!
New gates have been installed at Middle Oak Creek, South Oak Creek, and First Creek trails. These gates were installed by Friends of Red Rock at the request of Trail Access Project. Our volunteer team had advocated for the improved access to those trails for years with the BLM team at Red Rock. The gates provide first time access for people with disabilities who use specialized trail-model mobility devices, such as our TerrainHoppers, on these rugged trails. The left side of the gates includes a swing gate for able bodied pedestrians to walk through while the right side is a bridge entrance for our mobilty devices to roll. The trailheads previously had barbed wire fence-lined zig-zag entrances that were also often overgrown with vegetation through which an average able bodied person would need to be careful walking through sideways. Watch the video below to see what it's like for someone using a handcycle or TerrainHopper to hike Red Rock's beautiful, but very rocky, South Oak Creek Trail to which we now have access:
