Driving the Roads of Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

If you’re not much of a hiker or just have a few hours, driving along the roads (basically there are two – the main road and White Domes Road) in the Valley of Fire State Park offers fabulous views, scenery, and vistas. Here are a few of the amazing views~

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Quick Jaunts in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Atlatl Rock – This is by the Atlatl (pronounced At-lat-al) Campground. There are 79 steps (yup, we counted) to a rock covered in petroglyphs.

Arch Rock – This is just outside Arch Rock Campground by the road – a natural arch formed by strong winds and rain.

Petrified Log Loop – There are many short trails to petrified logs throughout the park. In fact, there is a huge fenced-off section of many petrified logs that are off-limits to visitors.  However, there are a few short trails that one can take to see a petrified log, which are estimated to have grown in this region  150 million years ago, during the Age of Reptiles.

The Beehives – These can be seen from a car and are create by wind in the form of a beehive.

The Cabins – These cabins were built by the Civilian Conversation Corp. (CCC) in the 1930’s. They were constructed of native sandstone and were used for many years to shelter campers and travelers to this area.

Fire Canyon – This is about two miles down a dirt road that offers beautiful views of sandstone formations.

Elephant Rock Loop Trail, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

This should be a 1.2 mile round trip hike – we say should be because we could not find the trail after the first 1/2 mile or so, thus we were disappointed. The trail, however, did pass the famous Elephant Rock – the photo on the Valley of Fire State Park brochure.

White Domes Loop Trail, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

This was the first hike we did on Day 2 of our visit to the Valley of Fire State Park.  The trailhead starts at the very end of White Domes Road, in and of itself a beautiful, picturesque drive. This was definitely our favorite hike, albeit short, at one mile round trip.

After passing an open area, the coolest part (for us) of the hike was a short jaunt through a slot canyon – where one walks in a narrow passageway and the canyon walls are straight and vertical. Just past this small slot canyon is an off-shoot trail called Prospect Trail.  This is a 5.5 mile one way trail through open desert.  Since we’re not desert-loving hikers, we passed on this after a short jaunt to check it out.

After the slot canyon, the hike opens-up again and ends along the road by the parking area. If you have time to do only one hike while in Valley of Fire State Park, then this is the one to do, in our opinion.

Mouse’s Tank Trail, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

This was our next hike after Rainbow Vista Trail, less than a mile round trip. Mouse’s Tank is named for a “renegade South Paiute Indian” who gave other Indians and settlers “ great trouble” during the 1890’s. His hide-out was at the end of this hike, where a basin held water during his times of trouble.

Along this trail there are numerous petroglyphs, which are in great preserve and makes one wonder what they mean.

Rainbow Vista Trail, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

This was our first hike upon arrive to the state park, and is about three miles past the Visitor’s Center on White Domes Road. It’s a short one-mile loop through canyons, domes, towers, ridges and valley. The scenery is spectacular, with the formations embedded with peach, pink, terra cotta and lavender colors.

Camping in the Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Valley of Fire State Park has two main campgrounds (73 sites total) that are first-come/first-served and three group area campgrounds (each able to accommodate 45 people). The group sites were closed, so we did not get a chance to check them out. Every campsite at Atlatl and Arch Rock Campgrounds has a picnic table, shaded tables, grills, a fire ring, and water. Atlatl Campground also has hot FREE showers (with great water pressure) and flush toilets. Atlatl Campground is probably your best bet if you have a large rig.

Arch Rock Campground does not have hot showers or flush toilets, but does have pit toilets and is a walk and/or drive to the hot showers at Atlatl Campground. This campground has more unique sites, as each one is a bit more “built into” the rocks. If we were still tent campers or pulled a small rig, this would have been our choice.

The camping fee is $20/night. As we stated a couple days ago. The $10 daily entrance fee is applied to the camping fee, which is nice.

If you want water to hook-up to your RV and/or electric, for an additional $10/night, Atlatl Campground has partial hook-up sites. Since the weather was pleasant while we were there (70’s & 80‘s day time; 50’s nighttime) we saved a few bucks and “boondocked” in the non-hook-up sites. There are quiet hours (10pm-7am), but besides those, one can use their generator anytime to charge their batteries, which is what we did.

Oh, there is a dump station across the street from Atlatl Campground that also has potable (drinking) water, so you can fill your fresh water tank prior to finding a site and dump prior to leaving the park.

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

We heard a lot of this state park and the magnificent scenery, and we were not disappointed. Today’s post will be about the area, tomorrow’s about the campgrounds, then onto some of the many hikes we enjoyed. To sum up our experience – great! Definitely something to add to your travel list when in the area (a great day trip from Las Vegas, for sure)!

The Valley of Fire is so named due to the red sandstone formations when dinosaurs roamed the planet. Since then (about 150 million years ago), extensive erosion has resulted in what we enjoy today. The Basket Maker people and (later) the Anasazi Pueblo farmers enjoyed this area as well, although it is doubtful that they lived here, due to the lack of constant water. Most likely, the Native Americans that enjoyed this area came for short times, to hunt, gather food, and partake in religious ceremonies.

Spring and fall are the best times to visit Valley of Fire State Park, as temperatures can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in summer and zero in winter. The Visitor Center is open 8:30-4:30 daily and has a nice museum detailed the flora and fauna of the area. We happened to see a rare sight – a big horn sheep! He seemed to make Atlatl Campground his home, as we (and other campers) saw him numerous times in the morning.

There is a $10 daily entrance fee – not inexpensive. However, if you camp at the Valley of Fire, the daily $10 entrance fee is applied to your camping fee.