2dodges2go: 1/19/2011 – Valley of Fire Nevada SP

January 23, 2011

1/19/2011 – Valley of Fire Nevada SP

Valley of Fire is a Nevada State Park about 50 miles from Las Vegas. We went there the day they were working on the financing for the loan for the new trailer.

There are some pretty cool rock formations near the campgrounds. For some reason they call this one Arch Rock.

This isn't the one they call Elephant Rock, but I think it looks like one!

Atlatl Rock has a big staircase built up one side where you can see a lot of petroglyphs. You can also see a lot of graffiti, which is both sad and annoying. There’s a trail that goes all the way around the rock that has even more petroglyphs.

After a stop at the Visitor Center, we hiked the Petroglyph Canyon Trail to Mouse's Tank. Since they named the trail that, we expected to see more petroglyphs; as a matter of fact, we did.

A little explanation is due here. The Mouse of Mouse's Tank isn't your standard rodent. "Little Mouse" was the name of a renegade Paiute who hid out in the area in the 1890s--so he probably was a rat, after all. A tank is a natural basin in the rock that collects rainwater.

While there, George got a call from the salesman asking for additional info. The only place we could get a cell phone signal was at Rainbow Vista. His phone wouldn’t work, but he could get a signal on mine. As soon as he’d heard the loan was approved, George couldn’t wait to get back to town and sign the rest of the papers.

I wanted to hike, so we compromised: we'd hike the White Domes Loop, with its brilliant contrasting colors in the sandstone, and then we’d go back to town--the short way.