Tripometer – 10,258 mi
Gas Gauge – 788.351 gal
Location – BLM Land, Valley of Fire Hwy, Overton, NV
Lodging – FREE
Cans of OFF – 4
Today was full of surprises. It was a rainy morning in the RV Park when we woke fairly early and the cloudy weather lasted for most of the day. While having coffee in the morning before heading out we heard a persistent rushing water sound coming from a nearby Rental RV. (We would guess that just about half of the RVs in the RV park were rented from companies such as Cruise America or El Monte RV.) One of the rented RVs was pouring water from each wheel well, the door wells, and in a couple of other places. Something went horribly wrong inside. When the occupants returned they were overheard to say that this is the third time this has happened on their trip. The party that was staying in the RV only stayed for a short time. They changed clothes and left the RV again. For the second time that morning we had to go over and turn off their water supply because the motorhome had started to leak all over the place like it was just pulled from a lake.
Apparently that $100 chip in Dave’s pocket started to burn a hole because Dave decided to give the blackjack table one more shot this morning before we rolled out of the RV park. He returned fairly quickly $20 poorer and cured of gambling fever. This leaves his winning streak up $60 on a $20 investment. Pretty good for a weekend in Vegas!
Once the coffee set in and the flood induced shock had worn off, we headed off this morning with the intention of driving to the Kanab, Utah area to get a campsite for a few days. We plan to use this campsite as a basecamp while we visit Bryce and Zion Canyons before heading off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There is a lot of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in the area and we will look to stay for free tonight along the way. While visiting in Washington a few weeks ago, Paul’s nephew Christopher highly recommended that we visit Valley of Fire State Park just outside of Las Vegas. We structured our travel plans today to take us through that area. Driving east and then north out of Las Vegas we drove for most of the morning along the dramatically expanding Lake Mead shoreline.
Always looking for pull offs and roadside stops as we travel we all pulled off at a sign for Roger’s Spring right before the turn to the Valley of Fire. What we found at the edge of the parking lot was an honest-to-god desert oasis complete with palm trees and a fresh water spring. The spring was mildly sulfurous and had plenty of signs warning not to drink the water due to the possible presence of brain-eating amoebas (shudder). We certainly didn’t expect to find this today!
As soon as we entered the park, the Valley of Fire looked like a destination where we were going to want to spend some time. Rock formations hundreds of feet high towered over smaller rock structures suitable for hiking and climbing. The two rocks towering over a picnic table pictured above really give a feel for the scale of the formations in this park and the way the park has nestled the recreation areas into the surrounding topography.
After we took in the beautiful visitor’s center in the park we drove out into the valley to view the Fire Wave, the park’s cornerstone attraction. We took a short hike along a sandy path to view the result of vividly colored ancient sand dunes being slowly eroded in beautiful patterns. The vivid colors in the rocks really struck us. Had the sun been out consistently today the coloration in the far hills would have popped more. If you look carefully at the hills behind the Fire Wave you can see reds, yellows, whites, purples, and even greens in the rocks. On our hike to the Fire Wave we saw a large group (perhaps 20) of mountain goats lying in a shady valley. On our way back we found a desert tarantula pancake on the highway which is as close as any of us wants to get to one of those.
Leaving the Valley of Fire quite late in the evening we pulled off of the Valley of Fire Highway and parked both trailer rigs at a pull off on BLM land. Traffic on the road was light to begin with and trickled to near zero after dark making our proximity to the road (~25 feet) acceptable to sleep. The view from our site was amazing, warranting the panoramic photo above. The sunset was fantastic to watch as we cooked dinner on the shoulder. It was a great site to introduce Dave to the RV lifestyle. Play it loose and look for beautiful places to park the trailer!
Okay, so this trip was such a marathon of awesome sights and things to do that I had forgotten about that Desert Oasis. I really need to take more pictures.