I would recommend a stop at this park for the unique rock formations and desert wildlife that may be encountered. We didn’t have time to find the other treasures of this park like the petrified wood or petroglyphs to be found here. We had all the time in the world for many pictures of the Bighorn Sheep at the Valley of Fire visitor’s center. We were expecting the Bighorn Sheep at Zion, but only had a brief glimpse of one on the way into the park. It was the best wildlife stop of the entire trip saved the best for last before heading onto Las Vegas.Įven after we left, we had another encounter with a bighorn Sheep just down the road that posed for us. As we pulled up to the visitor’s center, there was a circular area of cactus and bushes in front of the center that had another four or five Big Horned Sheep, quail, and chipmunks scurrying around and eating the cactus. There is a roadside rest area that allows one to park and get out for a picture.Īs we pulled into the visitor’s center, there were four Desert Bighorn Sheep right next to the road as we entered. Our first stop on entering the park was a stop for a photo op of Elephant Rock that is a rock outcropping right on the side of the road. Although our stops were brief, the visitor’s center turned out to be one of the best wildlife stops on our entire tour. This was a brief stop at the visitor’s center and a couple of roadside stops for photo ops. We stopped at The Valley of Fire National Park, NV on our way to Las Vegas from Zion National Park in Utah. It does get pretty busy for a hiking trail but of course nothing like the crowds in Vegas! And if you’re anything like us, you’ll leave here thinking that a place as beautiful and accessible as this is a worthy destination on its own. Definitely doable for fairly young kids as well as reasonably fit seniors. Highly recommend taking a loop hike from Fire Wave to White Domes (check it out on All Trails) a moderate hike of just over 3 miles that will take you past every color rock you can imagine, through slot canyons and out of this world rock formations. But if you can visit during the cooler months, it’s definitely a thrill to take a hike or two and see these wonders up close. So much natural beauty all around and you can see quite a bit of it from your car. Due to overcast and windy conditions, we wound up with just one hiking day and we spent it here. We were coming south after a couple of days in Death Valley and planned to layover in Las Vegas to visit both Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon. Spent a sunny day here in mid March and it was just a perfect day trip. but it will make for a VERY long day and they are in opposite directions. We enjoyed Red Rock and spent a few hours there one day to get off the strip for a while. BUT if you can do both.go to Red Rock first and then Valley Of Fire. If you are trying to choose between Red Rock and Valley of Fire. The weather was cool and beautiful but I would dress in layers this time of year. They have a small gift shop with clean bathrooms inside the park. Of course if you love long hikes you will have plenty of options to do them. You could easily bring an older family member and they could enjoy a lot just from the car ride. We did not want to do any long strenous hikes in the park and it was a breeze to see lots of things without doing that. We really wanted to see the sunset in Valley of Fire but there wasn't time to do both and I am glad we did not make the trip to Hoover in the dark. Since sunset was 5-6ish we arrived at Hoover when it was almost dark. We went out a different entrance when leaving Valley of Fire. I believe it was another state park of some sort or recreation area. On the way, we drove through another nature area but I cannot remember the name of it. We spent 5 hours or so in the park and then headed to Hoover Dam. Make sure you stock up on food, and drinks in Vegas. The big mistake was that we did not bring any food or snacks. We woke up early and grabbed coffee and breakfast and set out for the day. It is only 50 miles outside Vegas and makes for an easy day trip. This is a beautiful and interesting park with areas that make you feel like you are on another planet. We took 4 teen girls (17yrs-19yrs) and we could barely get them to leave.
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