Valley of Fire

Jill's Journal: About 50 miles north of Las Vegas is a truly stunning place. It’s easy to see why Valley of Fire State Park is Nevada’s oldest state park, dedicated in 1935. The name is derived from the red sandstone formations which rise out of the ground in striking fashion at nearly every turn.

The girls preferred to think the name “Valley of Fire” came from the heat and they had a point. It was mighty hot during our visit and our planned hikes quickly wilted into much shorter little walks at various stops as we braved what felt like a furnace.

Victoria had the cutest comment, “I like it when the car does the hiking for us.”

And on this day, in this heat, most of us agreed with her. Sometimes it is nicer to drive than walk, particularly when one is in a Valley of Fire. :)

These unusual formations are called beehives.

With the girls in the photo for perspective, you can see the beehives are clearly bigger than they look.

Arch Rock.

At Atlatl Rock, a great variety of petroglyphs can be seen. This art on the rock is believed to have been here for 4,000 years, left by ancient Indians. Although the meaning of these drawings has died with history, that notched stick near the top of this first one is known to be an “atlatl,” which was used to thrown primitive spears. An atlatl is considered to be the ancestor to the bow and arrow.

Beautiful, beautiful, just beautiful all over. No wonder the ancient Indians spent time here and left their mark.

What a lovely, lovely place.

Carrizo Plain National Monument

Jill's Journal: There’s a mysterious, remote part of California that Kristi’s Adam took us to one day. The place – Carrizo Plain National Monument – never would have been a destination for us on our own and we’re so glad Adam encouraged us to go (and served as our tour guide). Featuring hundreds of miles of vast open space in an arid and almost treeless basin, Carrizo Plain spans well over 230,000 acres in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.

The Llano Estero, or salt marsh plain, has two main highlights. The first is Soda Lake, a prehistoric sea and one of the largest undisturbed alkali wetlands in the state. There’s no outlet, so water that pools during the rainy season in the winter eventually evaporates, leaving behind a 3,000-acre bed of white salt.

But even better is Painted Rock. The Bureau of Land Management allots passes for only 50 people each day (and only during certain times of the year) to visit the horseshoe-shaped sandstone, monolith rock. Rising 55 feet above the grasslands, Painted Rock was (and is) a sacred site for the Chumash and Yokut Indians. It’s considered one of the most important American Indian pictograph sites in the country. The Indian paintings were done over a long period of time, with some perhaps repainted over the years, but they are believed to range in age from 200 years old to an estimated 3,000 years old. They’re faded and being lost to the ravages of time and vandalism, but the girls so enjoyed spotting the pictographs and trying to figure out exactly what they meant. At the same rock, we also enjoyed catching nesting barn owls and seeing bedrock mortars used by the Native Americans to process seeds and nuts. Neat place.