Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire State Park was dedicated in 1935.

It is the oldest state park in Nevada.

Our route was along Northshore Road through the Lake Mead National Recreation Park. Our senior pass came in handy. We followed Lake Mead for several miles. Going via "avoid highways" added a few miles to the trip.
We made a quick stop at Redstone...its a picnic and hiking area.




We drove about 41 miles and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
Northshore Road




We turned left onto Valley of Fire Road,  the main road through the park. This 10.5 mile road connects the east and west entrances of the park.


Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs...150 million years ago.


These features, which are the centerpiece of the park's attractions, often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun's rays.







 We had our picnic at Seven Sisters. This a group of 7 tall, red, eroded boulders surrounded by sandy desert.
These cute little chipmunks were everywhere and quite friendly.

 We saw a side-bloched lizard too, but he was way to fast for me to get a picture.
Joe was very patient as I said, "Oh stop!" every few minutes! I so love the wildflowers and cacti along the road.


...spring and fall are the best times of the year to visit...

Valley of Fire is Navada's largest state park...


...almost 42,000 acres...
...other rock formations include limestone, shales, and conglomerates...
...complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape...

...prehistoric users included the Basket Maker people ...










































We had such a wonderful ride today. The weather was, once again, just perfect...high of 78F with a nice breeze.  I took way to many pictues... it's hard to decide what to post and what to leave out. Believe it or not, this is a small sample of the 498 pics I downloaded.

Thanks Pam for posting about Valley of Fire. Your pictures put the park on our "must do" list while staying in Las Vegas.

Thanks for visiting...y'all come back again!

Oh, we found an Indian and a turtle in the rocks today.....did you see them?

12 comments:

  1. So glad you got to experience Valley of Fire. There weren't any wildflowers when we were there:( But that was alright, the rocks were my flowers!
    I enjoyed revisiting through your pictures.

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  2. That is such a beautiful park. Jim is also real good about stopping when I yell at him that I want to take a picture. Sometimes it happens every couple of feet.

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  3. That is some red rocks! Art knows when I yell stop he does and backs ups pulls forward, backs up really patient with me too. Sounds like all our guys are being that way. That is nice.

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  4. I have been thinking about going there after the Grand Canyon in April. Now I'm definitly putting it on our list.

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  5. We also enjoyed Red Rock Canyon as a one day trip and hike when we were in Las Vegas in January.

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  6. Great rock pictures. I personally, love that NP Senior Pass, saved me tons of money when I was on the road, even last summer on my car road trip!!

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  7. Don't you just love those red rocks???!!! Are you going to head up to Bryce..a must see.

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  8. I DID see the Indian and turtle! I also love Pearl! So happy for you both!

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  9. Hey! I recognize these pictures. We are just down the road from Valley of Fire. I love, love, love that place. We leave for Colorado in less than two weeks but I will be going there a few more times before we go. Nothing like sitting in the lawn chairs watching the sun go down.

    If you are still in the area, let us know. Would be fun to meet up with you.

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  10. Such a beautiful area. Nice you were able to snap so may photos.

    The little "chipmunks" you saw may be golden-mantle ground squirrels. Chipmunks have stripes on the sides of their face.

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