Valley of Fire Day 2

February 8th, 2022

Exploring today was on tap, we started at looking at some petrified logs not to far from our campground they dated back to and estimated 150 million years! Then we headed to the visitors center to get some firewood for tonight our last night here. After looking at the displays of history and animals we headed to the White Domes it is called which are actually just huge rocks that are whitish compared to the red rock of the canyon here. Down the trail which is 1.25 miles long round trip is a slot canyon that is pretty cool both in appearance but also quite a bit cooler than the outside air. The trip down to the canyon is pretty steep at 180’ drop, coming back up was a little easier on the loop back. After that we headed to see a rock called Elephant rock which if it is the one we found it was a poor excuse to call it elephant rock, when we were hiking the White Dome trail I came across one that is way more elephant like. Also on the way to White Domes, we came across a bighorn sheep wondering in the road.

Leaving White Domes we stopped by some Stone Cabins that were built back in 1935 by Civilian Conservation Corps and behind those were a whole rock face of Petroglyphs. In fact there are several places here to look at Petroglyphs all quite interesting.

As the day wound down and we headed back to camp I was going to show Deanna the other side of the campground which is a road that winds through the mountains, well the other end is a one way which actually worked out very well since I just drove a bit past the entrance to turn around and when I started I had right ahead of me 5 Bighorn rams! Got some really great shots of them. So on this trip Deanna got to see well over a dozen Bighorn which she had been hoping to see back at our winter home in the desert but they are pretty elusive and never know where they will be found. This trip to Valley of Fire cured that problem! 

To end the evening we sat by a campfire and talked about all the great sites and campsites we shared, from the Borrego sculptures to the Anza Desert Canyons and camping on the edge to the Trona Pinnacles and 5 miles of horrible road to Death Valley and a frightening time of overheating the brakes do to such a long steep downhill run into Death Valley which by the way was probably appropriately named and then finishing the planned trip to here at Valley of Fire, none of us could pick the best place we stayed since each spot had such great qualities in different aspects, none were better than the others but each had something special and the most special was spending it with friends and traveling together and having so much fun. This is just one of may future planned trips. We are already contemplating a trip back here to the Valley for a little stay and then on the the Great Basin monument and then the Great Basin National park but before that we are planning about a week at an Arizona State Park called Alamo which is only about 50 miles from us. Stay tuned and follow along!