Vegas Day 02: Valley of Fire.

On Wednesday, we drove about an hour northeast of Vegas to the Valley of Fire State Park. Talk about magical! It was a surreal place, and we felt like we landed on Mars. It's amazing what you can find just outside of the city if you actually bother looking around. The park was kind of in the middle of nowhere and not very crowded, so clearly, not too many people go looking for it.

We started with a brief hike (through thick red sand) to the Mouse's Tank. There were a lot of petroglyphs lining the hike, which was pretty darn cool. The rock formations were pretty weird and we kept seeing different things in them (see the "turtle" below).

After our short hike, we took a drive past other landmarks in the park. This included a stop at Atlatl Rock, where we climbed a staircase halfway up to check out more petroglyphs. There was also a petrified log surrounding by a fence. We thought it was a total snoozefest, and S deemed it "science in inaction". Overall, though, we were pleased as punch that we made the drive out there. It was really impressive!


The Valley of Fire.


Our "turtle".


A shady spot.


Such beautiful rock formations were all along the walk.


The Mouse's Tank: actually a deep valley, but it's hard to tell here.


Interesting places to hide...


There was some plant life, but it was mostly dry to the touch.


These rocks were all around us.


Rainbow Vista.


Atlatl Rock. See the staircase?


Coming back down Atlatl Rock.