Spring Break Trip, Part 1

Dates: Mar. 20, 2024

Crew: Yisha Ng, Monica Mah, Ben Hall, Kai Cui

Locations: Valley of Fire State Park, NV

In Valleys of Death and Fire...

The park has one main road that runs west-east, and one spur road which we drove all the way down to do the 1-mile white domes loop. Desert wildlife was out and about enjoying the spring sun, with chipmunks, many birds around the visitor center feeders, and herds of desert bighorn sheep roving around and blocking the roads at their leisure.

The white domes loop took us through sandy, sun-baked walkways to a slot canyon, which was shady and cool. Along the way we also passed the ruins of an old 1960s Hollywood western set, with one crumbling stone wall and wooden beams still standing. Formations of red and white sandstone rose everywhere out of the desert, usually with the two colors meeting in a disparate clash.

The sun was getting strong when we finished White Domes and moved on to the Fire Wave. Probably the most famous site in the park, the rock is heavily banded with red/orange/pink/white and moves in fluid curves to come to a point, literally like a wave about to crash. To escape the tourists a bit, we opted to continue past the wave instead of turning right back, and did the ~3 mile loop to combine the Fire Wave and Seven Wonders hikes. The seven wonders is a less official trail but takes you through a variety of canyons and overlooks, through all kinds of swirling and striated sandstone.

Less wildlife out here in the barren stone hills, but we did make friends with one curious Chuckawalla and watch more desert sheep clamber along high rocks.

We were feeling done with hiking after the Seven Wonders loop, but there were still plenty of roadside views to see. On the way back to the main park road we stopped at Fire Canyon Overlook, where an ocean of white rock and red rock combine over the dry canyon. That view was cool, but the coolest one was actually something we stole from an instagram post that Monica saw; pulling off while coming back down White Domes road, you can scramble up on some large roadside boulders and use a telephoto lens to get one of my favorite types of pictures - a ribbon of road stretching into the cliffs and mountains beyond.

The last stop at the eastern end of the park is for Elephant rock, a collection of vertical formations and arches that combine to form the side profile of a walking elephant, head and trunk leading the way. The coolest thing was that from where you park, it just looks like any other pile of rocks, but when you take the hike up the short trail, you come around the side and the elephant comes into focus. It's wild how realistic it is with a bit of imagination in your mind's eye!

For a relatively small park, Valley of Fire packed a lot of punch! The winter/early spring was absolutely the right time to be there with tolerable temps and visible wildlife.  This was just the first half of the first day in a week long trip, so there's much more to come. With the red rocks in our rearview mirror, we were off to the only Valley with a scarier name - the one and only Death Valley.