Blogs from Valley of the Fire State Park, Nevada, United States, North America

Dedicated in 1935, Valley of Fire is Nevada's oldest state park. It is located only 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The rough floor and jagged walls of the park contain brilliant formations of eroded sandstone and sand dunes more than 150 million years old. These features, which are the centerpiece of the park's attractions, often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun's rays. Valley of Fire State Park is located in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. It abuts Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the Virgin River confluence. It lies in a basin 4 miles wide by 6 miles long, 15 miles southwest of Overton, Nevada. Its elevation varies between 2,000 and 2,600 feet. Climate Typical low desert conditions exist. Winters are mild with temperatures ... read more

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." I've visited Las Vegas so many times in the last 6 years, I cannot possibly offer any new stories with you. On Friday morning, I jogged 5+ miles from Venetian, past Mandalay Bay, to the I-15 entrance and came back. We dined at Bouchon in Venetian (though the foie gras was good, everything else was overrated) on Friday night and T-Bones Chopshop (excellent rib eye steaks) at Red Rock Casino (20 miles from the strip). My most enjoyable part of the weekend came on Saturday morning where 8 of us had arranged to head over to Valley of Fire State Park (50 miles from Vegas; near Lake Mead) and rent ATV's for 3 hours. Mind you, I had never been on a motorbike, let alone an ATV before ... read more

First Friday! Or something. We explored Lake Mead today. Interesting to say the least. Lake Mead was formed by Hoover Dam, which is itself approximately 700 feet tall. Read: the dam backed up enough water to make a big, big lake. We stopped at Calville Point and Echo Bay. Calville Point was by far the most interesting. The first thing I noticed there was that the water is down about 70 down from its normal level. That does make sense though, considering that this is the fifth year of a decent drought out here. But the really interesting part of Calville Point is that it was named after a little town that used to exist before the dam created the lake. Originally the town was supposed to be a shipping and freighting town, but with the ... read more