Month: March 2024

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(Death) Valley of Fire

For those of you that are reading regularly, and I know there are a lot, you are aware that during Mardi Gras in 2024, we visited both Death Valley National Park and Valley of Fire State Park (as well as the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead NRA and Vegas). For purposes of this blog, it made more sense to split the two valleys up, so this post is about our 24 hours or so in the Valley of Fire.

This state park is about an hour northeast of Vegas in Nevada and easily rivals most National Parks. In terms of breadth and scope, Death Valley is definitely more impressive, but in terms of what we actually did, I think the family preferred the Valley of Fire.

This geological wonderland contains petroglyphs, a wave, a slot canyon, petrified wood and so much more. It’s busy and parking can be limited, but it’s an easy trek from Vegas and great way to add an outdoors experience to your trip.

Where to Stay

We stayed on Overton, NV, which is right outside the park, at the North Shore Inn. The Inn is nothing special, but our rooms were clean, and the people are nice. This area is not very well developed, so there are not a lot of places to eat. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called La Fonda and a pizza place called Pirate’s Landing. Neither blew our minds, but when you’ve spent all day hiking and/or driving, a clean place to sit with nice people is all that’s really needed.

What to Do

Elephant Rock: This is one of the first attractions you’ll come across when you enter from the East entrance. There’s a parking lot and a short hike, although you don’t actually have to do the hike, as the Elephant is right along the street. That said, you are not actually allowed to climb the elephant, but if your kids are into bouldering, there are some great opportunities along this short trek.

Rainbow Vista: This trail is a 1 mile out-and-back and ends at a beautiful over look of the red rocks contrasted against the green mountains. It’s relatively easy and is a good introduction to the park.

Seven Wonders Trail: This loop is about two miles and is one of the most popular in the park. About halfway in, you’ll reach the Fire Wave, which is similar to the Wave you’ve likely seen on InstaFace, just to a smaller extent. Without the wave, which is about a mile in, the hike would still be worth it, as the entire expanse is quite impressive. I recommend going clockwise, as you’ll go down the steeper part and walk back up far more gradually.

White Domes Trail: This 1.2-mile loop is at the end of the park and is also quite popular. It takes you through a short slot canyon. It is nowhere near as impressive as something like Antelope Canyon, but for the short time that you’re in it, it is very cool.

Atlatl Rock: This rock is cool in that a staircase has been built into it so you can walk up and see the petroglyphs. I am not one who finds petroglyphs super impressive; if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Frankly, it is hard for me to distinguish between protected art and graffiti, but the rock itself is pretty cool, and in order to fill a day, you’ll need to include this. You can also stop at the beehive rocks in your way out of this area.

Fire Canyon: This is more of a drive than a hike, but it offers a really unique view of the Valley from just outside of the parking lot. Following the advice of one of the park rangers, this is where watched the sunset, and it was quite lovely.

What We Learned

We loved this park, and in a lot of way, it’s more impressive than several of the National Parks which we have visited. That is something to keep in mind, especially when headed to the Southwest. There are a lot of great things you can find without much difficulty of you take the time to look around. One full day is certainly enough to hit all the important parts of this park.

Next up, JR and I are headed to Jacksonville for his first concert (Fall Out Boy). We probably won’t post about, but you never know…

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Death Valley (of Fire)

Those of you paying super close attention will note that this is actually two separate blog entries, one for Death Valley and one for Valley of Fire. We actually visited these over the same trip, as well as see Hoover Dam, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and a Golden Knights games, but for the purposes of this blog, I think it is easier to separate the two Valleys into their own posts.

Over the Mardi Gras break this year, we decided to take the kids out west, again, to see one of the country’s lesser visited National Parks. Death Valley is a below-sea-level basin in constant drought that records summer heat extremes higher than anywhere else in North America.

It takes about two hours to get there from Vegas and is legitimately in the middle of nowhere. Our arrival time was well into the dark of night, which was actually pretty spectacular, as the star-scape is pretty unreal.

We did a lot of planning to figure out exactly how much time we needed, and we settled on basically two full days. I believe one full day could have been enough, and I believe we could have filled more time on a third day, but for us, 36-48 hours seemed like the sweet spot.

Where to Stay:

We stay at The Ranch is Death Valley, which is also associated with the Oasis. This is a great resort. We had a two room cabin that easily slept five and access to all sorts of amenities. The Ranch has a golf course, spring-fed pool that is warm year round, two restaurants, horseback riding, a general store, a museum, a playground, oh, and wifi.

The resort alone makes it worth it to stay a few days. That said, the restaurants are pretty expensive, and the food is more than pretty mediocre. I’d give the resort itself 5-stars with an addendum, giving the restaurants 2. That said, there aren’t a lot of alternatives in the area, so options are limited.

The Ranch is in the Furnace Creek area, which is more or less centrally located. There is another area, which is even more central, that one can stay, called Stovepipe Wells, but it is not nearly as quaint.

What to Do:

Horseback Ride: The Ranch offers several rides into the park, including sunrise and sunset. We did a sunrise tour and frankly, it was kind of a disappointment. The ride was fine, and the views were great, but I can’t say that it was really worth the effort.

Zabriski Point: This is a great introductory overlook into the vastness of Death Valley. It is an easy walk up from a parking lot and the views of the colored hills are pretty impressive.

Badwater Basin: This is the lowest point in North America and is why most people come. The drive takes about half an hour and is definitely worth it. You reach a basin that occasionally has an inch of water in it that you can walk out on; it gives the appearance of walking on water. At this stage in 2024, there was actually far more water than normal, due to Hurricane Sandy, so it actually wasn’t as impressive as we’d hoped. There were several areas though where we could walk out onto the salt flats, which is why we came.

Devils Golf Course: This is a really interested formation of rock and salt that would be an awful place to try to play golf. There is a road down that leads to a parking lot, but during our trip, the road was closed (it’s not clear why), so it was a 2 mile out-and-back to see anything of interest. I am not actually sure this is worth the walk, but the ‘golf course’ itself is pretty interested.

Gold Canyon Hike: The way we did this hike was from the Golden Canyon parking lot, and was about 4.5 miles. There are several intersecting trails that can make it far shorter or far longer, depending on what you want to do a see. The walk through the canyons and up the mountains is amazing, but strenuous. I recommend going clockwise, as you get the toughest section done in the first two miles and get to enjoy or more leisurely pace as you see the golden hills contrasted against the red and green rocks.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes: There is an unusual, almost out-of-place, set of sand dunes near the Stovepipe Wells area, which is about half an hour from furnace creek. It is a popular place to watch the sunset, but there are so many dunes that it is easy to find your own personal dune to watch the god-flame set.

Ubehebe Crater: The crater is a solid hour-plus drive from the main areas of the park, but it is worth it. One of the interesting things about this NP is the varying topography, and the fact that a giant volcanic crater is part of the mix is pretty cool. You can drive up to it and hike all the way around for some cool views. I am not sure the hike is necessary, but it is a lovely area.

Mosaic Canyon: This is another worthwhile hike, about 3 miles out and back. It is uphill on the way in, but the grade is not too severe. I recommend it, but if you are pressed for time, the best parts of the hike are in the first half to full mile, so if you don’t make it all the way until the end, you won’t be missing out on much.

What We Didn’t Do:

Dante’s View: Unfortunately, this part of the park was closed due to recent flooding, but I understanding the view to be pretty impressive. That said, it sounds very similar to Zabriski Point, so I am not too devastated at having missed it.

20 Mule Team Canyon: This is supposed to be a very scenic drive in an historic area, but again was closed, due to recent flooding.

Artist’s Drive/Palette: This being closed was a real disappointment. It is supposed to be the best place to view the varying colors of the rock formations, ideally about an hour prior to sunset. It was a good learning experience for the kids, that sometimes things happen that you can’t change, and there are plenty of other places to see rocks a shockingly unusual color, but not getting to see it did suck.

Racetrack Playa: This was actually open, but we made the conscious decision not to go. The turn-off for the Racetrack is at the Ubehebe Crater parking lot, but says that it requires a high-clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicle. I have heard that most SUVs can handle it, and I think ours could have, but you are an awfully long way from nothing, with no cell service, if something goes wrong. This is the area where you can see the rocks apparently move on their own. If we ever go back, I think we’ll try to get a better car, but for this time around, oh well.

What We Learned

It depends on what you want to do, but Death Valley can be done pretty well in just a day. That said, if we really dived into what the The Ranch has to offer, I think we could have stayed there for three or four. I would definitely recommend getting a car that can handle the Racetrack Playa drive, which can be rented in the Furnace Creek area if needed.

I do not think I will be putting DV in my top 10 National Parks, and frankly, it might actually be towards the bottom, but the family and I had a great time. It is definitely something every Parks fan should see and given the opportunity, I would definitely go again.

The second part of our trip took place in another valley (of Fire). Take a look at our next post for more information about this incredible State Park.