Tag: desert

We got our nature fix in Valley Of Fire State Park last weekend. It was my second visit, and my daughter’s first visit. She was amazed, and I totally understand why. Valley of Fire is a spiritual place, it feels like you are on another planet. Time stands still. You’re surrounded by infinity.

The sandstones formations takes all shapes you possibly can imagine, and some more. On top of that they come in all the colors of the rainbow.

The photo above is right in the beginning of White Dome Hike. Can you see the people coming down the trail? You feel very small and humble in this landscape.

Transformers was filmed here, along with many other famous movies like; Star Trek Generations, The Professionals, and Total Recall (and many more, including hundreds of car commercials.)

Part of the movie set of The Professionals with Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, and Claudia Cardinale, is still viewable for visitor that hike the White Dome’s. Seen at the right, bottom corner, of the photo above.

The park is filled with caves everywhere you look. It’s easy to assume that the first human inhabitants of the area was cave dwellers.

My German Shepherd enjoyed this visit a lot more than the first visit three months ago, as it was 50 degrees cooler than the last time!

It’s so exciting to explore the narrow canyons. Valley of Fire is 60 miles north-east of Las Vegas Strip, but as far away from the craziness of the city as you can get. A one hour drive and you’re HERE. It’s surreal.

We actually saw many horses, and some mules. (And yes, the first thing I did when I got back home was to look at horse ads..) I so want to ride here one day. I’ll add that to my bucket list. I actually stopped a cowboy that was walking next to his horse, and asked him if he arranged rides in the park. It looked like he was leading a group of riders. Unfortunately he didn’t, I would of signed up for a ride in a heart beat.

My daughter wanted to examine every rock. Literally. I’ll probably purchase a pass for the whole year. I can see us spending many days here; exploring, hiking, taking pictures, and enjoying nature together as a mama-daughter activity.

My daughter made up a gazillion stories about the rock formations we saw. Many of them including giant people that had a big fight there, and turned into rocks. Very intersting theories.

Most of the sandstone formations looks so soft and smooth. That’s the work of wind and water. There’s many theories about the interesting colors of some of the rocks. I tend to believe that the colors comes from the metals and minerals in the ground, that have surrounded the rocks, during periods of time when the area have been under water.

I’m going to end this (very long) post with a close-up of the “old woman”, in the White Dome Family.

You can see her, right?

If you stayed with me this far, THANK YOU! I enjoyed sharing my latest experience of Valley of Fire with you. Have an amazing week!

Love,

Ms Zen