Vegas: Valley of Fire part 3

The stones jutting from the earth like skeletal fragments from some long forgotten titan range in color from deep purple to fiery red along with the expected ivory of sun-bleached bones depending where you look. These color variations can occur in the very same stone in intermittent layers or will dominate the entire form depending on the composition of the stone. Eons have gone into the formation of these beauties and their stacked layers tell tales of our planet's history for those with the eyes and ears to listen. Personally, my understanding of mineralogy and geology are pretty limited, but growing up I would hear how oceans once dominated the desert and marvel at images of trilobites that had through a confluence of fortuitous factors found their way through the weathers of time to leave their shape for us to find. It's not hard to imagine this as some alien world with the bizarre and preposterous shapes and shades some of the stones have found themselves in...that is, of course, until you find some trash some jackass left behind or some other detritus of human activity. We found several examples, from a discarded silk glove (ponderous) to oodles of trash...all of it shameful. A sacred rule for any outdoor activity is LEAVE NO TRACE!  We always carry a bag with us, whether it be my purse or a backpack, and take our trash with us so as not to sully the landscape for others.  This isn't just practical environmental stewardship- there are hefty fines if you're caught littering or otherwise defacing the environment. Valley of Fire is a state park, after all, and these grounds are under protection. As I've said, there's a lot of history throughout the 40,000 plus acres here and please be respectful of that when visiting. Enjoy your stay and take lots of photos, but take your trash with you when you leave. Let's keep these places photogenic for the future generations who may someday visit and witness the vestiges of our civilisation. 

More photos after the cut!

Vegas: Valley of Fire part 2

Valley of Fire is massive; the kind of expansive that would make an agoraphobic clutch up their hands and shriek in abject recoiling panic. 40,000 acres is a lot of land, and there's a lot of sand, stone and sky occupying that grand space. We spent the majority of our day here and still didn't see a fraction of everything there is to find or photograph. Every step we took was temporarily recorded in the sand, only to be blown away with the next strong gusts as we dipped our toes in the ocean of desert. The same was true for all sorts of life- we found a complicated tapestry of prints scattered among the bushes, a rich story of the creatures making this harsh environment their home. Even with all the tourist traffic and human footfall entering the area the local inhabitants seem to be doing quite well if the scattered piles of scat and abundant variety of tracks were any indication. Given the ephemeral nature of prints in sand and the frequent gusts we can get out here, we can only presuppose that the prints we witnessed during our trek were fairly fresh, maybe not within the hour but likely sometime in the same day or the night prior.  This is in contrast to the petroglyphs and ancient artefacts of prehistoric civilisations and species that also abound throughout the valley. History lingers while life invariably goes on, legends of the past looming on stone faces above a web of interspecies interaction. I doubt the rabbits care much for our stories, but who knows? Maybe they see human prints in their sandy home and contemplate their origins, coming up with their own tales of mysterious bipedal giants who occasionally stumble through.

More photos after the cut...