Valley of Fire - Special Edition

 Last year, I came across a social media posting about Valley of Fire State Park in southern Nevada and added it to the notebook I keep of places we want to visit in the future.  After leaving Grand Canyon North Rim, we ventured across the Arizona Strip up to St. George, Utah, then down through the rugged Virgin River Canyon in northwestern Arizona, to reach Nevada.  Knowing the campsites at Valley of Fire were first come, first served (not reservable), we spent the night at Echo Bay campground 20 miles down the road in Lake Mead National Recreation Area and arrived at the state park early this next morning.  A dramatic vista unfolded as we crossed a small rise on the east side and the valley was before us.

Before doing any exploration, we made our way to the campground with hopes of securing a site.  After driving through and seeing all sites occupied, we spotted a woman changing spots and we timed it so we could claim her vacated site.  (Added bonus - showers in the campground were much appreciated after four days without one.)

Our campground neighbor told us we were very lucky because getting a site is "cutthroat" there.  We marked our site to show that it was obviously occupied before settting off to see the sights.  And what sights there are!

Elephant Rock 

Petroglyphs on Atlatl Rock

Arch Rock

Our first hike in the park was to the Fire Wave - beautifully sculpted banded sandstone:

A stunning 1.5 mile hike, but we wouldn't want to do it in the summer!

petroglyphs along Mouse's Tank trail

Stone cabins built by the CCC

Formations known as "Beehives"

We were in this amazing park only about 26 hours, but we had one more hike before leaving - White Domes Trail.

Sunrise - our favorite time of the day and our best chance of experiencing places 

without crowds of people.  We hiked the White Domes Trail and saw only one other person.

We had this amazing trail all to ourselves at the beginning.

Remnants of a movie set from the 1960s

The trail goes through a slot canyon . . .

. . . with a striking boulder when we came out on the other side.

more tafoni

Valley of Fire will be one of our best memories in a lifetime of exploring the many-faceted natural wonders of our country.  As always, we treasure these experiences with gratitude and humility as we soak in God's handiwork in all its forms.