11/5 Valley of Fire State Park, NV

This is one of my favorite places in Nevada--huge state park with lots of red rock and fantastic views.  Also, small bands of wandering Big Horn sheep that visit the campground or can be seen along the roadways in the park.  I am happy to be able to stay here for the maximum 14 days allowed. 

 

 

I was happy to get a handicap spot--the last electric hookup spot in the campground.  This is a first-come, first-served campground, which means you cannot make reservations and just need to be lucky enough to get there as a site opens up.  (Note: This has changed for 2023, so you can now make reservations through the Nevada State Parks system.)

I had pulled in the wrong way, but before I turned around, I dumped off my "Site Occupied, Be Right Back" sign and put a tablecloth on my picnic table so other people could tell the site was occupied.  The camp hosts immediately stopped by and verified that I had a handicap parking tag.  Whew!

If I had not been able to get an electric site, I would have taken a spot with no electric service and then moved in the morning. 

 

 As you can see, the campground is circled by red rocks on three sides.  It was a beautiful day, a bit chilly but warm in the sun, so I went for a walk around the campground.  I met a lady staring up into these rocks and discovered that her son and three grandsons were climbing the peak on the right!! 

 

There was a relatively long and heavy rain yesterday, so a lot of places had sand washed away.  They were able to move sand back with a small bulldozer, but this spot was just marked so drivers would not go off the side.  

 

 

One thing interesting and a bit unnerving about this campground is the fact that the rock walls surrounding it are more than a bit crumbling.  There are several big rocks that look like they are ready to fall, such as the one below.  What you can't see in this photo is that there are campers just below it.  

 

 

Here is another likely candidate to fall in even a small earthquake.   Except this one is the size of a small house.

 

 

 

And the whole side of this cliff face looks ready to slip.  In fact, you can tell it has already slid a few feet, so it would not take much for it to slide all the way down.

 

As I was walking around, I noticed some Bighorn Sheep tracks in the wet sand.  Notice how one foot is closely put in the same space as another one.  These are so fresh, they had to be made this morning. 

It was fun following the tracks as they went directly through the campground!  I have seen the Bighorn sheep many times in other visits here, so maybe I will see them tomorrow.

This was on the sidewalk in front of the restroom/shower facility, so the sheep have definitely been here!!

I was told the Bighorns have learned to get a drink by turning on campsite faucets.  These levers are perfect for sheep noses!!   This is the double water hookup for my campsite, and I had not noticed before that each outlet has a cap that can be screwed on.  Wonder if it is there to prevent sheep from turning on the water?

Last time I was here in January, 2021, I had been worried about the thirsty sheep, but discovered that there were two "wildlife guzzlers" in the mountains in this 44,000 acre state park.  A guzzler is a tank and rain catchment system that is usually installed by volunteer groups so that rainwater is collected into underground tanks where it is slowly released to be available to thirst birds and other animals.  Here is an article explaining about wildlife guzzlers:  What's a Wildlife Guzzler?

 Here is a video showing animals using a guzzler:  Animals on Camera, Water for Wildlife

During drought periods, some organizations and governmental units have used fire-fighting helicopters to dump water into these systems.  Apparently, they are all over the western states.  This article was written a year ago about the Nevada Department of Wildlife filling up guzzlers in Valley of Fire:  Drought raises reliance on Nevada desert wildlife ‘guzzlers’