So, I was really pushing it when I drove to Valley of Fire, well over an hour north of Las Vegas and really and truly out in the middle on nowhere. This is no-reservation campground, and I got there just at dusk, really panicking as I drove as I do not like to drive at night. Parking an RV at night is even worse than driving at night. The only sites left with electricity when I got there were handicap sites, but I took one anyway. I was pretty sure no handicap person would be arriving that late, plus I did not want to have to rely only on my furnaces and burn through so much propane. So I parked and plugged in my electric heater. Whew.
As expected, the ranger came visiting in the morning. I apologized for parking in a handicapped spot, and she was fine with it, but pointed out that I would have to move, which I knew anyway. Luckily, as we were talking I could see the people across from me hooking up, and the lady hollered over that they were leaving right away, so I could have their spot. So I raced over with my "Campsite Occupied" sign that a friend had made for me!
I have been to this state park several times and really love it. Whoever designed the campground was smart enough to put it in a place where it is surrounded by red, craggy outcroppings with a view of the valley. Any some spots, including mine, face away from the other RVs, for a better view!!
Lots of space between sites. This is my nearest neighbor, although there had been another RV a little closer earlier in the week.
Campground sits surrounded by red rocks.
And this is the view over the valley.
These are the rocks nearest my site.
Later that day, I got my electric bike out and went for a short ride to check out the other, non-electric campground, just in case I ever came in again late in the day.
I liked this strange looking rock. It looks like the middle just crumbled a few eons ago.
And a very small arch rock.
Interesting looking holes in the rock. In fact, there are a lot of wind or weather or whatever caused shallow holes in almost all of the rock faces.
Valley of Fire was named for its red rocks, but it is known for its ancient rock art. This is a stairway the park service has built to make some of them accessible.
The iron in the red rock forms a dark crust over time. This made a perfect surface for the ancient artists. All they had to do was peck at the surface with another rock, and the underneath red rock shown through. This also made their designs last longer than if they had painted in vegetable or mineral colors.
No one knows for sure what these drawings mean, but you might guess at some. This looks like the suns rays to me. And there seems to be an upside down animal, maybe upside down because the artist was above and leaning down.
The drawings here are very faint, so probably very old.
This one is interesting because it is drawn directly on the corner of the rock. Can you see where the edge has been pecked off and looks a little like a person?
No comments:
Post a Comment