Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire is located about 45 minutes northeast of Las Vegas and is Neveda’s largest state park. The geological wonderland became known as “Valley of Fire” in the 1920s after gaining popularity with travelers. The name derives from the way the red sandstone formations in the park appear to be on fire in the hour before sunset. The park opened in 1934 and was Neveda’s first state park. Over 150 million years ago during the age of the dinosaurs, the park was covered with vast sand dunes. Time and pressure turned those sand dunes into the spectacular red sandstone formations that make Valley of Fire one of the top state park destinations in America.

For thousands of years, Valley of Fire was home to many Native American tribes including the Ancient Puebloans between 500-1100AD and more recently the Southern Paiutes. All throughout the park, there is evidence of their presence in the form of petroglyphs (carvings into the desert varnish which covers the sandstone). One of the famous locations is a spot called Atlatl Rock, also my campground, which has stairs leading up to the petroglyphs.

Petrified trees are rather common throughout the West, and Valley of Fire has several specimens found in the park. The petrified logs found in Valley of Fire probably grew in forests that were miles away and were carried to the valley by flood waters before being covered by silt, sand, and sea deposits. They were a type of primitive evergreens called Araucarian Pines which still grow south of the equator. While the logs were buried, ground water containing minerals worked its way into the microscopic air pockets of the wood tissues. As the wood decomposed, minerals filled the available voids creating the petrified log. The colors of the petrified logs are usually caused by the oxidation of iron or manganese.

The desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) is a subspecies of bighorn sheep and are native to the deserts of the United States, particularly the Mohave and Sonoran deserts. Just like bighorn sheep, the desert bighorn sheep are adapted to living and climbing on steep rock formations. However, their special adaptation is the ability to go for extended periods of time without drinking water. The desert bighorn sheep is also the state mammal of Neveda. During my stay at Valley of Fire, I encountered large herds of desert bighorn sheep around my Atlatl Rock campground, on the trials, and even on the roads!

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