Near the western entrance of Valley of Fire State Park we find dark red Aztec sandstone. In the red rock nooks and crannies campsites are available and at this outcropping’s northern end is Atlatl Rock. Home to petroglyphs about 4,000 years old carved by unknown ancient tribes. Yes, these peoples lived sometime around 2,000 B.C. and we can only imagine their thoughts through their art. Let’s go!
Many of the trails in Valley of Fire State Park are less than 2.5 miles. That’s great because we can do much more each day. Well . . . the trails may be short but often take you twice as long as expected. Learned that the hard way. Why? Most trails are sand and that’s hard walking. Then you travel over rock with some steep sections, some five +/- foot drops to negotiate, and it is difficult to keep trail markers on top of rock so were some missing? Yes. The good news is this rock is not slippery unless wet which rarely happens in the desert. In addition some trails are not well marked even on sand so walking in circles can leave you wondering. The good news? The scenery is to die for!! Off we go . . . in sand.
Hello! It has been quite a while my friend. Hope your holidays were wonderful, full of fun and blessings. All is well here in Colorado Springs except for the recent polar vortex. Our temperatures the last few days were below zero, getting to -11 last night. Not a usual event on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Happily today it is a “warm” 28 degrees. I’m still staying inside!
Last week I left the cold and journeyed to southern Nevada’s first State Park, Valley of Fire. What a treasure and geology wonder! You are going to love this.
Colorado Springs, high desert with average elevation about 6,000 feet and average annual rainfall of about 7.5 inches. We have had showers nearly every day since early May, some days raining much of the day. We set a daily rainfall record on June 12 and from January 1 to June 13 our rainfall total is 14.71 inches setting an all-time record. Along with the rain we experience hail, lightening, tornado warnings, and flash flooding. Thank goodness I live on a hill–except for the lightening and tornado warnings 😉 . Pikes Peak experienced an unprecedented blizzard on Tuesday with snow drifts as high as three feet and ice layers up to half an inch thick on the roads. Yes, there were people up there but all survived the ordeal. It has been a very long and cooler than usual spring.
Now for the good news.
