Peggy was feeling all better today so we swung back into exploration mode. This time we decided to return to the Valley of Fire State Park. We drove through the park in the afternoon back on October 30. This time, we took the Valley of Fire / Northshore Road going the opposite direction we took last time. We also went in the morning today.
Valley of Fire offers terrific views of massive colorful rock formations that look quite a bit different in afternoon versus morning sunlight. Rock monoliths that looked deep red last week appear almost purple in the morning sun from the east.
As soon as we entered the park, we came across some Desert Bighorn Sheep with enormous cornucopia-shaped horns dwarfing their puny heads. We also spotted some birds and lizards but we suspect most of the animals in this desert environment lay low during daylight and come scurrying out of their little homes in the early morning, late afternoon and at night. Fortunately, the landscapes are stunning.
On the way southwest on Northshore Road, we pulled down a side road toward Lake Mead’s Echo Bay. We ambled along for about 4 miles until we came to the original boat launching ramp which is a long way from any water due to prolonged low lake levels due to drought. We took another gravel road from the original ramp a couple more miles to the actual boat launching facility – you know, like a ramp near the water. It was on the way back that we spotted an entire covered marina docking facility that is surrounded by weeds. Nobody will be using those docks until after many years of rain.
Our trip today took a slightly different route than we took last week but we still ended up on a long stretch of Las Vegas city streets which are heavily laden with signals with lengthy cycle times. We noted that as we headed north on Boulder Blvd., we were being outpaced by folks riding bicycles. Six miles only took about 25 minutes but we got back to town late so at least it wasn’t hot.
We shot a few pictures along the way today and you can see some of them if you click here