Surprises and Striations at Valley of Fire State Park

In my last post, I left off with a photo of Elephant Rock at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. If you only have time to visit one natural area during a trip out that way, this is a good one because there's so much to see. It's about 45 miles northeast of downtown Las Vegas.

As this sign describes, Valley of Fire was Nevada's first state park, and it included 8,760 acres (now it includes more than 40,000 acres). While we hiked in other natural areas near Vegas, we drove during most of our tour of this park.



There were some surprises during our day, including several patches of Silver Leaf Senna (S. artemisioides). I didn't really have preconceived ideas about the plants we would see, but this one was lovely and colorful against the red rock.



Another surprise was how close the bighorn sheep were to the road. It wasn't difficult at all for me to simply roll down the window and click a few photos of the regal creatures. While I'd seen them before during other trips, I believe this was the closest I've been to them in the wild.



We knew about the petroglyphs in the area, but there were so many and they were easily accessible during stops along the driving tour.



This set of historic cabins was built for travelers with Valley of Fire sandstone by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The cabins are nifty to explore, both inside and to view the scenes around them.



Another surprise: this petrified log from millions of years ago.



This sign explained its transformation from wood to stone. Other info described it as an "ancient pine" that grew near the park during the Age of Reptiles, about 150 million years ago.

Other fun finds at Valley of Fire included the red rock formations, including Elephant Rock shown at the beginning of this post. Many were marked and named, but I didn't take photos of all the signs.



There were naturally formed caves,



Rock ranges poking out of the sandy soil,



And stratified, striking rock structures, formed from compressed and cemented ancient sand dunes.

Many of the formations resembled animals and other living creatures:



A rabbit?



Some type of alien creature?



A horse eating vegetation?

There were so many amazing views, just a few included here:

The rock formations and scenes were fascinating and awe-inspiring, both close up and wide angle. I'm remembering this trip with great fondness--for many reasons, including the pure beauty of it. Highly recommended.