Sunday, October 02, 2016

The Eagle Was Screaming

 

So we let it fly into Nevada’s first state park—Valley Of Fire, named for the abundance of red rocks, of course.  The $10 day use fee was well worth it.

IMG_3206

We made three stops.  The first was here.

IMG_3212

IMG_3211

One was at the very nice (and nicely air-conditioned) Visitor Center.

IMG_3275

Our third stop was to climb this staircase to view the petroglyphs at Atlatl Rock.  Petroglyphs are pictures pecked into the desert varnish, as compared to pictographs, which are painted on rocks.

IMG_3258

IMG_3229

IMG_3274

Figure with atlatl,

IMG_3231

IMG_3241

We rode the 6-mile White Domes Road, nice and curvy.  From this road we saw a variety of colors.

IMG_3284

IMG_3297

IMG_3300

IMG_3305

IMG_3309

View of this road on the way back.

IMG_3347

IMG_3359

From Las Vegas we entered the State Park at the west entrance.  We exited through the east entrance.  At the gate below we connected to NV 169.  We rode east and south through some more of the beautiful Mojave Desert.

IMG_3390

IMG_3399

Blue Point Spring.  It’s amazing what a bit of water will do!

IMG_3402

Across the road from the oasis we got our first of several glimpses of Lake Mead.  We didn’t get close to the lake. From this point the road veered east away from the lake and through the desert. 

IMG_3406

We crossed lots of these large washes.  When it rains, they fill up.

IMG_3434

Red rock waiting to be revealed after the top layer erodes.

IMG_3465

Lots of interesting rock formations.

IMG_3477

NV 169 eventually connected us to I 15 where we caught this view of The Strip.

IMG_3494

From there we connected with the Boulder Highway in Henderson, and finally made it back home.  The Eagle was happy.  We rode about 170 miles in 6 hours a nice scenic ride in spite of the strong wind and hot temperature.

Louise and Duane

1 comment:

Paul and Marsha Weaver OCT. 17, 2009 said...

Isn't Valley Of Fire so beautiful! I love looking at the different rock formations.
We could just kick ourselves for now going to Lake Mead RA. We never did see Lake Mead.