Hey and welcome to another episode of the
almost world-famous Cactus Atlas.
Today I'm exploring the Valley of Fire State Park
in the beautiful state of Nevada,
seeking out all of these small, quick stop
type attractions that there are to see here.
The other stuff if you will.
So if you want to find out what all that's
like and what I think, stick around and
let's go explore this park together.
This is what's known as Atlatl Rock.
There's nobody here right now so I'm
gonna take advantage of that pronto.
I wasn't even planning on stopping here just yet
but I saw there's nobody here.
It continues to be nobody here.
So I'm climbing it.
It's a little windy. I apologize.
So yeah, there's quite a few steps here.
Oh wow!
The sign says these petroglyphs are over
4000 years old. 4000! That's 2000 BC.
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It's interesting to think that
the natives that wrote on that
did not have stairs.
So it looks like it's definitely
climbable, no problem.
But that would be a little bit of a workout.
It's really interesting - the perspective of
the rock itself, the face they wrote on -
you can see from this angle it's almost
completely perpendicular to the ground.
It looks like like a chalkboard or something.
It's a very natural surface to want to draw on.
No wonder they all went up there.
So my thoughts about Atlal Rock...
It's really awesome,
especially knowing the age of those
things are over 4000 years old.
So that made it pretty cool.
It's a really short stair climb.
Gets your heart rate up a little bit but
then you'll be done in about five minutes.
So I think you can fit this one in.
The next stop here on the tour is the Beehives.
I'm assuming we're looking for rocks
that look like beehives.
This down here seems to be the main attraction.
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These look pretty interesting down here.
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Yeah, these things do look like beehives
and also wasp nests, don't they?
You have all those holey kind of honeycomb
looking wasp nest type of shapes.
It looks like some kind of giant, monstrous
insect creature would live in these things.
I need somebody here with
me to take a picture so I could stick my
head through this little window here.
That's pretty cool.
I think there's one more beehive
looking rock behind this main one off
the parking lot. Let's go check that
out really quick before we head out.
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Well, the views from down here at the
Beehives ain't too shabby.
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The more I hang out here at Beehives,
the more cool it kind of gets.
Your imagination starts to run a little bit
and you picture like giant insect
creatures living in these things.
It kind of then makes them seem more real.
So yeah, try to use your imagination when
you're here at Beehives.
So is it worth stopping at Beehives?
Once again, yes, if you have time but I don't
think it's gonna blow your mind as much
as other things in the park.
I kind of enjoyed checking these things out.
They're strange to look at.
Just like me.
This is kind of a rare moment.
There's nobody in my shot.
So far on this little sampler tour
just about everything has lived
up to whatever its name is.
So, for this one - Arch Rock
I'm expecting something very specific.
Do you know what this is?
Right outside or across the street from
Arch Rock are more those beehives.
Those look just like those other beehive
structures that we saw earlier, don't they?
So far some pretty interesting
structures here in a very
alien landscape in the background.
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As arches go, there's a money shot
opportunity right there. Very reminiscent
of Arches National Park. Although that is
a munchkin arch compared to what you'll
see there.
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You know I wouldn't pass up the
opportunity to get a selfie with
something like that, would I?
You can also walk down a little ways from the
arch over here - it looks like a lot of
people have done so - and get some
really nice expansive views of this
valley here going off into the distance.
That's quite majestic.
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As for whether or not to visit the
Arch Rock here... it's cool. It's just a
quick 5-minute stop if you were staying
at one of the campgrounds. It's actually
right next to those, so why not stop and
get a quick picture and then move on
down the road.
Okay, so for Petrified Logs West
you take the main road here.
Those are the roads of the campground.
You'll see a sign that says Petrified Logs and
just turn there and then you'll have
this gravelly bumpy road to travel.
So my expectations are not too high for this
particular thing. I want to see it, but if
you live in Arizona especially
you're no stranger to petrified wood.
It's actually a lot more common than you would think.
So the view from this trail
to Petrified Logs West is worth it just
for that, really.
There's the petrified log.
It's mostly buried from view.
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Alright, I guess as advertised that was
a petrified log. I think there may be
some more up here because
actually I think it's plural - petrified logs.
This is a pretty cool specimen actually.
This one's much larger than the first
one we saw. You really get a sense
of a complete trunk of the tree as
opposed to just like a slice.
You'll see a lot of the sliced versions at
the Petrified Forest National Park.
So it's really cool to see a big chunk
all in one piece.
And here's the next one.
It's not as good as the one right down there
but still pretty cool. Like you can see, it's a
pretty well-defined log mostly buried once again.
So my thoughts about
Petrified Logs - it's exactly as
advertised. There's a few petrified logs.
I would say if you've been to the Petrified
Forest and you're short on time when you
visit here, you might want to just pass
up on this one. But if you do have time -
maybe 20 or 30 minutes to spare at most -
I would check it out. It still is
cool and the backgrounds are something
to be said here.
Now needless to say at this point,
I think this is such a majestic
landscape. It's one of the finest of the
American Southwest, I think, to this day.
It's so striking.
Alright, I have arrived at the Visitor Center.
I had to park way out here in overflow parking.
There's a parking lot up this way that
is full. So this is a very popular
Visitor Center it appears.
You can see, like lots of things out here, this
Visitor Center is nestled up nice and
tight against all these red rocks.
Alright, my expectations are high.
Let's see if they're met.
This looks very museum like.
Like a good quality museum.
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There's even a gift shop here.
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So a lot of that was pretty
standard fare for visitor center stuff.
It's done very well though.
You learn about the
geology of the region, the native people
that lived here throughout the years, as
well as the flora and fauna. So in that
regard that's how it's pretty standard,
but the quality of the experience is
much higher than a lot of other parks
that I've been to. So good job.
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Well, I had a blast
seeking out all the smaller fare here at
the Valley of Fire State Park.
Everything was amazing.
I hope you had a good time
tagging along and I look forward to
having you on a new adventure very soon.
So keep checking back in and until then,
take it easy.
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