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After spending several days hiking Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park in October, my parents and I started to make our way back to Las Vegas, from where we were to fly out. Luckily, we spent a night at Valley of Fire State Park, which is just a short drive from Las Vegas and more of our wheelhouse than Vegas itself.
The drive through the desert on our approach to the Valley of Fire State Park was amazing. The landscape seemed almost alien – Martian even. There were these weird red rocks jutting out of the landscape, with wadis (dry riverbeds) criss-crossing the road.
As we only had one day in the park, we were able to just take a few short hikes. One of the remarkable sites we saw were rocks covered in petroglyphs. At the start of the hike, there was a petroglyph legend with explanations of the drawings we saw, including a ‘batwoman.’ Awesome! My dad and I tried another hike that promised spectacular views of rock formations, but the signage was rather poor and we spent a good 30 minutes wandering around a flat, sandy plain dotted with cacti.
We also spotted some cute critters that looked like chipmunks – antelope squirrels. These little beggars popped up when we were sitting by the firepit after a day’s hiking, looking at us and looking for food. The park warns against feeding them, though, because they can carry the bubonic plague!
After living for so long in Saudi Arabia, hiking Valley of Fire State Park felt like home. It was hot and sunny but very dry, a much different desert climate than either Zion or Bryce. The sand and the red rocks were also characteristic of desert areas we camped in around Riyadh. And given the relentless winter we’ve had this year in Toronto, I can only reminisce about what it feels like to be in the warm sunlight.
