#OptOutside Valley of Fire State Park

In celebration of REI’s join us for #OptOutside this past Black Friday Valley of Fire State Park made for a great little excursion to Nevada’s first state park. The weather was great in the morning with mostly cloudy skies and some breaks in the clouds to let some rays of sun through, so what better time to take photos. There wasn’t too much in the way of crowds up there – as close as it is to Las Vegas, so jumping off the trail in the White Domes area lead to some great photos. About 3/4 of a mile off the trail I took a peek over a small sandstone burm (everything is sandstone hills there) and sure enough there was a herd of six rams sunning themselves. The rams would take turns keeping a look out for predators (and people); two of them on watch, four of them eating and laying in the sun with their backs to me.

They were hanging out for about a good hour, before they jumped up and started moving along the sandstone. Over the coarse of the next 30 minutes, they ran up a hill, down a cliff, through a crevice, along a ridge, and then finally up a cliff to the point where I had left my bag and other gear far enough behind, that I had to go back another 20 minutes to get it. The sun started to set, so I headed back to the parking lot. This was only my second time in Valley of Fire and my first time in the White Domes area, so with the sunset coming and the park closing then, I took off. Here is the gallery of some of the shots: Valley of Fire State Park and the Rams. All prints are for sale in both digital and wall sized prints. Please contact me on the form for any requests.

There is a great panoramic as well that is broken up into three 2’3″ wide X 13″ high images that make up the panoramic of the White Domes area. The three shots represent the depth of landscape as well as the beauty of the sandstone wonder.