2024-09: Atlatl Rock Campground-Valley of Fire, NV

Milestones

21st camping trip in 21 months
5th U.S. state camped. SHOW ON MAP
Part of my 3rd Annual “Bike-A-Palooza” (SEE the Whole Trip)

Camping in the Heat

I knew it was going to be hot when I arrived at my campsite. So, I tried to show up as close to sundown as I could, but still see to setup my tent and eat dinner. At 6:30pm it was 103 degrees F. I was worried because I had never camped in that extreme heat. I was afraid I couldn’t handle it, and I would have to wimp-out and find a hotel. Thankfully, I had a plan. I found a “Portable Evaporative Air Cooler” made by Evapolar (i.e., a swamp cooler) for only $80 on Amazon. You put water in its reservoir, and plug it into a USB power source. I was amazed at what a wonderful difference it made. I ran that little guy 8 hours and it used up only 20% of my Jackery 300W portable battery. I actually woke up around 5am and had to turn the cooler off because I was getting a little cold… LOL!!!

The Beauty…

I had no idea what a spectacular place this state park was. It is 40,000 acres of bright red Aztec sandstone outcrops nestled in gray and tan limestone, with ancient petrified trees and petroglyphs dating back more than 2,000 years.

It is Nevada’s oldest state park and is designated as a National Natural Landmark. The park is located in the Mojave Desert 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Las Vegas, at an elevation between 1,320–3,009 feet.

When I made my reservation, I couldn’t have imagined how beautiful it was going to be.

The campsite was easy for me, and the bathroom was top-notch.

I ended up having to make dinner in the dark. But, there weren’t any bugs and I had a portable LED lamp.

I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, so I took a night-sky picture.

Here’s what it looks like after running it through Astrometry.net:

FUN FACT: The outside Mars scenes from the movie “Total Recall”, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, were almost totally shot in Valley of Fire.

While I was driving out of the park, I saw 3 Desert Bighorn sheep. Obviously, I didn’t get their picture because I would have driven my car into a ditch if I had tried. You will just have to take my anecdotal evidence at face value.