Our visit to Valley of Fire State Park

It's Day 9 of Blogember!! Are we having fun yet? Today's topic is about our favorite places to shop online. I'm not really an online shopper, so instead, I'm going to share some pictures of Valley of Fire.

Back when my parents were visiting, we took a day to visit this state park.

Perfect weather. Blue skies. Gorgeous views!

We started at the Visitor's Center. I didn't take any pictures there, but there was a lot to see in the center. And lots to learn. For example, millions of years ago, it used to be a sea. Seems so weird that it's a desert now.

In the visitor's center, I talked to a ranger to decide on which trails for us to tackle.

After pulling my Dad away from the exhibits at the Visitor's Center, we headed to Mouse's Tank trail. What is Mouse's Tank? It's an interesting story, actually. Mouse isn't a what, but a who. A Southern Paiute Indian renegade in the 1890s, accused of murder and other crimes, hid out at this natural basin.

Looking down into the basin

It was a gorgeous trail! Along the way, there were tons of petroglyphs.

The trail itself was soft sand. It was kind of like walking along the beach - with cliffs instead of ocean views.

After dumping the sand out of our shoes, we headed to the Rainbow Vista.

From there, we took the Rainbow Vista trail to the Fire Canyon.

Again, the trail was very soft sand, but it was pretty well marked, and GORGEOUS, so totally worth it.

Our calves got a great workout for sure.

These pictures don't really do this state park justice, it really was breathtaking. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Vegas who is looking to get off the Strip for a day. It's an only an hour away and very easy to find.

My Biggest tip for visiting Valley of Fire? Wear hiking boots. Running shoes were okay, but they sure welcomed the sand, and filled right up with copious amounts of sand. We were totally surprised at how many people were hiking in flip flops. Weird.

I can't wait to go back.

As a matter of fact, I'll be heading back there next weekend for a half marathon - The Valley of Fire Half. I've been looking forward to this half for MONTHS and visiting the park with my parents only made me more excited about it.

My shins, however, seem to have other ideas. I've been spending my weekend icing and rolling and massaging. I'm still holding onto hope that I'll be able to run on Saturday. If not, I'm planning on still driving to the race to volunteer. It won't be the same, but it would still be fun.

Stay tuned...

Have you ever visited Valley of Fire?
What's your favorite state park?
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For more pictures of our hikes in Valley of Fire, visit my Facebook album.

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