Las Vegas: A Mountain Man's Experiences in the Desert: The Valley of Fire

Our first weekend excursion out of Vegas was to the Valley of Fire. This natural phenomena occurs 2 hours northeast of Vegas, straight out into the desert and into the heart of the world itself, where the bones of the very planet have been thrust up high into the sky to reveal its inner secrets.

Some 200million years ago, the sea retreated for the last time from the Valley of Fire, and Nevada, leaving in its wake vast beds of red mud, silt, sand and gravel. For tens of millions of years after, extreme desert conditions carved and sculpted the land. Desert winds capable of ripping apart mountains constructed mountain-sized sand dunes, which were then fossilized under the extreme desert sun and eroded away to form the exotic red and white rock formations we find today in the Valley of Fire.

About 70million years ago, during the Paleozoic Era, a great tectonic shift occurred. An oceanic plate on the west coast was thrust eastward under the continental plate, which resulted in a complex series of compression shifts far inland. Great slabs of limestone which had been buried deep in the earth were forced out and over top of younger rock beds, forming what is known as the Muddy Mountain Thrust Fault. From that time til even today, harsh desert conditions have eroded 10,000ft (3km) of rock deposits and spread them across the far reaching valleys. The very bones of the earth whittled down to sand. The Valley of Fire is a geological wonder, in all its vibrant color and history.

We were in awe the whole time we travelled through the park. The rock formations are surreal, the colors, the grandness of it all. Words escape me to be able to describe it to you, and my camera can't capture those colors. But I'll just have to let the pictures do the talking for this one. Enjoy!