Nevada 2024 Trip Report (Day 6)

Written by ceddammit

Day 6: Leaving Las Vegas

Now I’ll have to watch that movie again when I get home. But yes, on this day I am leaving the big city for the smaller towns and more remote desert parks and such. I am beginning with Valley o’ Fire State Park. I’ve only seen a couple of photos of this place, but it comes highly recommended. Just outside Vegas, Interstate 15 Northbound is reduced from three lanes to one lane, so I am stuck amidst merging semi’s for quite some time. But I left the hotel early, so I’ve still got the whole day ahead of me. I make it to the official park boundary, and am immediately treated to the scenery below:

Craggy suckers, ain’t they?
For perspective, there are two people standing on top of the reddish hill at right center.
Now *I* am standing on top of the reddish hill. You can see a path has been worn along the crest of the ridge below.

Why do I point out the path along the crest? Because I was dumb enough to try it out! I must say, I don’t recommend it. Running down the red hill, I felt like I could lose control at any second, and wind up bouncing down the hill. But I made it down safely and proceeded up the crest of the next hill (they get progressively smaller). When I reached the downslope on this one, I tried squatting and sliding my feet down rather than running. This felt safer, but still was pretty iffy. The third and final descent was the shortest, but probably also the steepest. The squatting approach worked well, and put me on top of a flat rock. From there it was a simple hop down to a flat area less than a foot below. Somehow, I hosed this up. I went for a bit of a tumble, but neither I nor my camera were harmed. I’m just damn lucky there was no vegetation (i.e., cactus) on that bottom flat area.

As mentioned above, I’ve only seen a couple of photos of this place, so I’m not really sure what to expect. With a name like “Valley of Fire”, I’m thinking red rocks. I’m thinking various shades of maroon and maybe some dark orange. Something along the lines of Red Rock Canyon (either the one near Vegas or the one near Colorado Springs) or Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver. WRONG! Instead, I was greeted by the most brilliant orange I’ve ever seen in rocks. Truly, this is deserving of the word fire! For my old Adventureland buddies…these rocks are even more orange than our old unforms! Check ’em out:

Compare the orangeness
The orange is trying to take over the whole valley.

The line to get through the fee station was almost like being stuck on I-15 again, but without the semi’s. After getting through the fee station, the first ‘stop’ is called the beehives – a wacky, kooky group of rocks that look like this:

This is a very busy state park.
Downright crowded!
The old familiar patterns of red sandstone erosion, like home!
To be clear…not everything in the park is orange.
Hard to believe this was formed by wind and water erosion

You may have noticed that I’m not putting watermarks on these photos. According to the Nevada State Parks website (and signs posted in the park), you have to purchase a permit in order to do any commercial photography in their parks. Since I didn’t feel like purchasing a permit, the pictures I took inside the park must be free or just plain personal use only. And since that’s the case, there’s no point in me protecting them against unauthorized copying. I still shrunk ’em though, to keep the /file sizes low on the server. That’s said, here’s an arch…

…and some groovy rocks in the area around the arch…

After a quick lunch from my pic-a-nic basket, I looked over the park brochure that I had obtained at the fee station, and decided my next stop would be the trail known as Rainbow Vista. This trail ends at an overlook with a view looking down into a small canyon; it’s definitely an example of that old adage, “getting there is [at least] half the fun.” Y’see, I found the view at the end of the trail isn’t really worth the walk, but the stuff you see along the way is totally worth it! Let’s see what I saw:

An arch is being born!
Adding some more colors…yellow, pink, and white.
Still not colorful enough for you? Well, then…
…let’s add some blue bushes…
…and purple cactus flowers.
We all live in a yellow one o’ these!
This rock fall down go boom. Then it go crack, then it go thud.
Rock formation designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
Ahhhh, Mr. Lizard! May I get closer?
I didn’t expect to get THIS close!
A blue bush
Cholla
Flowers of the cactus known as prickly pear (Opuntia sp.)
This looks like superdense cholla, but it may be a different species.
This prickly pear is barely keepin’ its head above sand.

My last stop at Valley of Fire State Park was the White Domes. These rocks are not domes, and they provide far more color than just white. See for yourself…

Amazin’ striations!
Detail of amazin’ striations
If Charlie Brown lived in Nevada, this would be his Christmas tree.
Bizarre erosion
It looks like the rock is melting.
Oh, come on! That’s not even rock…
…and that’s a tortoise shell.
Why do I feel a sudden urge to yell “oo-tee-dee”?
To complete the trail, you must pass through this slot canyon…
…then you will see rocks of many colors…
…and striations.

There ya have it, folks: Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park. I definitely recommend checking this place out for yourself. The trails I hiked are alternately rocky or sandy, meaning the footing is pretty rough, so I probably would not recommend the hikes to many of the Parkinson’s patients I know. But there’s plenty that can be seen from your car, so get out there and visit the Valley o’ Fire! Just don’t go during the summer. Or you will die.

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