Valley of Fire State Park is 41 miles from Las Vegas. It is worth the day trip if the heat is not too much. The highlights are Atlatl Rock, Mouse’s Tank trail and the petroglyphs along the entire trail, Fire Wave 1.8 mile loop hike and Elephant rock. There is more to see if you have the entire day.

We arrived after a 2 hour drive from Cathedral Gorges State Park, so our normal arrive early was not in play. It was a hot day, already 80 degrees. We hit Mouse’s Tank trail as this was what drew us to the park. The petroglyphs along the entire trail were great. You could easily miss some if you were not looking. We saw many people walk right by and not notice many of them. The ‘Tank’ at the end was just a worn down rock with water in it. It was several feet down and unreachable for most small mammals. I can see it being stagnant as the summer wears on. The petroglyph were the highlight. Our next stop was Fire Wave. I thought it was a 4 mile hike. It was now 82 degrees and windy. There is no shade on this trail. We attempted umbrellas (portable shade we have used in Mexico), but the wind broke one in the first few minutes and turned the other inside out a couple times. It was not gong to work. We decided not to do the hike. Had I known it was only 1.8 mile loop. I would have done it.

We stopped at the Fire Canyon Road lookout. It was unimpressive. The main road had fantastic views that were much better. We stopped at Atlatl Rock and Arch Rock on the way out. We should have stopped going in, but wanted to get in hikes before stops. There is a metal staircase at Atlatl Rock to some very impressive 4000 year old petroglyphs. Definitely worth the stop. Arch rock is a nice stop since you are right there.

We missed Elephant Rock out towards the east entrance. We should have gone out the east entrance as it would have saved us some time since we were heading to Zion National Park next. Next time we pass by I will take a little more time and see the things we missed. This is definitely worth a day trip from Las Vegas.

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