Uraling in the Valley of Fire State Park

I rode Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig, the five miles or so to the western entrance to the Valley of Fire State Park.

I left the campsite by 7AM so I got to the place before it got crowded.  I still kept encountering the same people at each site but that's not unexpected.

Note to self, if there's ever a next time for this park, and you're there early enough, go to the Fire Wave first!  It's apparently quite popular so this way you beat the crowds.

Elephant Rock (meh) near the western entrance

The Seven Sisters, again meh, but worth a stop if you're picnic'ing I suppose.

Nice little access road crossing massive rock formations.  You take this road to get to Mouse's Tank:

Mouse's Tank, on the other hand, proved lacking.  It's apparently a .75 mile there and back trail, felt longer and the disappointing end didn't help.

Mouse's Tank

Across the highway from the stop for Mouse's Tank, there's some picnic benches.  I checked out the area behind the benches and found a neat rock formation which I'll call the Sunburst:

A view of rock formations from Parking Lot 1 enroute to Parking Lot #3 where one can begin the trail to the Fire Wave.  There is no stopping allowed for the four mile stretch before spot #1 and beyond spot #3.  Too bad.

From Parking Lot #3, you walk about .75 miles (1.5 mile there and back) to the Fire Wave.  The light of the nearly Noon sun had quite the flattening effect on the swirls of the rock that form the wave:

The Wave?

Near Rainbow Vista

I stopped at the sweeping curve near the Visitor Center (meh) and got a shot of their "Balancing Rock".  Perhaps I'm jaded from having seen other Balancing Rocks elsewhere...

There were many more cars and people than earlier so it was time for me to exit the park and return to the campsite.

I spent the afternoon reading a book outside the VRRV as the winds steadily became stronger and stronger.  I did go into town briefly to get gas for Scarlett and rubber seals to fix a slight leak in the kitchen faucets in the VRRV.

Got a call near 5PM, the mechanic said they're close to fixing up Yagi and should be done by 10AM tomorrow.  We shall see.  I'll probably displace to Henderson in the morning and prepare the VRRV for further travels as I await receipt of Yagi.

I doubt I'll return to this park.  It looked so promising but ... meh.

Uraling in the OHV area near Overton, NV

A warm day and very sunny.  Luckily, no winds strong enough to notice for a change.  

I rode Scarlett into town for supplies for some minor repairs on Scarlett and the ramp on the trailer.

While waiting for the hardware store to open, I rode about a nice OHV area to get some views of a small mesa's cliffsides. It would have been more fun with Yagi of course, but it was fine with Scarlett.

Trying to get a better angle on the above rock formations/mesa erosion walls, I rode Scarlett up a small ridgeline on which the town's water tank is located.

As I crested the summit, I had to stop quickly in order to not scare off these fellows who were wandering loose up on top:

The views weren't any better up there however, so I went back down and just wandered for a bit:

Eventually, the heat and the time dictated a departure from this OHV area.  I found my way back to town and got the items I needed from the hardware store.

Rode back to camp by lunch and relaxed the afternoon away.

Uraling to Mormon Mesa, Stewart's Point, Saint Thomas and more Snowbird Mesa Canyon Views

This morning I rode Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig to check out the "Heart of the Mormon Mesa".

So here it is, the heart:

More info on the Heart on facebook, via an onsite plaque:

You can see that dispersed camping sites over at Snowbird Mesa, can you spot Uma?

As with most desert "memorials" or rock sites, there were several rock collections painted and laid in patterns:

A few minutes riding away, there's the Peace Garden, I took pics of the rock decorations but decided not to post.  Comment if you want me to add them later.

One accesses the Mormon Mesa via a dirt road that climbs one of the shallower sides of the mesa:

After some resupply stops in the nearby town of Overton, I stopped to check out the Overton WMA; but not much visible at first blush but for six camping sites which were nicely secluded by landscaping from each other.

I decided to go into the Lake Mead Recreation Area (the western fee entrance was unmanned) and check out Stewart's Point.  The receding waters of Lake Mead have basically rendered the area as a dispersed camping area with views of the lake.  I couldn't see any boat ramps and most of the houses in the area were looking either abandoned or delapidated.

Stewart's Point

On the way back to the western entrance to the recreation area, I detoured at the sign for St. Thomas.

You can get the gist of what was there by reading the information plaque below:

One good thing about driving the three miles to the site of St. Thomas's trail head was a nice view of Mormon Mesa:

I returned back to Snowbird Mesa and decided to take pictures from the several campsites enroute to my own campsite.

Can you see Uma?

Home by lunch, it was a lazy afternoon as the skies became heavily overcast and the wind picked up to rather strong gusty levels at time.  Temperatures reached the high 70s briefly though but the winds kept things cool.

Here's some panos (big files)  I shot while photographing the canyon walls above:

Here's how you access the canyon bottom

More Snowbird Mesa Exploring and some Rock Formations outside the Valley of Fire S.P.

Here's some pics from yesterday's Golden Hour:

Yesterday's Sunset

This morning, I drove to the trail that leads down into the canyon for pics:

The trail to the bottom of the canyon

The road up to the other side of the canyon

A view of the above trail as it leads up to the other side of the canyon.

Afterwards, I drove the few miles to the western entrance of the Valley of Fire State Park.  I spoke to the attendant and she confirmed that the day use fee of $10 is only good for one day.  She also confirmed that the weekend crowds start today, Friday, so I'll be waiting till Monday to visit the park.

However, just shortly before the fee entrance to the state park, I could see some interesting rock formations:

I parked Scarlett on the side of the road and walked the short distance to check out the above arch and other rock formations that were nearby:

A cozy cave-like apartment...

A View of the Western Entrance to the 

Valley of Fire State Park

I returned to the campsite by Noon to fix lunch.  I would spend the rest of the day hanging out at the VRRV.  Sunny but with a high of only 75F, with the winds mild though they were, keeping things feeling cool.