Farewell Valley of Fire

Julie framed at Valley of Fire

We are making dinner in our van right now on the last night of our stay. Three days is more than enough to explore the Valley of Fire State Park but we took things slow.

The first day we were both working but spent time at Silica Dome area and then a sunset hike at the Fire Wave. We came back to the Fire Wave area two more times for better photos.

Coffee hike

Day two (Wednesday) after admiring the bighorn sheep in our campground, we drove back out to the Fire Wave / White Domes area and did a sunrise hike with coffee mugs in hand. The White Domes loop is highly recommended: fun rock scrambles, a mini slot canyon at the bottom, and amazing color contrast.

Atlatl petroglyphs

Mid day we walked to the Atlatl Rock area to gaze at the petroglyphs and do some more rock scrambling. Some of these etchings are supposed to be over 4,000 years old. That means some of the later ones might have been looking at rock art that was already 2-3,000 years old. Wonder what they thought gazing at them?

Near sunset we explored Mouse’s Tank and Rainbow Vista. Fun strolls but nothing too exciting to report.

Fire Wave at sunrise

This morning we went back to Fire Wave with our coffee, arriving around 6:30am. There was a bit of cloud cover so light wasn’t amazing but it was pretty nice. Back to camp for work and relaxation.

Ussie looking back on our campground

We saw some cool little rock hills just south of our camp so we climbed them, offering great views of the area and especially our campground.

---

Tomorrow we go back to Vegas for some refit and resupply. Then off to Palm Springs area for warmer weather and some exploration of a new-to-us area.