These crags and ridges form the east side of Red Rock canyon near the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Lower and with shorter routes than the peaks and cliffs on the west side. Lots of interesting climbing and scrambling on sandstone rock -- hundreds of routes in the Jerry Handren print guidebook and on the MountainProject.com website. Most of the climbing routes are single-pitch sport, but several multi-pitch Trad or (sparsely) bolted. Also some interesting (often not easy) scrambles up to summits or along ridges.

Restrictions d'accès

The Red Rock Scenic Loop road is closed at night, with different hours of opening and closing at different seasons of the year. Vehicles that do not exit the loop road before it is closed on each day must pay a substantial penalty fine.

Though climbers think of the Calico Hills area mainly for sport crags and bouldering, there's also lots of scrambling and hiking in dramatic situations and with interesting moves.

Indeed there's so much interesting scrambling in half-day range of parking, lots of people head up and out with no specific objective or route description and just start exploring -- making up their own adventure.
. . (but keep in mind that the Calico Hills terrain is complicated and serious, and sometimes it is much more difficult to get back down a steep section than it is to climb up it).

Visitors with limited time might appreciate some clues about which routes have interesting climbing of which kinds and what difficulty, and the descriptions linked from this page should be helpful for that. Anyway there's no danger of public descriptions "taming" the Calicos, since there are hundreds of possible difficulty 2 + 3 + 4 scramblng variations.

Info sources:

book: Red Rocks: A Climber's Guide, by Jerry Handren (2nd edition).
book: Rambles & Scrambles, by Courtney Purcell (2nd edition 2015).
book: Hiking Las Vegas, by Branch Whitney (Huntington Press, 2015).
www.BirdAndHike.com
www.SummitPost.org

warning: Many loose rocks and weak breakable hand- and foot-holds on these routes - (even when they're plenty dry). Two major implications:
(a) Maintain extra energy and time and attention to keep testing lots of holds - (and keep the difficulty of the climbing sequences you attempt well within your capabilities so you can always have a hand you're not currently depending on available for testing);
(b) Parties with multiple persons need to either climb very close together so there's not much vertical distance for a loose or breaking rock to accelerate before hitting one of the following climbers (who presumably is wearing a helmet), or climb potential-loose-rock sequences one a time, with following members staying far off to the side (and sheltered) away from below the current climber -- because loose rocks often bounce in unexpected directions off sideways and far outward from where they start.

warning: The sandstone rock of Red Rock Canyon is fragile and is very easily damaged when wet. Holds rip off and climbs have been and will continue to be permanently damaged due to climbers not respecting this phenomenon. After a heavy storm, the rock will remain wet, sometimes for several days, so please do not do rock climbing then. A good rule of thumb is that if the ground near your climb is at all damp (and not powdery dry sand), then do not climb. There are many alternatives (limestone, granite, basalt, and plastic) nearby.
This warning about wet sandstone rock being fragile applies also to scrambling routes around here -- so scrambling on ridges and peaks in the Calico Hills area is not a "safer alternative" to technical sport or trad rock climbing a day or two after substantial rain. Just because you're not on difficulty 3 or above climbing terrain does not mean you will not die or get seriously injured if a hold breaks.

Crags

The most detail on the many many crags and routes in this area, with maps + photos, is in the modern print guidebook by Jerry Handren.

Also much useful (and sometimes more current) info on the
MountainProject.com Red Rock area
For Calico Hills crags + climbing routes see these sub-areas:

Peaks

Some of the interesting peaks include - - > See on Map
. . . (South to North) . . .

Red Book Point (or Point 4608) . (elevation 1400m) . (GPS lat long approx N36.1558 W115.4336)
Red sandstone, and with several interesting routes, but not as high as the more northerly peaks of the Calico Hills.
Calico Peak (or Point 4850) . (elev 1480m) . (N36.1602 W115.4387)
Not the highest peak in the Calico Hills proper, but the most prominent seen from the nearby section of the Red Rock Scenic Loop Road. Top is white sandstone, overlying red sandstone. The second or third highest peak in Calico Hills proper.
Tank Peak . (elev 1485m) . (N36.1620 W115.4374)
East above one of the largest "tanks" (depression that collects rain-water) in the Calicos. Top section is white limestrone, and it is the second or third highest peak in Calico Hills proper.
"Quarry View" / Point 4708 ft . (elev 1435m) . (N36.1621 W115.4470)
. . . (can be reached from Sandstone Quarry parking - with non-trivial navigation).
. . . (There are two other summits of similar elevation nearby NorthEast from this.
. . . . Farthest east is around (N36.1636 W115.4451).
Red Cap (or "Turtlehead Junior") . (elev 1500m) . (N36.1661 W115.4426)
Highest peak in the Calico Hills "proper". Mostly white sandstone -- except for its summit cap which is red sandstone (and not so easy to get up on top of).

nearby peaks not in the Calico Hills "proper":
(mostly different rock type, but accessed from the same trailheads so often included under the "Calico Hills" name).

Kraft Mt (elevation 1437m) . (lat long approx N36.1641 W115.4217) . . . (see detailed description in Courtney Purcell book page 68 . . . and with photos + GPS in Branch Whitney book pages 29-35).
"New Peak" (1521m) . (N36.1653 W115.4326)
"Tinaja Peak" (1453m) . (N36.1696 W115.4515)
"Goat Bed Peak" (1585m) . (N36.1698 W115.4138) . . . (NE from Kraft Mt) . . . (? perhaps reach it by a traverse from Greycap ?)
Greycap (or Gray Cap) (1659m) . (N36.1788 W115.4277) . . . (N from New Peak summit) . . . (see on BirdAndHike) . . . (see detailed description in Courtney Purcell book page 73 . . . also with photos + GPS in Branch Whitney book pages 42-48).
Turtlehead Mt (1928m) . (N36.1802 W115.4459) - (more for its size and views than the climbing quality).
. . . (N from Sandstone Quarry parking + Red Cap summit).
. . . (see on SummitPost.org -- also with photos + GPS in Branch Whitney book pages 74-76).

Pass crossings

Three lower points to enable crossing over the hills might be:

Stairmaster Pass . (sometimes called "South Pass" or "Guardian Angel") - (GPS lat long approx N36.1534 W115.4323).-.(elevation 1310m).
Located between the South Ridge and Red Book Point. Enables crossing northwest->southeast from the Second Pull-Out (2PO) on the Scenic Loop road to any of the East side parking areas.
. . . (See "so" on the MP map)

Frostie Shack Pass (sometimes called "Middle Pass") - (N36.1581 W115.4369).-.(1335m).
Located between Red Book Point and Calico Peak. Enables crossing from the Second Pull-Out (2PO) on the Scenic Loop road southwest->southeast, to the Sandstone Drive or Assisi Rd parking areas in Calico Basin.
- - > Arrive here on a hot sunny day and stop in for a drink in the shade -- but bring your own ice.
. . . (See "mp" on the MP map)

Calico / Tank Pass : (N36.1610 W115.4381).-.(1450m)
Located between Calico Peak and Tank Peak. Enables crossing from the Sandstone Quarry parking on the Scenic Loop road on the NorthWest side to the Sandstone Rd or Assisi Rd parking areas on the SouthEast side.
. . . (See "ct" on the MP map)

Ridge traverses

There are some nice traverse loops, and there's the "grand traverse".

Grand Traverse:
Going in the South-to-North direction has easier navigation and takes more of its difficult climbing in the (more fun) uphill direction. Crossing the summits in order of South Calico Ridge, Red Book Point, Calico Peak, Tank Peak, Red Cap. Start at Red Springs (or 1st Pull-Out) parking and finish at Sandstone Quarry parking.
. . . (Disadvantage of this S->N direction is that it makes car-bike shuttle or two-car shuttle more difficult).
Directions -- link up these traverse routes:

South Calico Ridge - [see MountainProject.com description].
Red Book Ridges - [see MP description].
Calico Peak Stone Sweet Ridge - [also see MP description].
Calico Peak NorthEast Ramp (in descent) - [see MP description].
Red Cap Ridge - [see MP description].

Effort -- about +675 vertical meters over 6.1 km distance.
But more important is the length of difficulty 2 + 3 + 4 climbing and scrambling: about
3700 meters total length of climbing + scrambling.
Which says that more than half the total distance is climbing and scrambling (rather than hiking or running).

shorter traverses:
Each section of the Grand Traverse with a peak between passes has a worthwhile traverse:

South Calico Ridge from its south end to Stairmaster Pass.
Red Book Point from Stairmaster Pass to Frostie Shake Pass.
Calico Peak from near Frostie Shake Pass to Calico / Tank Pass
. . . (though most of the ridge scrambling can be done without C/T Pass)
Tank Peak + Red Cap from Calico / Tank Pass to northeast end.
. . . (perhaps at least as good in the opposite direction?)
"Quarry View" traverse -- reaching and traversing the three summits has challenging navigation, with much of the tricky bushwhacking not on the ridge. Does not connect with the Grand Traverse, so most obviously done out-and-back from Sandstone Quarry parking.

some Link-ups of multiple traverse sections to consider:

South Ridge + Red Book Point from 2nd Pull-Out or Calico Basin parking
. . . (with some extra hiking/running on trail parallel to Scenic Loop road).
Red Book Point + Calico Peak from 2nd Pull-Out parking
. . . (perhaps returning down SouthEast Gully instead of going to Calico / Tank Pass).
Calico Peak + Tank Peak + Red Cap from 2nd Pull-Out or Sandstone Quarry
. . . (with some extra hiking/running on trail parallel to Scenic Loop road).

Note that trying to link the northern west side ridges and "Quarry View" bumps of the Calicos directly between Calico Peak and Sandstone Quarry is blocked by at least two deep chasms - (but still it is interesting to explore different portions of those northwest ridges and peaks "in and out" from the Calico Tanks trail).

Getting There

There are several trailheads for this area
- - > see Map diagram on MountainProject.com . (marked with P circle icons).

East side by driving the Calico Basin Rd:

Red Springs . (N36.1464 W115.4189).-.(elevation 1100m): at west end of Calico Basin Road.
Assisi Rd . (N36.1495 W115.4199) .-.(1105m): at intersection of Calico Basin Rd with the south end of Sandstone Drive.
Sandstone Drive . (N36.15679 W115.41995).-.(1130m): at north end of Sandstone Drive.

West side by the Red Rock Scenic Loop. Driving this road rrequires paying an entry fee, and the road is open only for specific hours each day. Driving on the Scenic Loop road is one-way only in the counter-clockwise direction. The road is open to bicycles as well as motor vehicles.