We made a side-trip to Valley of Fire State Park as part of our recent visit to Las Vegas. We found it to be reminiscent of Arches National Park (red rock formations, arches) and Capitol Reef National Park (petroglyphs and more red rocks), though on a much smaller scale. If you have the time to visit Arches and Capitol Reef, I highly recommend both. They are spectacular. However, it you want to get a taste of what these parks offer, but don't have the time or inclination to drive across Southern Utah, this is a good place to do it.

Provided it is not 114 degrees like the day we visited, this is a great spot to get outside, see some great rock formations, local wildlife and a cool place to go for a drive.

The Valley of Fire State Park is about an hour drive from the Strip. We were there in late April and the weather was sunny and hot.

Within the State Park there are numerous sites to visit. Basically, you can drive to the various sites within the park and hike if you want to.

As noted above, this is a State Park so the National Park pass cannot be used. Regardless, the admission fee is relatively cheap at $10 per vehicle. We paid admission fee via the honor system by depositing our fee in an envelope.

Some of the sites we saw included:
• Elephant rock formation
• White Domes area hike – about a 2 kilometre (1 1/4 miles) loop that took us about an hour to hike. This hike started with walking on an all sand pathway about 1/4 mile in length (sand just like the beach) before the terrain changes.
• Atlatl Rock – site of ancient Indian petroglyphs (rock art). If you have mobility issues you may not be able to see the rock art as you have to walk up a man-made staircase of 80 plus steps with 2 landings to see them.
• Beehives – sandstone rock formations

Make sure you get the State park pamphlet that has a map and provides info on the various sites within the park. You can also download the free trail map.

It’s a nice park with some relatively easy hiking. We spent at least 4 hours in the park. It’s a worthwhile visit to this state park. I would rate the experience as good at 3.75 out of 5.

Notes and Tips:
• Info centre has gift shop and washrooms. Snacks and beverages are available here.
• Interpretive centre has info on history, ecology and people. There is also a short movie you can watch and there are some live snake exhibits.
• Bring water, protective clothing and suntan lotion.
• Our group of 6 are in relatively good shape and did not find the hiking challenging.
• We brought our lunch and had it at the end of the White Domes loop hike. There are outdoor washrooms and picnic tables here. There are other picnic areas within the park
• After hiking and shopping we ate at the Garden Court buffet in the Main Street Station casino (Old Strip). See my review.
• We also did some hiking at Red Rock Canyon. Review to follow.