Mud-on-the-tires Full-time RV Adventure: NV -- Valley of Fire State Park, 22-27 Nov 2013

Five days at Valley of Fire State Park…

But before we migrated to Nevada, we took a 10-day, 1,700 mile road trip to Colorado’s Front Range. We left our comfy home in St George, Utah and hit the road. Spending a bunch of time in our vehicle is not our thing, so we took a couple of days to get there and back. That left us just six short days to visit family and friends and take care of a few things. It was a quick, but tiring trip.

Geocaching in Ute Valley Park in Colorado Springs with my sister, Nichole and nephew, Jordan

Geocaching in Ute Valley Park in Colorado Springs with Nichole & Jordan

Jordan’s geocoin at his geocache near Buena Vista, CO / At our geocache near Buena Vista, CO

Why we came to Valley of Fire State Park…

From St George, Utah, it was in route to our winter destination: Boulder Beach at Lake Mead. Valley of Fire is known for dramatic scenery and great hiking. At 2,000 feet elevation, late fall, winter, and early spring weather is usually pleasant.

Campground…

There are two campgrounds that have 72 first-come, first-served sites. About 20 of the sites have electric and water. The others have no hook-ups. Bathroom and shower facilities were nice and there was a dump station near the campground entrance. The campsites were great! They were huge with plenty of space between neighbors, but most of them were a bit unlevel. Satellite reception should be fine from all of the sites, but expect minimal to no cell phone signal. Our signal booster maxed at a 3-bar, non-data signal. It was really cool being tucked into the dramatic and colorful rock formations. Each walk with our four-legged friend was a pleasant adventure. Initially the campground was nearly empty, but filled as Thanksgiving approached.

Atlatl Rock Campground at Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Arrival day…disaster strikes!

A slow moving, cut-off low pressure system was drenching the southwest. The region had already gotten about an inch of rain, and it was still coming down lightly when we arrived. Unfortunately, we chose an unlevel spot and started setting up around 2:30pm. Our site sloped down from the rear causing us to raise the front to its limit. Arleen was inside doing her thing and with each movement, the trailer settled and got more unstable. After about 15 minutes, things looked worse and I told her to exit the trailer immediately! Now the front hitch looked like a stack of cards just waiting to fall. I made a couple of small adjustments to the stabilizers, and sure enough, the front of the trailer slammed into the thankfully, soft sand but broke off the front stabilizers! It seemed to happen in slow motion, and because we expected it, we got safely out of the way…we did not get hurt! For the next hour or two, Arleen was on the phone with Good Sam while I tried to secure things and ponder our options. Finally, around 4:30pm as it was getting dark, I was able to use two sets of blocks to raise the trailer just enough to hitch up. We moved to a more level spot and set up in the dark. During the rest of our stay, without the stabilizers, the trailer swayed uncomfortably with each step, but we were safe.

Lessons learned:

- Always note the state of the ground when setting up! An inch of rain over sand and gravel will result in much of settling of the trailer.

- Pick a more level spot! Raising and/or lowering a trailer significantly on any side to make it level, makes it more unstable, and makes problems more likely.

- Chalk the snot out of the trailer! Thankfully, we were well chalked, but the trailer still moved a couple of inches. One of the chalks was pushed nearly all the way into the sand!

WHOOPS!! Front post is buried 12” in the sand and gravel!

Day 2…Rained out and unmotivated

The rain continued! The temperature peaked at 46 degrees and we got another half inch of light, steady rain. We joked that we were in the Pacific Northwest and that we should go mushroom hunting! The previous day’s stressful events and the icky weather made it easy to sit inside and sip hot hot tea all day.

A half inch of rain with the temperature in the mid-40s…YUCK!

Day 3…bright blue skies and perfect weather…time to hike!

We hiked from the campground to the Visitor Center. For much of the 7.1 mile route, we blazed our own trail across the desert, but we also walked along the surprisingly busy road. Along the route, we saw pretty barrel cactus, interesting rocks, petroglyphs, and petrified logs. We learned a bunch at the Visitor Center, but the most surprising fact was that the petrified logs were likely washed into the valley and some might be monkey puzzle trees!

Petroglyphs at Atlatl Rock / Caged petrified log…maybe a monkey puzzle tree according to the sign?!?

Day 4…still perfect…more hiking

We hiked from the campground to “The Pinnacles”. The route starts in the open desert and follows a wash over a small saddle and then into the other-worldly Pinnacles. We stopped at one of the odd rock outcroppings and scampered to the top to check out the view. Directly below, I noticed a ram’s horn and a skeleton. It still had a little meat on it and was a bit stinky, but that didn’t stop me from picking it up. After the hike, we reported it to the park rangers.

Next we crested the low saddle, rounded a bend, and saw the craggy Pinnacles…it was cool! We had a wonderful break with a great view and did some geocaching stuff. There are tons of places to hide a geocache in this type of terrain…it’s amazing we found it!

To finish the hike, we circled back around the ridge, and walked nearly straight southeast across the desert. There was no trail and scrambling up and down small washes through gravel and sand made this section pretty tough. In spite of this, we really enjoyed the entire hike!

A desert sheep ram’s skeleton / The Pinnacles

Day 5…still perfect…multiple short hikes

We drove to several different areas throughout the Park. In addition to the incredible rock formations, we were treated to the rare site of a few live sheep just yards away. Then our hearts skipped a beat when a sidewinder rattle snake slithered across the trail just in front of us. Arleen kept telling me to step back as I tried to snap pictures of the elusive critter that could have quickly put me in the hospital. Several commercials and movies have been shot in Valley of Fire, including the Professionals, and Star Trek: Generations. Remnants of both movie sets still remain.

Playing in the White Domes area

Amazing colors in the White Domes area

About to descend amongst the White Domes / The remains of the 1965 movie set of “The Professionals”

Jumping off the colorful sandstone into a sandy wash

Finding peace at a small arch in the White Domes

Two desert big horn sheep / Sitting near a geocache, but seems like a different planet

Clowning around in the cool rock formations

At the top of Silica Dome…Lake Mead in the background

A small sidewinder rattlesnake…the first rattler we have ever seen in the wild!

Imitating Captain Kirk’s death from the 1994 movie “Star Trek: Generations”

Next…

We send this blog from Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. We hope to catch up with a few friends, and tackle a few responsibilities. Otherwise, our agenda is minimal and we will relax for a few days. From here, we will move to Boulder Beach, Lake Mead for at least six weeks.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Parting shots…