Howdy, and welcome to another episode of
the almost world-famous Cactus Atlas. On
today's episode I am exploring the
Valley of Fire State Park in the
beautiful state of Nevada, hiking a trail
known as the White Domes. It starts
somewhere right there behind me. It's
supposed to be one of the best trails
here so I'm here to find out. If you
want to find out, come with me and let's
go explore together! Open sunrise to
sunset only. You can see that the
White Domes trailhead area does have
bathrooms. Looks like the trail
starts right over here, straight back
from the parking lot. Alright, I am about
to start the White Domes. You're supposed to be
able to see some really colorful
sandstone formations, and I hear there's
even a slot canyon somewhere in there.
This is supposed to be one of the better
things, if not one of the best hikes that
you can do here at Valley of Fire.
I did not wear the best shoes for this, but
we will manage. It's like walking
on a beach. It's very windy right now and
you can see how the wind has erased all
traces of footsteps from the previous
day. You see the ripples here in the
sand, erasing any trace of man!
I love walking down this sand trail,
especially being the very first person
in the morning, because my footprints are
the only ones at this point. The wind has
been blowing very hard all night and has
erased all of the previous day's
footsteps. So I feel like an explorer. I
feel like the first guy here at the
White Domes today. We're starting to be
greeted by this really beautiful scene
over here in a soft morning light. Yeah,
you can see down in here, very
magnificent colors. Greys, reds. You even
have an arch I think forming here.
Geology in progress. Just to give
you a quick taste, that's what we walked
down. So not too treacherous. Looks like
this is part of the trail. Walk down
these steps here. I'm assuming we're
heading down there somewhere.
[Music]
It is dead quiet in here. A very faint
light breeze, but that's about it.
This is really a treat to be in here all
by myself. You can see a different
perspective. I came from up there so you
kind of drop down through that.
There's another section you drop down on
the other side of that that you can't
see anymore. This is something pretty
cool and unexpected. That is actually the
remnant of a movie set, believe it or not.
That is from the set of the 1965
movie, The Professionals. That's
pretty cool, who would have thunk that. A
movie set down here. I bet you they
wouldn't let them do that today,
would they? Here's some signage that
tells you about some photographic
history. Here's the set of
The Professionals. Look at all the
sandstone that we're walking through. All
the ribbons of color. I'm
assuming I'm entering the slot canyon
portion now, which is really cool. A
sandstone slot canyon.
This is really wild. You get all of the
different layering that you see in
sandstone. Really weird
ridges there in the rocks. The more I
venture into this thing by myself, having
total seclusion. I just feel like I luck
out sometimes, you know? You can get some really
nice photos, you don't have to worry
about anybody jumping in your shot. I
can't stress how much I recommend
starting early if you can!
I almost need to take my sunglasses off
here. it's pretty dark in here, shady. My
low light camera always makes it seem
like it's not as dark as it really is.
[Music]
There's where you exit the slot
canyon. You can kind of get a sense of
how narrow it gets in there. Here's some
really nice smooth, beautiful sandstone.
It's got that bacon color.
Making me hungry! It's almost like the
sandstone flowed down as if it were a
liquid that somehow got suspended in
time and just gently curves over like
that. It's just so relaxing to look at.
In fact, relaxing kind of sums up so much
about what Valley of Fire is to me. It's
just this landscape is so interesting
and unique and has all sorts of wavy
lines in it, and it just relaxes your
mind. It really does.
[Music]
Alright, well this seems like a nice
quiet place to give you my thoughts
about the White Domes loop trail. It was
a great experience. I know it's usually
at the top of the list of things to do, or
things to hike here, and I would agree.
You get to see some really cool stuff.
The standout things to me were
the slot canyon, number one.
Some of the sandstone that you see after
that, that stripe stuff that's layered.
That was really cool. The old
Hollywood movie set was an unexpected
surprise there. That was really neat!
Overall, it was just a very pleasant,
not too strenuous hike. It was actually
quite simple to do. The most treacherous
part of the whole thing, I think, is the
initial descent, where you're walking in
all that loose sand and some of those
steps, so watch yourself there.
The rest of it was really a piece of cake I
thought. So, if you find yourself out this
way at Valley of Fire, I would definitely
say the White Domes loop trail is a must
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name Cactus Atlas. Well, that's going to
do it for this tour of the White Domes,
here at Valley of Fire State Park.
I really enjoyed having you tag along
with me, and I look forward to our next
adventure that I hope you'll join me on
very soon, so stick around and take it easy!
[Music]