Vegas to Kanab, Utah Via Valley of Fire

In 2016 we spent a week in Utah checking out three of Utah’s big five national parks. We intended to go back and see the other two, but just hadn’t made it. It was time to go back and check out the two we missed: Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef. We planned to make a trip of it by including the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Nevada’s only national park, Great Basin. There were some other spots including the Valley of Fire in Nevada that we hoped to see as well.

We flew into Las Vegas. We considered flying into Salt Lake City, but Vegas was actually closer to many of the sites, and it was also cheaper to fly there, significantly cheaper. Our flight arrived in the late afternoon so we decided to stay in Vegas and head out to Utah the next day.

After getting our luggage, we needed to pick up our rental car. This actually went faster than I expected. The agent told me to go out into the parking garage, and someone would get the car for me. The attendant there directed me to aisle 7 and told me I could choose any of the cars I wanted in my car category. Great! I headed to the area and discovered there was one car. It was black with black interior. Since it was over 100 degrees in Vegas that day, this would not have been my first choice, but sadly it was my only choice.

Our hotel was near the Fremont Street Experience. We had visited the site when we were in Vegas in 2019. We wouldn’t have gone back, but the entrance was right across the street from where we had dinner so we decided to check it out again since we had no other plans for the evening.

The main thing that had changed was the program they present in the covering over the street. It is quite a show and seemed even more dynamic than what we had seen before. When there is not a show with music, there are still colors and patterns on the ceiling.

There did seem to be a few more buskers around. We finally figured out that circles here and there on the street were designated spots for buskers. I think part of that was to limit the number of performers that could participate.

I was intrigued by the lights. This is an area of not only the show on the ceiling, but amazing lights on buildings. Some were old school neon-like and some were newer. I focused my attention on the lights instead of the people. It tested my photographic skills.

The next morning we didn’t get the earliest of starts. We went out for breakfast as the hotel didn’t offer a complimentary breakfast. That took some time. Then we bought some food for our trip. It was almost noon before we actually left town.

It was a hot day. Las Vegas was predicted to be over 100 degrees again. However, as they say, it was a dry heat so a little more tolerable than high humidity.

Our main stop on the way to Utah was the Valley of Fire. This is a Nevada state park that has some very interesting areas of red rock. From the exit on I-15, it is about 12 miles to the park on a paved but rough road. We first went to the visitor center to figure out the best use of our time. The biggest draw there was a place to fill up water bottles. The faucets were in active use that day.

Next to the visitor center is White Dome road. It goes through a canyon of red rock. The red rock here seems darker than some of the other areas we have been with red rock formations. We drove to the Rainbow Vista trail. It was supposed to be a one mile trail to a view point.

We started on the trail and realized it was very sandy making it more challenging to walk. However, it wasn’t too difficult. It passed through some rock formations, and the scenery was beautiful. What made it most unique was a blue toned plant that was growing in most of the flat lands. The blue color really added to the red and cream colors that we saw in the rocks. An occasional green plant added to the mix.

The trail was well marked with concrete posts so we found it easy to follow. Eventually it began to slope down and into a narrow canyon. The markers stopped, but we figured the trail was pretty obvious. Unfortunately we came to a spot in the trail where there was about a three foot drop. Getting down it was a bit of a scramble, and we were a little anxious about doing it so we turned back and didn’t make it to the viewpoint. Back near the parking lot some people were climbing high on a rock to get a view. We had no desire to follow them.

We drove a little bit farther down the White Dome Road to the Fire Canyon Road which went off to the right to an overlook. The overlook was a great spot to see the craggy mountains in the area. It was only a short walk to the top of the overlook.

We returned to the visitor center to refill our water bottles and then headed farther down the main road. Our goal was to find one of their well know rock formations, the elephant. We found the trail to it right near the exit to the park. There was a display area here with a social media opportunity. The state of Nevada is really with it.

We started walking the trail. It was supposed to be a fairly short hike, but it seemed to go on forever. I finally told Silvette something was off. We must have missed something so we turned around and went back the way we came.

I saw a couple of rock formations which I thought looked like elephants. However, I knew they were not as the actual formation had the trunk separated from the head. Finally we saw it. It turned out we had walked right by it. Not only that, but there was a sign with an arrow pointing to it that we walked right by as well. It was a bit embarrassing to realize what we had done, but at least we finally saw the elephant.

It was getting late, and we still had a long ways to go for our motel in Kanab. I did make a few quick stops as we drove back through the park. I stopped to take a picture of the seven sisters which are a series of seven tall formations next to each other. We also took a short detour off the main road to see an arch. Unfortunately it wasn’t that big of an arch so it was a bit of a disappointment.

Leaving the park behind we headed back to I-15 to continue our journey to Kanab which is where we were staying that night. It was a long drive. We did stop in St. George, Utah to get some dinner. That is a nice sized town and would have been worth exploring if we had the time.

A few miles out of St. George we turned off of I-15 and drove east. The road dipped down into Arizona before turning back north into Utah and Kanab. The time had also changed on us so it was pretty late when we finally made it into our motel. With a good night’s rest, we will be ready to explore the north rim of the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Check out our experience there next week.

Credit: Photo of park sign and two photos of me taken by Silvette Lee