Another idea of Jon & Dori. Beautiful area, like no where else. We'd be crazy not to go there. The dry camping is first come, but finding a site shouldn't be a problem.
Finding a site wasn't the problem. Getting out of Las Vegas was a Morning Rush Hour experience, but more of it was going the other way. And the roads after Vegas were impressive in their desolation. And we got to crawl by New York New York and see Lady Liberty dressed in a Golden Knights jersey. Go Knights Go!
But it is Hot. We found a campsite easily, the far campground was less than 25% full. Each site has water (worth the $20 fee all by itself) and a shade over the picnic table. The tent pad is well defined and level, the parking is less even, less level. Fortunately we have leveling chocks if we need them, but we've become pretty easy about level, our sleep quality being the only consideration. And like many sites, the backmost portion is usually a tad flatter.
So we visited the Visitor Center and its conditioned air. The off to the end of a glorious road, twisting and turning left and right and up and down in every combination, with dramatic rock on all sides. We climb to the lowest point to get over a ridge, twisting up one did before descending down the other, in and out of various arroyo crossings. Did I mention that this area gets 4" of rain on an average year? About as much as we get in a good rain day.
At the end of the road is a trailhead, a mile long loop. In high tide sand. (I know there is no tide in Nevada, it's the texture.) The trail evolves to include sand covered sandstone, in steps and random rocks and even a bit of gravel path in short parts. Overall it is a beautiful trail, but it's telling that every scrap of shade is being used by a resting/reflecting hiker.
We drive, explore, find more vistas, more twisted roads, more hikes under up ppp the brutal Sun. We explore all the roads, hike a few trails, and return to wait for evening coolness. Outside it's 111° outside, and not much less in Ernie. Sharon finds a spot in the shade beside a rock face with a hint of a cross breeze, and the heat becomes bearable (with vodka and cranberry over ice from the hotel this morning). Wait out the Heat.
The best side effect of Valley of Fire's spectacular rock formations is that it's way too easy to shoot too many images trying to capture the definitive image that encapsulates all the feelings present during the retinal version. And the Heat kept us in the shade, working on our pictures. We both need a bigger monitor to view our pictures on. They look "worthy" on our phones in random light, but we're not zooming in and evaluating pixels.
When the sun set, the temperature cooled a bit, and Sharon became enamored with sunset pictures, and set off like the Energizer Bunny.
More pictures than should exist are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/9pkAtSoH567fe8jL2
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