On our last visit to Las Vegas, Rick, Bill and I checked out the Valley of Fire about forty miles northeast of the city. These photos were taken there. The picture above looks, to me, like a rocky chimp staring down a granite gorilla.
The terrain in the park ranges from flat desert to rocky canyons, which were inhabited thousands of years ago by native tribes who left behind petroglyphs etched into the stone, a number of which remain visible as in the next couple of images.
These rock etchings are very similar to cave paintings found in Europe, and speak to ancient man's desire to record something of their experiences.
After years of sun and wind (though not likely much rain), you wonder how much of this record has eroded away-- but it's still amazing to look at these rocks and realize that they were already pretty ancient when these markings were made.
The spot below is known as White Domes, and involves a rather steep hike down into a canyon where the film The Professionals with Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster was shot back in the 1960s. The two small structures you can make out more-or-less in the center of this photo are remnants of that production.
Once down in the canyon, there's a trail that loops back around the rocks on the right, which lead to the natural passageway seen below-- which is much like walking down a long, tall hallway, which leads out into a broad flat rocky plain. Next time I'll get some pictures up of that spot (and others from our visit).
On our last visit to Las Vegas, Rick, Bill and I checked out the Valley of Fire about forty miles northeast of the city. These photos were taken there. The picture above looks, to me, like a rocky chimp staring down a granite gorilla.
The terrain in the park ranges from flat desert to rocky canyons, which were inhabited thousands of years ago by native tribes who left behind petroglyphs etched into the stone, a number of which remain visible as in the next couple of images.
These rock etchings are very similar to cave paintings found in Europe, and speak to ancient man's desire to record something of their experiences.
After years of sun and wind (though not likely much rain), you wonder how much of this record has eroded away-- but it's still amazing to look at these rocks and realize that they were already pretty ancient when these markings were made. 
The spot below is known as White Domes, and involves a rather steep hike down into a canyon where the film The Professionals with Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster was shot back in the 1960s. The two small structures you can make out more-or-less in the center of this photo are remnants of that production.
Once down in the canyon, there's a trail that loops back around the rocks on the right, which lead to the natural passageway seen below-- which is much like walking down a long, tall hallway, which leads out into a broad flat rocky plain. Next time I'll get some pictures up of that spot (and others from our visit).
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