Photos

Valley of Fire State Park is located six miles from Lake Mead and 55 miles northeast of Las Vegas via Interstate 15 and on exit 75. Valley of Fire is Nevada's oldest and largest state park, dedicated 1935. The valley derives its name from the red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape.

While I was ending my visit and returning to Vegas, I discovered the beauty of the road ahead of me and had to stop and take this picture. The multicolored sandstone formations are fully displayed here. Unfortunatelly, that day the sky was covered by a thin layer of clouds (the pic was taken in the early afternoon hours). Also, I had to reduce the size of the pic in order to post it here (I welcome advices on how to improve this process). However, I can still see the power of the naked desert on it. I highly recommend to pay a visit to this Park to anyone visiting Las Vegas. Besides the great scenery, you can check petrified woods, 3,000 year-old Indian petroglyph and desert wildlife. I even saw a desert turtle crossing a dusty desert road!