Valley of Fire State Park {Nevada}







Desert driving in our convertible!





This past weekend we spent Superbowl 49 hiking at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, about an hour northeast of Las Vegas.  Yeah, I am actually from New England, but football really isn't a sport we're into.  And I figured the parks would be quiet... so let's go for a hike!  Oh... and the "we" is me and my husband, Dave.  This was a weekend get-a-way for us and I did not take a yoga class while we were there... so Nevada is still yet to be checked off my 50 States of Yoga list.

When we arrived into Las Vegas Saturday night the rental car terminal had experience a power outage.  It took an hour and a half for us to get our rental car.  I was able to sweet talk the guy into upgrading us to a convertible, too - so we had the perfect "drive through the desert" car.  If I ever end up moving to a desert locale, I will definitely get a convertible - it makes "winter" driving there just amazing!

The drive is up Interstate 15 for a half hour or so, then onto a byway for about another 30 minutes.  We had never been here before, so when we stated seeing The Muddy Mountains we "ooo"ed and "aahhh"ed and took a bunch of photos.  We didn't realize we would soon round a corner and find more mountains ablaze in coppers and fiery reds!

The Muddy Mountains

And here it is...  The Valley of Fire!  It really was impressive.  The photos don't do it justice.  Although I try to take good ones!

"Beehives"

Dave really is a good sport, allowing me to snap endless photos of him!

Deep in the park is an area called White Domes where you can hike down into a valley {below}.  Once in the valley you will find ruins from an old movie set of the 1960s.   From there the hike takes you through "The Narrows" which is a tight area with tall walls of multi-colored sandstone formations on both sides and a narrow path.

Into "The Narrows"

Here comes the sad part, for me anyway.  I had several more photos after this last one... of the rest of the hike through White Domes and of the famous Arch Rock.  Somehow while uploading the photos onto my computer there was a Catastrophic Failure.  I don't know what that means, exactly, other than it ate the rest of my photos, deleted them from my camera, and emptied them from the Recycle Bin!  I'm hoping when my husband has a minute to look at the computer, he will be able to find them.... hiding in some super secret place somewhere.  If not... we'll have to go back again!  =D  If he does retrieve them... I will update this post below!