Southern Utah - Day One

 Sixty-five dollar round-trip tickets from Bellingham (yes, Bellingham and not Seattle) to Las Vegas made our decision on where to go for our anniversary trip easy. But since we have no desire to go to Vegas again, Utah's nearby national parks made for another easy decision... 

Despite the fact that our cabin in Alton was 4 hours away and we still needed to stop and buy groceries in St George, I still planned a stop along the way at Nevada's first state park: Valley of Fire.

I have to admit that on the drive I wasn't too impressed. It was pretty but nothing to write home about. Then we dropped down over a ridge and discovered how it got it's name. The rock was the deepest red we'd ever seen! Unfortunately the clouds and haze from the blowing sand made the lighting not so great and the pictures really didn't capture it well...

After a stop at the Visitors' Center, we headed to see Petroglyph Canyon... 

It is also known as Mouse's Tank because an outlaw by the name of Mouse hid out here for months and survived in the desert by drinking the water that collected in the rock "tank" at the end of the trail...

The manganese oxide gives the surface of the rocks a black coating that makes the petroglyphs much easier to see... 

Although they are believed to be 2000-4000 years old, these drawings have been well-preserved... 

Santa must have come to visit because I'm pretty sure reindeer don't live in Nevada 😜

Then we hiked to see the Fire Wave...

following the trail markers 

It was pretty warm at 80 degrees but I can't imagine how hot it would have been if the sun was out! 😛

Then we decided to complete the loop on the Seven Wonders Trail... I don't know what the seven wonders were but there was some really cool rock formations along the way. It's what I imagine hiking on Tatooine would be like... 😁

Chris found a nice place for a relaxing nap... 

At this point we were following the markers and then they just ended...

Thankfully Chris has a great sense of direction and we scrambled up some rocks and ended up at the road at the next trail head at White Domes. 😬

It was a bit further than we thought but there were some nice things to see along the road...

Then we did the mostly driving tour of the rest of the park...

Elephant Rock

These cabins were built by the CCC in the 1930s as a shelter for hikers 

on the Arrowhead Trail

Seven Sisters

the viewing platform of the petroglyphs on Atlatl Rock

Arch Rock

We ended the night with dinner and shopping in St George and a LONG drive in blizzard conditions over the 10,000 foot pass on Highway 14 to finally arrive at our cabin in Alton around midnight! 😳