Top 8 things to do at Valley of Fire State Park

Ben and I love to travel---we have some excellent adventures!

 I have decided to include some travel stuff in this blog too...just our personal opinions and experiences from our trips.

While it is fresh on the brain, here are my top 8 things to do in the Valley of Fire State Park, just outside of Las Vegas!

#8---Take a picture with the welcome sign.

I know this is a bit cheesy, but it helps you remember later where you were!  We are always so thankful to have pictures of the "sign" on our camera because it helps keeps us on track with what we did on our vacation.

#7--Check out the Visitor's Center.

I'll be honest, sometimes Visitor's Centers are lame.  This is true here, BUT there are some great things about the visitor's center here...#1--BATHROOMS....seriously, you won't find them anywhere else.  #2---WATER FOUNTAINS.  Did you know this is the desert?  Drink up!  #3 REPTILES--they do have a handful of reptiles on display, including a nice and creepy tarantula.  AND #4---maps!  You can get one here!  Hooray!

#6--While you are by the visitor's center, check out the balancing rock trail.  It is only .1 miles and will make you feel good about your hiking ability.

#5--Elephant Rock.  This will only take you about 5 minutes, but it does look like an elephant and is pretty interesting.

#4--Fire Canyon Road---This is something you can drive.  BEAUTIFUL views and there are several places you can pull off to the side to get out and look around and take pictures.  This is a great thing to do between some of the longer hikes to take a little break :)

#3--Atlatl Rock and Arch Rock---there is another driving route to hit up these two landmarks.  There are places to park by both of these.  Atlatl Rock is interesting because there are actual ancient drawings from the native people on the rock.  History!  

#2--Beehives!--This is a fun stop with great places to climb around!  

#1--This is actually a tie---The White Domes Trail and the Fire Wave Trail.  Both trails have some intense moments--it is hard to hike through sand! Both trails are VERY sandy.  But the views are AWESOME.  We liked the Fire Wave because of the stripes of red and white that created beautiful formations.  It looked like bacon!  We loved the White Domes trail because the trail was constantly different.  There were parts that were narrow, parts that were rocky, parts that were flat and full of cacti.

^ End of the Fire Wave Trail--BEAUTIFUL!

^White Domes!

And that's it!  We spent about 5 hours at the park, but you could easily be there for HOURS if you do all of the trails!  Would love to hear from you if you check out this gem of a state park!