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| - Calico Basin offers some of the best scrambling in the Red Rock area. Best part about it, it's free! It's outside of Red Rock Conservation area, so no fee is needed to get in. I've been up and around Kraft Mtn several times, which can get to be a little boring, but Calico Basin offers so many different routes for hiking, it's almost impossible to get tired of coming. Today we started at the north trailhead and scrambled through an area, I have no idea if it even has a name. There were some great Class 3 scrambles and a few spots of Class 4. We we up and over and actually descended down into the other side to end up on top of Calico Hills. We could see the entire 13 mile scenic loop. We then continued around back over and took the Slab Rift Route. Getting down into the rift, there is an area called the "kitchen window" and "attic" where you have to climb into and then down a shoot, which leads to an area to walk out onto a ledge that overlooks all of Calico Basin. On the way down, there is "heart rock" a formation of one of the boulders that looks like a heart. There are a few places here that you will need to be able to lift your entire body weight up and over, and also there are some spots that you need to take your pack off because it's so narrow.
If you get here around 5:30am, you can beat the summer heat and get 3-4 hours of scrambling in before the sun gets too hot.
Quick tips:
Bring gloves with grip on them
Wear pants if you don't want your legs scraped up
3-4 liters of water
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