Day 34 - Into The Valley (of Fire)

Woke up late, to have Jackie moaning that she hadn’t slept. Apparently there was a party in the room next door, then when that finished my snoring kept her awake. There was now lots of noise in the car park outside & when I looked through the curtains there were loads of speedboats on trailers in our car park, presumably going for a day on Lake Mead.

We were going to get a coffee in town, but the high street had become a car park with boats & trailers. Instead we headed off towards St George in Utah. We picked up Highway 515 northbound into the outskirts of Las Vegas, where we hit heavy traffic. I made a snap decision that we would visit the Valley of Fire State Park that I knew was on the way.

Our phone SatNav told us to take the next exit, then a few left & right turns. It was getting rougher & rougher, then suddenly we were in what can only be described as ‘crack alley’. It was horrendous, in one very short stretch there was in excess of 100 people in nothing more than dirty rags literally crashed out on the side of the road amongst piles of rubbish. Luckily for Jackie, she was so busy googling she didn’t look up. I was so shocked / needing to concentrate that I didn’t hit one that I failed to take a photo. I had never seen anything like it in all my years................. blah, blah, blah.

I was happy when we joined up with Interstate 15 which took us.past the Muddy Mountains & to the turning for the Valley of Fire State Park. At the entrance to the Valley of Fire, we paid the $10 fee, got our map, then headed in on the Scenic Route. I say it every time, but again it was magnificent.

As you are expected to do we followed the Scenic Route through the park, stopping at all the trails & views. We stopped at the Beehives (rocks that nature had sand blasted like beehives), Arch Rock (self explanatory) & Atlati Rock with it’s petroglyphs.

We then followed White Domes Road & stopped to walk the Rainbow Vista Trail. It was a nice easy trail, then went vertically up a smooth rock. We scaled up it & had wonderful 360 degree panoramic views. We took a side road to Fire Canyon / Silica Dome, but it was nothing to shout about. We continued on the spectacular drive to the White Domes Loop took a photo the headed back.

Our next stop was Mouse’s Tank Trail. It was a half mile walk in sand & the sun beating down on us. Along the route were more petroglyphs on the rocks, but the end of the trail was an anticlimax, a puddle in the rocks. Jackie summed it up by observing that the longer the trail, the less impressive the outcome. It didn’t help that she was wearing flip-flops & most people were In hiking boots 🥾.

We continued & stopped at a ‘Petrified Log’ which conjures up all sorts of visions. Jackie was going nowhere, but I scaled the mountain to look at the Log & admire the views from the top. That was it, we were now on our way on the Valley of Fire Highway, then turned north to St. George & the Dixie Palm Motel.

We passed through Overton & Moapa Valley on the 169, before rejoining Interstate 15. We passed Bunkerville, Mesquite, then crossed the State Border into Nevada. We continued past Beaver Dam & through Virgin River Gorge until we were suddenly in Utah. Somewhere along the line were now an hour ahead.

We drove into St. George & located our Dixie Palm Hotel. It is on a busy road, but has everything that Jackie requires. After a shower to get all the red sand & dust off us we had a quick beer & walked up the road for a Taco Bell. I was a virgin. We both ordered a taco & quesadilla steak combo. The taco was tasty but underwhelming, but the quesadilla was lovely.

We planned to stop for a frozen custard from Nielsen's Frozen Custard just up the road, but the queue was ridiculous. I am desperate to try one but the queue looked like we could be waiting all night. We continued back to the motel & I saw a couple eating a frozen custard. I asked them if it was worth the wait & he said yes, but it won’t change your life. We chatted to them for about 5 minutes, they were from Texas, but he was originally from Carmel. They gave us a couple of tips of places to visit in Texas. We will try to sample the frozen custard before we move on.

We sat out at our Motel & imbibed in a few drinks whilst watching the world go by & catching up on our social media. There are parties going on everywhere, but we are hoping to get an early night.

FITBIT = 12,529 steps / 5.82 miles.

Song of the Day - Valley of Fires by Moore S.

More facts- we downloaded a Thermometer App which showed it to be 86 degrees in the Valley of Fire State Park.Read more