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Today we have some lovely desert landscape pictures from reader Bob Fritz. Bob’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
Some landscape and wildlife photos from Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Located about 50 miles north of Las Vegas, this park has much to offer for those who enjoy the desert. The terrain is mostly red Aztec sandstone with grey and tan limestone. The sandstone dates back to the Jurassic period when inland seas disappeared, leaving sand.
Arch Rock – this is a small arch but big enough for a person to stand under it.
Climbing these stairs takes one to a platform to view the Atlatl Rock petroglyphs.
Humans have occupied the Valley of Fire area for about 11,000 years. The petroglyphs were created by the Basketmaker Culture about 2,500 years ago.
The petroglyphs depict an atlatl – a stick that provides extra leverage to throw a dart or spear. The park hosts atlatl competitions.
The valley is home to Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni).
This fellow took an interest in me, but fortunately I was far away from him with my telephoto.
The Fire Wave is an amazing area with layers of rock swirling around.
More of the Fire Wave.
The Fire Wave after sunset.
The park lives up to its name at sunset, as the rock surfaces glow as if on fire. This is a view of Gibraltar Rock from the trail to the Fire Wave.
The Narrows.
The Scream (with apologies to Munch). This oddity is located next to the visitor center parking lot.
Silica Dome on the left. This is the finest example in the park of a formation made of almost pure silica. Star Trek fans might recognize this as the location where the climactic scene from the movie Star Trek Generations was filmed. It is here that Kirk and Picard fought Soran as he attempted to get back into the Nexus. And yes, (spoiler alert), this is the place where Captain Kirk dies.
Lastly, a very small cave – Windstone Arch. You have to crawl to get inside – there is not enough room to stand up.
The strange erosion patterns in Windstone Arch cave.
Beautiful photos!
Really nice photos. The color is amazing.
+1
Awesome photos – thanks!
Wonderful pictures! Your thought and care for composition and time of day (lighting) comes through in each and every one. Wow!
+1
Fantastic!
Very nice photos Bob! Thanks for sharing them.
That’s some weird erosion patterns. Aeolian (wind-blown sand), or …?
Beautiful lighting.
Excellent! That Fire Wave is something else.
Very nice photos.
I think that staircase and platform was in one of the Star Trek movies. Not a terribly good one.
Ah, Star Trek Generations.
These are wonderful photos – thanks for sharing!
What a fabulous landscape! It is surely impossible to find geology anything other than fascinating when confronted by features such as these. Wonderful photos – thanks for posting!