Presidents Day Trip – Part III : Valley of Fire
Valley of Fire State Park
- Fee : $10 per vehicle
To obtain a hiking permit to The Wave trail is our dream. Unfortunately the only way to get it is by signing up for the lottery. Essentially pay for $5 and cross your figures. Even though I don’t subscribe to the idea of gambling, I started to do the permit lottery every month since last fall, still with no luck 🙁
Ivy sent me an article about Valley of Fire one day, she told me this could be an alternative choice. I didn’t think Valley of Fire could be comparable to The Wave, but I am really glad that we came.
After the hot springs hike a day before we thought doing some 1-2 milers would be relatively easy. So why not drop by Valley of Fire before going back to LA? We drove into the state park without knowing how breathtaking the scenery could be. The land looks like someone accidentally spilled red paint in the middle of nowhere. Red rock formations just popped out from underground.
There were signs saying “beware of heat” everywhere, but the day we visited was gloomy around 45°F that made me throw on three extra layers. I believe this area could go up to 120°F in summer time. I was happily surprised by how pet friendly this state park is, dogs are allowed to go on any trail. We visited Elephant Rock first, later dove to Mouse’s Tank trail.
If I compare the scenery I experienced here with all the hikes I did in Zion, Valley of Fire will be like a least favorite child in the class. Not many visitors, so silent like all the rocks absorb sound. I quite enjoyed the mass and power of this quietness.
We drove north to the Fire Wave trail, our substitute for The Wave.
Sun was playing hide and seek with us, the strong wind made me freeze and couldn’t stop trembling all the way. I walked like a zombie with hair covering my face or flying into my mouth if I dared to even talk.
Yet we got this glorious sight that I took a great picture of TT. only if the sky granted more shapes of clouds I whispered to myself.
Every time when I look through pictures after a trip, I often feel those photos only captured 10 percent of the beauty I experienced. Nonmatter how hard I tried, photography can never do justice to how dramatic nature could offer when you visit a place in person.
It’s like listening to songs through headphones will never be the same as hearing the true music being played at the theater. Being in person gives you goosebumps, sometimes tears. And when you drive home, try to play those songs out in your car, you don’t think they are any close to the same.
Hey TT you look like you are wearing pink fuzzy socks!
Sun disappeared behind the clouds, we took a few quick pictures and kept walking down following designed small tags along the trail.
And here we found our waves. People kept calling this a giant bacon after I posted on Facebook.
At last, we came to our last destination, the White Domes Trail. The sight here did not surprise us until I insisted to go down even more.
We encountered more tourists than we hoped we would. Couldn’t get a clear photo without people in shot. The original plan was to leave at 1 pm, but Valley of Fire is not a state park that you can just glance through because there are many trails to discover, and each of them are so unique and worth the time. For us, it definitely deserves a second visit to finish off all other advance hikes.
We left around 4 pm and unfortunately ran into a horrible traffic on our way back to reality. TT was sleeping like a baby all the way. We arrived home at 11pm, me exhausted, him fully charged again.
- Same Trip Different Day:
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