Enjoyable Day at Valley of Fire State Park!

Ken left the CG a little before sunrise in the CRV to get the sun coming over the rock formations in the park.  I did some reading, cleaning, and then started breakfast.

He returned with some gorgeous photos of the sun coming up and lighting the red rocks on "fire".  We packed our lunches for today's hiking and then enjoyed eating our breakfast outside.

This is the rock formation called 7 Sisters!  There are
picnic tables between each of the rocks!

The views from each of the campsites is spectacular!

By 9:45 the 4 of us were on our way in the CRV to White Domes trailhead here in the State Park.  What a nice 1 1/4 mile hike mostly through sand.  The rock formations here are really amazing. 

This tarantula decided to cross the road!

The start of the White Domes Trail!

Aren't  the rock colors gorgeous!

It's a tight squeeze!

So many unique rock formations!

From there we drove to the Fire Wave Trail to the 1.5 mile roundtrip hike to a rock formation that had breathtaking colors.  By then it was extremely sunny and very warm with temperatures in the 80's - really felt like summer.  Not as bad as their normal high temperatures in July which is 105 degrees!

Don't know the name for this cactus but it is very different!

Climbing over the rocks to the Fire Wave!

Very different rock shapes!

We have arrived at the Fire Wave!

It was breathtaking!

The coloring was positively amazing!

No, Ernie!  Don't sit on the barrel cactus!

We headed to Seven Sisters rocks where they have a very nice picnic area to eat our lunches.  Then we drove towards the East Entrance stopping to see the Petrified Logs (there was really only 1 - false advertising!),

Looks like a rock, but no!  It is a tree trunk!

to the stone cabins built by the CCC in 1935 for campers and travelers to use, 

These stone cabins were so cute and still well preserved!

Each one had a fireplace!

The view from one of the cabin windows!!  Looks
like a framed picture!

Petroglyphs  behind the cabins!

and to Elephant Rock.  

I think this elephant shape is a bit hard to see.  It looks
more like an elephant skeleton!

We also drove by the beehive rock formations -

Then we drove on the Scenic Loop Road which goes by our CG and through the other Park CG and then meets with the main road in the Park.  Again, so many interesting rock colors and formations.

They call this the Grand Piano.  Again, you have to use
your imagination!

Looks like cliff dwellings!

Hey, we left  Arches!  How did this one get here????

After showers, we spent some time sitting outside chatting and then each of us made dinner and ate together outside.  Ernie chopped some wood they had bought and we enjoyed sitting by the fire talking about life, family, and camping adventures.  It was a beautiful very mild evening.  Perfect for sitting around a campfire.

Tomorrow Clare LeFevre, a friend who moved from Lancaster County to the Las Vegas area, is driving to Valley of Fire State Park in the morning to do some hiking with us.  She may bring her tent and spend the night.  Claire was Jamie and Lanie's Sunday School teacher during their teen years and she was a great influence on them.  We are excited to see her!