Gosh, time flies. More than 8 months passed since the trip and I have still to write about half of the journey! Of course, many details are already fading away, but I have tons of photos to share, so I hope I will be able to get to the end before it’s too late.
Officially, the next stop after Page should have been the Death Valley. However the journey was way too long to be made without any stop, plus, in reality, there are several marvellous places to see on the way. Many advised visiting the Zeon park. However, time was not on our side, plus photos on Google didn’t really convince me that much.
In the search for something that could have visited on our way back to Las Vegas, where we would have spent another night (after all the hotels are super cheap there), I found out about this place, with an evoking name, called Valley Of Fire. The photos on google immediately looked fascinating, so I decided to give a go. This was one of the best decision I made for the trip and a fantastic surprise stop!
I remember that thanks to google map the place wasn’t hard to find and the deviation from the main road not too costly. I also remember that that day was damn hot (although not at hot as it will be at the Death Valley, where it actually got dangerous), so, again, liters of water and the very welcomed cowboy hat made the day bearable and enjoyable.
there is a park entrance fee, in the order of 10 dollars, but no one at the barrier. The visitor is asked to leave the money in a money box. I guess there are cameras, so failing to do so would be recorded. Not entirely sure.
There is a visitor centre too, but we didn’t go there. We drove directly to the place we decided to use as a starting point for our short hiking.
Right after the entrance, we were already in awe. The red colours of the rocks are so vivid that really took us to Mars immediately and we were not wrong, as in fact later we found out that this was the set of the original (and only worth to watch) Total Recall and many other movies!
Because of the heat, few meters were already enough to make me sweat and swear. However, the sight was too incredible to not want to see more. Probably for the first time I really felt to be in a western movie! Still, no encounters with rattlesnakes, nowhere to be seen in any place we have been to be fair.
We couldn’t stay too long, so after the few photos (among the most spectacular of the trip) we had to leave to go back to Las Vegas. Not before to say goodbye to the local animals though.
Final note: I remember that at this point of the travel, while just a little bit more than a week passed, we felt like we were on a trip for a month! Nice feeling though.