Valley of Fire

Day 14. Arch rock again & off to the visitor center to see about a map.
Got to the visitor center & it won't open for a couple more hours so I decided to hike to Ephemeral arch. About a 3.2km round trip it is bascially a route but reasonably well defined, likely due to the photography guidebook I was using increasing the number of visitors.

The arch bears on this little narrow point, hence the name "Ephemeral".

Back in the van I decide to pop out of the park at the east end & down to the Overton Arm of Lake Mead.
Stopped at Rogers Spring where a hotspring comes out of the ground & is surrounded by Washingtonian Palms looking for all the world like the proverbial oasis in the desert. Scrambled up to a small cave overlooking Lake Mead.
The hotspring pool.

Went down as far as Redstone, which is a smaller version of Valley of Fire.

Back into Valley of Fire State Park & stopped at Elephant Rock, the parks "mascot".

Next stop past Rainbow Vista to White Domes.
At White Domes there is a 2km loop interpretive trail that takes in most of the features of the area including a small slot canyon.

Just past the slot at the apex of the loop I diverted cross country up the wash for a kilometer or so exploring the amazing variety of small arches, alcoves, & colored rock.






A beetle creeps across the cryptobiotic crust on the soil. I took care as much as possible to travel on the sand or stone outcrop as the cryptobiotic soil is very sensitive & can be destroyed by walking on it. (it is alive)






Can't you just see the Coyote & Road Runner booking down this road?
Fire Canyon / Silica Dome. Interesting color variances in the various layers of stone.

Now what really makes The Valley of Fire pop is sunlight, and so far I had been pretty much foiled in that department except for fleeting moments when blue sky would appear but the sun remained by & large behind cloud cover. I found a place to setup for a potential sunset that could creep in under the cloud on the horizon. In this alcove I was protected from the rain which lasted for all of thirty seconds. By now Moe was back & shoveling out his driveway so I certainly can't complain.



Not much of a sunset, but the moon rise was cool.

Overall the park was quiet with vistors peaking during the middle of the day as this park is within easy reach of Las Vegas. Better than Vegas x 1000.