Valley of Fire State Park | Las Vegas area

One of our first stops on our Spring Break road trip was Las Vegas. I was just curious...it's been kind-of built up in my head over the years. We grabbed a walk-in site for $10 at the Red Rock Canyon Campground, located a mile or so outside the park entrance. Nothing super special here, except stars and silence #YES and a cheap place to spend the night within 20 minutes of the downtown area.

We went to town, but found that the treehouse at the container park was being repaired, and the tacos weren't that great, so it didn't feel like a roaring start in Vegas. After using the services of a laundromat, we spend too long searching for free parking. It was elusive. We ended up parking over by the big wheel for $12. We walked down and then back up the strip, for over four hours, working up some pretty nice blisters between my toes. #flipflopfail The fountain show at the Bellagio was cool [5 mins] and then we watched the volcano show [5 mins] and came away with the realization that probably not everything in life is free.

AND SO. Time to head to the Valley of Fire State Park where the crowds thin out, people wear actual clothing that covers them, and there are rocks to climb on for hours. This place reminded me a little bit of Joshua Tree, just because you can camp RIGHT beneath the rocks that you want to climb on. We hopped out of the car (after meeting some incredibly nice people that offered to share a THE VERY LAST campsite with us) and started scrambling up the grippy rocks. LOVE.
Not in Vegas anymore, baby.

Please don't ask me why he is on a phone while in a perfectly awesome cave. Well, it's because he wanted to see what it felt like to play games on a phone while in a perfectly awesome cave. It's kind-of like me wanting to read a book in a tree that I had climbed. Maybe the same? 

They climbed and played plenty without technology, don't worry. But they did do a lot of gaming in the car. Next time, I'm going to limit that because unfortunately, it made other epic things pale in comparison. We'll be listening to audio books more on our next long car ride. 

My favorite hike in this state park was the White Domes Trail...and to get to it you have to drive right through the most awesome section of the park. So you should go there. :) The kids enjoyed the little slot canyon section and scrambling up and down the sticky rocks. 

I hiked to the Fire Wave and Pastel Canyon, but didn't explore the area as fully as I would have liked!! #kids #comeon At least we all got a taste. 

If we come back, I'll be arriving early early in the morning to wait out one of the BEST campsites -- Arch Rock Campground sites 21, 22, 23, or 27.

Trip Details:
Drive about 50 minutes outside of Vegas to the Valley of Fire Highway [Exit 75]. Then drive along until you get there! You'll find the two campgrounds by taking the second left. I preferred Arch Rock from a campsite point of view, but then drove over to snag a shower at Atlatl Rock Campground. :)

Plan to stay a couple nights to give yourself time to really explore the whole area!

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