A one-way, loop road, 13 miles (21 km) long, provides vehicle access to many of the features in the area.

The first humans were attracted to the Red Rock area due to its resources of water, plant, and animal life that could not be easily found in the surrounding desert.

Hunters and gatherers such as the historical Southern Paiute and the much older Archaic, or Desert Culture Native Americans, have successively occupied this area.

The following chronology is an approximation, from the present to ancient pre-history: Numerous petroglyphs, as well as pottery fragments, remain today throughout the area.

In addition, several roasting pits used by the early Native Americans at Red Rock provide further evidence of human activity in the past.

In the early 20th century, around the time the first European Americans settled in nearby Las Vegas, the Excelsior Company operated a small sandstone quarry near the northern area of the scenic loop.

Testimony in favor of the bill was given by the Sierra Club and a high school student and environmental activist, Dennis Causey.

Agave is easy to spot in red rock niches, with its thick, low leaves and flowering stem reaching twice a man's height.

The Red Rock area has a complex geological history, which over millions of years, helped create the region's dramatic landscape.

[11] During the Mesozoic Era 250 million years ago, the Earth's crust started to rise due to tectonic shifts, and marine shales and sandstones were deposited.

[11] By 180 million years ago, the climate continued to change and the area became a desert with vast expanses of huge shifting sand dunes.

These dunes accumulated over a broad area, up to 0.5 miles (0.80 km) thick, and were lithified, cemented with calcium carbonate and iron oxides.

[11] During a mountain-building period called the Laramide orogeny around 66 million years ago, the Keystone Thrust Fault developed.

The Keystone is part of a series of thrust faults that ran through much of western North America and the Red Rock Conservation Area.

Aside from the dangers of climbing rock faces and cliffs, visitors are informed that temperatures can routinely exceed 105 °F (41 °C) in the summer, so they must bring plenty of water.

Although the Yosemite-size walls offer a host of challenging lines, technical climbing activity in Red Rock was not recorded before 1968.

In recent decades, this broad appeal and the classic nature of many routes have made the area an international destination for rock climbers.