We had gone with Desert Tours to the Grand Canyon, and had a great time on that tour. I came ‘this close’ to booking a tour here with one of the companies. This was a great scenic opportunity and lots of people were hiking, biking, jogging and taking guided tours.
So do the visitor center at the start of your tour. The road spits you back out onto Highway 159 and you're out of the park. If you want to access the second lot (Calico 2) I recommend going early because the lot is very small and hikers use it. The first 3 parking areas provide really excellent opportunities for photos of the red rocks. You must make a reservation online for a certain access time. There was just about every other mode of transport on the road. Great value if you're seeing multiple parks. We bought it the day before at another park and as I write this we would have had to pay $55 for the 3 parks we have visited.
We have an annual US park pass (America the Beautiful) which allows access to all Federal parks and facilities. We also got a blue sky day which was great. The loop drive is spectacular and the scenery stunning. We stayed in Summerlin so it was only about a 25 minute drive from our hotel. We visited Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area while staying in Las Vegas.
