If you missed the first two installments, it might be worthwhile to go back and read them to catch the drift of this little series: Part One Part Two.
We hadn’t planned a visit to the Valley of Fire. Fact is, I’d never heard of it until a friend recommended stopping on our way from Kanab, Utah to Hoover Dam. We were taking a long cut back to Phoenix, primarily to see the engineering marvel that stopped up the mighty Colorado.
Reading of our proposed route, a friend from my teenager days working at Ponderosa Steak House suggested we drive through the Valley of Fire State Park in eastern Nevada, about 45 minutes north of Las Vegas. Given that he’d lived in Vegas for the past couple decades, we thought his suggestion worth checking out.
Once Googled and briefly investigated, we entered it in the GPS and ventured on.
Quite frankly, once we left Utah, the northwestern Arizona and northeastern Nevada landscape was, well…interesting and impressive, though not particularly beautiful. Yes, subjective opinion, I know. Driving south on I-15 took us through an awesome mountain range, but it was a grayish-brown color. Again, impressive, but not colorfully beautiful.
Exiting the interstate to head east a few miles to the Valley of Fire, I wondered if this was going to be worth the time. The drive took us through a couple small, uninviting (to me, at least) desert towns that left me wondering what people do for a living in such an area, and why would anyone choose to live there in the first place? Then I remembered northwest Illinois winters. Nevertheless, “pretty” or “beautiful” is not how I would describe Logandale or Overton, Nevada.
So, when we arrived at the entrance gate to Valley of Fire, it was a welcome change! Vibrant red rocks jutted forth from the earth lending a stark contrast to the lack of color we endured for the last hour. And we were still four miles from the Welcome Center.
It only got better.
Just past the Welcome Center, the road leads into the valley itself. Zion Canyon was fresh in our memory, so this valley wasn’t so overwhelming. Nevertheless, the color, the rock formations, the variety all made us thankful for the recommendation.
Along this main road is a short trail leading to an outlaw’s hideout from back in the day. We opted to venture down this short path, primarily because I wanted to see the petroglyphs along the way. Once again, we appreciated the scenery, but the petroglyphs intrigued me. How did the “artists” manage to get up so high to etch their drawings…and why?
While in Utah, the variety of colors in the rock layers enhanced the beauty of the cliffs, mountains, canyons. Initially, it seemed that all the rock formations in Valley of Fire would be red. Given the name of the park, a logical conclusion, no? Fortunately that’s not the case. Again, variety is the spice!
Surrounded by red rocks, the sign to “White Domes Trail” caught my attention. Off we headed in the direction of those domes. Quickly the colors changed, and the formations along the road took on whitish hue…mostly…for a while. Well, “white” may a bit misleading. Think of what used to be a white tablecloth that has yellowed with age. That’s more the color.
Anyway, we soon arrived at the trailhead for the White Domes, and once more the landscape held us a bit spellbound. The formations spread out in front of us reminded me of a carton of chocolate-vanilla ice cream I recall from childhood. Not the swirl kind; the block kind, where a slab of vanilla melded into a slab of chocolate. Such were the rock strata displayed before us. Again, not the beauty of a lush flower garden of variegated color, but certainly beautiful in its own way.
A little side note in our journey through this beautiful park. We were nearing the end of our time there, heading west toward the park exit, and suddenly just ahead, off to the right perhaps 25 feet from the road, stood one of Nevada’s state animals—a Desert Bighorn Sheep.
I slowed the car to a crawl. He didn’t budge. Came alongside him and stopped. Lifting his head from grazing in the scrub, he looked right at us, as if to say, “C’mon…hurry up with the pictures, would you? I’m hungry!” So we did and crawled away. Naturally, we were elated with such an encounter, but even more so when my friend who recommended the side trip saw our picture.
“You were able to see a big horn sheep? Lived there 30 plus years and only saw two in the wild,” he remarked. We were even more grateful for the treat. A beautiful creature.
In this mini-series, I’m primarily centering our attention of the beauty of the topography. It’s truly stunning! But where I want to go from here next week is to consider the ugliness behind it all. Hope you’ll join me.
Happy you enjoyed the outing.
Hope to do a personal visit with you later this year, that is if your timing allows.