Hey again. Welcome to the almost
world-famous Cactus Atlas.
On today's episode
I'm exploring an area
of the Valley of Fire State Park known as
Rainbow Vista.
I hear they're supposed to be
one of the most colorful sandstone formations
to be found in the park here
as well as another trail
that I want to show you.
So if you want to find out more, stick around
and let's go discover this together.
[Music]
I'm going to tell you something here
straight up with you.
I was already here and have already
seen this whole area a couple days ago.
I'm here doing some refilming
but I'm probably gonna be mixing in some video
for my previous visit which was much
later in the afternoon, mainly because I
saw some really cool stuff
that I want to share with you.
So if you notice the lighting
looks a little different at times... that's why.
You're seeing footage from
being here two different times of day.
Now last time I came here I was not
wearing my trusty hiking boots.
I was wearing sneakers and that was not
enjoyable as you could see.
This is very deep sand here.
Very fine powdery sand.
Don't forget to take some time and
turn around and look behind you
once in while because you'll get some really
cool views of this area.
Our destination is right up there
and I'm wondering if these people
will even realize it.
There's a sign saying there's
a photographic spot but that's
where the color is that we've come to
see - the Rainbow Vista as it were.
Right here where you see that photograph
spot gives you a clue of where to look.
It turns out that I don't think they did see it.
You start to see color painted on these rocks.
Some pinks some purples.
If we turn over this way it gets even better.
Here is why I believe
they call it the Rainbow Vista.
Look at that color.
[Music]
So lesson number one -
don't pass up this when you come here
because I think this is the main
thing you're supposed to be seeing.
And I do see folks just walk right on by.
There is a sign indicating there's a
photo spot and that's your cue
come see the rainbow Vista.
[Music]
There's another thing you could easily miss here
if you don't know about it.
I'm gonna go show you that now too.
My first time here a lot of people would probably just
turn and walk back the way they came.
I noticed there were footsteps here in the
sand that I can see off in the distance.
There is a sign.
And here's what I'm talking about folks.
Another trail.
The Fire Canyon Overlook.
So for whatever reason there's no mention of this
on the map that they give you at the Visitor
Center... the little visitor pamphlet.
This is something cool because what
it is is a walk down through a small
canyon here to an overlook.
I've already ventured to the bottom of that
in the late afternoon and I don't really
see a compelling reason to go and do it again
especially because the first time
I saw a bighorn sheep down here.
So enjoy some footage from that previous
excursion a couple days ago.
The trail has been fine sand still the whole time.
Oh my! Look! It's a bighorn sheep
staring down at me.
See that?
Oh my god. Look at that.
It's a bighorn sheep.
They're all over the place up here.
[Music]
You ought to know by now, the Cactus
Atlas always finds where the wildlife is.
The sheep must come out at night.
They're surrounding me in this whole area.
I even see them up there where I started now.
Kind of grazing and hanging out.
I had no expectation of seeing that
while I was here to be honest.
I got a good glimpse of many of them actually.
This canyon is really cool.
It's a little dark right now because it's
completely in the shadows at this time of day.
I'm gonna guess right down
there is our destination.
I love when I find these mini arches.
There's a couple it looks like.
One there and one right here.
It never gets old, does it?
There's lots of other arches
in progress it looks like.
There are holes everywhere.
This is holy ground.
There it is - Fire Canyon Overlook Trail end.
We made it.
There you have it.
I assume this is Fire Canyon.
It is late in the day so you can see out beyond
some beautiful vibrant color but this is
bathed in shade here so you don't really
get too much color at this time.
Since this portion is out and back - the
Fire Canyon Overlook - I have to walk all
the way back up there.
If you see at the crest of that hill up there,
that's approximately where the
trail to the overlook starts.
I'm kind of probably about half way back.
Once you go around that big rock you
don't have too much further to go.
The wind does blow a lot in here and it's
interesting to see how quickly the
landscape just erases the trace of people.
That there confirms it.
I just ran into a couple that looked kind of
confused and I asked him how they were doing.
They said they were lost.
They weren't clear on what you're supposed to do here.
They happened to come up this
trail that I'm now coming back on.
When you're at the parking lot at Rainbow Vista,
you can go left or right it seems.
They came this way so they
didn't really know what you're supposed to see.
So I explained to them that Rainbow Vista
is over there.
You wouldn't know that really unless you
took the other trail.
Nor would you know about Fire Canyon Overlook
which I explained to them what that was.
Just a tip. If you're watching this video -
there are really two things to see here
at Rainbow Vista, I would say.
The Rainbow Vista itself and the Fire Canyon Overlook.
What would make more sense to me is
if they had two trails from the parking lot.
One that was clearly marked Fire Canyon Overlook
and one that was marked Rainbow Vista,
because each one goes to each of those distinct locations
but also advertise that it's a loop
trail so you have the option of going
down Fire Canyon and seeing the vistas on
the way back or vice versa like I did.
I'm not sure why they made this so cryptic.
That's also one of the main
reasons why I felt like I had to do
another video because when I came out
here the first time I didn't know this
stuff either and I just got lucky.
Now that I understood the layout of this
area that's why I wanted to come back
here and do a little bit deeper dive with
you guys and mix this into my other footage.
Anyway now that we're done,
I'll give you a few final thoughts about
my time here at Rainbow Vista.
I love this section of the park.
Number one, you get a awesome walk through
this beautiful desert terrain.
You get up close and personal with that.
Rainbow Vista itself is really stunning.
It's the best purple coloration that I've seen in the park.
Like the most vibrant purple
Although the quantity is limited -
it's a relatively small section -
it's very much worth seeing.
Then finally Fire Canyon Overlook -
a trail over that way.
Amazing.
It's kind of like Mouse's Tank in that you walk down
this canyon-like area between a lot
of the red rock formations to an
overlook that overlooks Fire Canyon
which is also stunning.
So that's an added bonus.
Now the trick is they don't tell
any of the stuff in the pamphlet they
give you so there's no indication that
there's a Fire Canyon Overlook Trail.
You just need to get lucky
or watch my videos so you learn.
It's also tricky to find Rainbow Vista depending
on which approach you take to get in here.
As you're at the parking lot, just remember
Rainbow Vista is kind of off to the left
and Fire Canyon Overlook is kind of off to the right.
Just think of it as this whole area,
this little amphitheater here,
is what I'm referring to
just to kind of give you some context
If you come here to check this out.
But it is absolutely worth
coming to check out for all of it.
If you have time, I would try to prioritize
this on your itinerary pretty close to
the top of the list but probably not
higher up than something like
Fire Wave or White Domes.
You probably want to do those first.
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Well, that's going to wrap up our
adventure today at Rainbow Vista and
Fire Canyon Overlook Trail.
I hope you enjoyed discovering those with
me and as always I look forward to
having you on a new adventure in the
future and until then, take it easy.
[Music]