Continued from the previous page.

SCENIC LOOP ROAD

This is a two-mile loop, mostly paved and part gravel, on the west side of the park that takes visitors to the two campgrounds, popular Atlatl Rock, and past more arches and other interesting rock formations. You can do the loop in either direction.

An unpaved part of the Scenic Loop Road

This mostly-flat loop is suitable for passenger vehicles and even large RVs. The gravel portion -- and the unpaved roads within the two campgrounds -- were smooth and well-graded this week.

ATLATL ROCK

I went CCW on the loop today, starting on the paved part. In order, you'll pass the Atlatl Rock Campground first, then Atlatl Rock, Arch Rock, Arch Rock Campground, and then more interesting rock formations on the final stretch of the loop that is not paved.

I did some backtracking since the main thing I wanted to see was Atlatl Rock and all the petroglyphs it holds:

This rock is BIG!!  For perspective, that's my van in the parking lot on the far right.
And not all of the sandstone monolith is shown in this picture.

An atlatl (rhymes with "cattle-cattle") is part of a primitive spear that was a predecessor to the bow and arrow. This sign at the base of Atlatl Rock explains how it was made and used:

The park has both a campground and this large rock monolith named after the tool. I love the name --"Atlatl" is fun to say!

As you can see from these pictures, Atlatl Rock has lots of that dark blue or black "desert varnish" that prehistoric people scratched symbols on more than 4,000 years ago per one of the interpretive panels I read.

I found dozens of petroglyphs at a low level that most people don't see because they're immediately drawn to the tall set of steps that take visitors to a platform with numerous other petroglyphs. I marked both areas with red dots in the next photo:

 

There were a lot of people on the platform and stairs when I arrived so I decided to walk along the base of rock where there is a path. I lucked out; I didn't even know there would be pictures in that location! (Keep going to the left of the red dot at the base to see more petroglyphs.)

These are just some of the pictures I found right in front of me from ground level. As in Petroglyph Canyon, may of them have obviously worn off due to time, weathering, and probably some human vandalism over the last four millennia. I enhanced these photos with a little extra contrast and saturation so you can see the symbols more clearly:

 

 

 

 

After photographing dozens of petroglyphs at ground level, I went up the stairs. The tiny size of the people gives perspective to the height of this platform:

Looking up . . .

. . . looking back down. There are restrooms and two large picnic shelters at this location.

Makes you wonder how the artists got up there to carve out the symbols! My guesses are 1) they were more agile than most folks are today and 2) probably some supporting rock has fallen away over time.

Fewer people were on the platform when I got up there so I was able to take photos freely.

Some of the petroglyphs next to the platform at the top of the stairs are covered with now-foggy, transparent Plexiglas to protect them from damage by visitors who want to touch them. They were hard to photograph clearly. Others that are farther from peoples' hands are left exposed:

 

 

 

The petroglyphs at platform level show less weathering than the ones at ground level. They are under some over-hanging rock, which has protected them more from weathering, and before that platform was erected, they were subjected to less human tampering because they were relatively inaccessible.

I got angry every time I saw where some modern moron had carved his name or initials into the rocks next to the ancient art:

You are total losers, Ike and WC!

I'm glad I walked up and down the numerous metal steps to get a closer look at these outstanding examples of ancient rock art. I took Jim back in a few days to see them, too.

If I'm ever in the park again for a longer period of time, I'd like to hike around that entire monolith to see if there are other places with petroglyphs visible from the ground. I should also ask park staff where other rock art sites are located since their literature says there are "several" sites.

CAMPGROUNDS INSIDE THE PARK

There are two campgrounds on the Scenic Loop Road and I was curious to see both of them for possible future reference. There is so much to see and do at Valley of Fire, it would be nice if we could camp there instead of down in Vegas.

ATLATL ROCK  CAMPGROUND

After looking at the petroglyphs I drove back to Atatl Rock Campground. I had seen two good-sized trailers come in the east gate while I was at Elephant Rock and wondered if they were headed to one of the campgrounds, or just passing through.

I was pleasantly surprised to see some large Class As and 5th-wheels in this campground, which has water and electric hookups. Some of the sites are quite large:

Above and below:  Two of the largest sites are REALLY big! I was glad to see that
small RVs weren't occupying them. That's another one of my beefs . . .

The roads are OK for these large rigs, too, but I doubt we'll ever haul our Cameo out there because you can't make reservations; all spaces in the two campgrounds are first come, first served and almost all of them were full today, a weekday.

With so many people camping nowadays, we'd prefer to have a reservation before driving out that far and finding no suitable sites for our rig.

There are some smaller sites in this campground, too, that are very nice:

Making memories in a Class B camping van and pop-up trailer (above)
and a rental Class C (below)

ARCH ROCK CAMPGROUND

Atlatl Rock Campground is much easier to negotiate with a large rig than Arch Rock Campground, located about a mile farther along the Scenic Loop Road.

Arch Rock is more primitive and has no hookups. It is also very scenic among the rocks but is suitable only for smaller RVs. The sites are shorter than at Atlatl Rock CG and the roads are more narrow and hilly. This is the only picture I took of this campground, and it was from a distance:

As perspective to other RVers, we would have difficulty maneuvering our 36-foot 5th-wheel coach on the interior roads of Arch Rock CG and wouldn't fit into any of the sites. 

ARCH ROCK & OTHERS ALONG SCENIC LOOP ROAD

This park is chock full of unusual rocks with arches, windows, and niches large and small.

Arch Rock is located close to the road between Atlatl Rock and the Arch Rock Campground. There is a small parking area so folks can get out of their vehicles for a closer look:

There are other arches and windows on the gravel portion of the Scenic Loop Rd. past Arch Rock Campground that are fairly easy to spot if you're looking for that type of thing.

This is just one of them:

I parked along the deserted road at two other places and got out to inspected some interesting clusters of rocks more closely:

Above and below:  This one is almost as intriguing as Elephant Rock;  it needs a name, too.

I had fun climbing up into another cluster (under the red dot in the next picture) with lots of niches and windows and took pictures from inside :

 

 

 

That was fun, and a nice way to end my visit to the park. From there, I continued to the park's west entrance and back home.

FLOWERS & FINAL THOUGHTS 

This is a good time of year to visit the park, before it gets too hot and while some flowers are in bloom.

There were lots of yellow flowers all over the park today -- brittlebrush and creosote, mainly -- plus some large stands of orange globe mallow:

Brittlebush on the White Domes Trail

Globe mallow on the Petroglyph Canyon Trail

I also saw some bright purple beavertail and hedgehog cacti blooms and several dark blue, white, red, and greenish wildflowers and shrubs I've never seen before:

Hedgehog cactus on the Fire Wave Trail

Unknown white flowers on a large bush near the visitor center

Above and below:  unknown blue flowers on another large bush near the visitor center

There were lots of bright green leaves on shrubs and trees, contrasting beautifully with the red rocks.

Some of the trees and other plants are quite hardy, not only withstanding harsh desert conditions but also seemingly growing right out of the sandstone rock like this tree in the wash on the White Domes Trail:

The only critters I saw at Valley of Fire today were birds and lizards.

When I got back to the RV park at Nellis AFB I raved about all the cool things I saw and did. Jim went back with me to the park a few days later, after a couple rainy days when we did other things. Because it was overcast on my second visit to Valley of Fire, I'm glad I got all the sunny pictures I took today.

For more information about the park and a good video tour, go to the official park website.

Next entry:  photos from my second trip to Valley of Fire State Park -- I had to show it to Jim!

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, Cody the ultra Lab, and Casey-pup

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© 2016 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil