Valley of Fire

February 23rd 2020

Sunday morning at about 7 am, a full cup of coffee and Baileys, the sun has risen over the mountains to the east of our park, after an unusual rainy day in Nevada. And we are looking for something to do. Oh we could just kick back as we did yesterday, but after a week on the strip and all the hustle and bustle it is hard to just stop going. So today we are heading north on I-15 to Nevada’s first state park, our GPS told us it would be a 65 minute drive. Now we have never been to this park even being in the Vegas area multiple times over the last twenty plus years, no it wasn’t until I seen some of Gary Carey’s Facebook posts over the last week or so that it really peaked our interest.

And as luck would have it after a couple of hikes at the park, we were heading back toward the visitor center and I caught a glimpse of a face I recognized, it was Gary and Jean as they we pulling into an open spot near the fire wave hike, it always amazes me just how small this world really is. We met Gary and Jean November 2018 at the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in Florida, these kids have been boondocking before boondocking was cool and we have learned a lot from them through their posts and our chats.

Miss Laurie posing with a few big horn sheep. Wildlife has always seemed very elusive through our travels, two months in Newfoundland and we never seen a moose, two months in Arizona and a couple of ground squirrels and a few bunnies, despite all those wildlife signs…

The views that we seen, the rock formations, the colours, the wildlife, this has been an amazing day trip. Before we had even made it to the gate we ran across a dozen sheep resting near the side of the road, the park fee was $10 per car, a far better deal than the inflated prices at the Hoover dam. Miss Laurie is the photographer of this operation, taking 250 photos to day along. Her photos just make my phone photos just look sad, but I didn’t set this up as a photo blog, so my photos just are only designed to help paint a picture of what I’m trying to explain, I may have met my match with this park. Neither photos or words can do this park justice, as I spoke with Gary he said they had passed through this area a few years ago and he said at that time they just did not recognize it’s beautiful that he and Jean have found now. I’m just going to add a couple more photos and try again in a couple of weeks when I do an attraction review. So just enjoy and given the opportunity to see this park for your self and take advantage of the opportunity, it is truly beyond my expectations…just saying.