Leslie and David's Wanderings: 3 July 2021 Valley of Fire State Park

We had seen a lot about Valley of Fire State Park while researching things to do around Las Vegas. So it was at the top of our list. We headed out in the late morning for the park. It is 58 miles from where we are parked. The temperatures in Las Vegas were headed for 109 degrees, so we were hoping the park would be cooler. The exit off I-15 is onto an Indian Reservation for 20 miles to the western border with the park. It is very desolate country. The entrance fee was $15 (because we were out of state visitors). After looking over the map, we turned off the main park road at the scenic loop, a gravel road that takes you through some red rock formations before joining the paved road by the campgrounds. We stopped at Arch Rock to grab some photos of the red arch when another visitor started pointing up on the rocks behind the arch. Tucked back in the shadows of a cave, you could see 7-8 Big Horn Sheep sleeping the hot day away in the shade. Temperatures were over 110 degrees in the park. So much for finding cooler temperatures. Next stop was the Atlatl Rock, where there were some 2000 year old pictographs including one that shows a hunter using an Atlatl. We then stopped at the visitor center for some postcards before heading up the scenic drive into the heart of the red rock formations. We stopped at the Silica Dome, a rock formation made out of pure silica, where the Star Trek scene where Capt. Kirk is killed was filmed. The rock formations certainly seem unworldly! The colors in the rock were spectacular. Unfortunately the Wave trail was closed due to the heat. But we still enjoyed the drive. On the way out of the east gate, we stopped to see the cabins that were built by the CCC in 1936 for the first visitors to this park. Exiting the park to the east, we entered Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Just past the fee station we took a gravel road to an overlook for the now deserted town of St. Thomas. The remains of the town was covered when Lake Mead filled up in the 1940s. But the lake is now at record low levels and the church from the town is visible on a vast dry plain. The Lake has not been full since 1983 due to water usage and record drought. We continued south along North Shore road (there was no shoreline visible for most of the drive) until eventually we could see water and we turned down one of the access roads toward the lake. The lake is so low it was not really accessible unless you were ready to do some rock climbing. So we continued down to Henderson where we stopped at Famous Dave’s BBQ for some take out food. We haven’t seen a Famous Dave’s since our last visit to Junction City. Finally getting back to the Wanderer after 8pm to realize we had missed the Las Vegas RV Resort 4^thof July party. We had enjoyed our day so much we had forgotten about the party.