Hey turns out this state park is also named aptly……its freaking hot here too.

But with everything in this desert, if you visit at sunrise, sunset, or not SUMMER, you’re going to have a great time exploring.

I’ve been to Valley of Fire only once before and being a dude, I had full confidence of knowing where one of my favorite scenic spots are, which led to us wasting 40 minutes driving all over the park before realizing we had driven past the spot several times. I still refuse to ask for directions.

Below: Just a few years apart.

Besides the iconic picture above, there are still plenty of photo opportunities around the park and some really cool things to look for, and one FREAKING TEASER OF AN ARCH.

First to highlight the cool bits. A surprising amount of wildlife rears their little heads at sunrise and sunset, which we had the pleasure of befriending. While we didn’t see the native mountain goats up close, I was very close to domesticating a very curious desert kit fox who followed us for a bit as we explored the native cave paintings. It was honestly pretty amazing to see these rock paintings because 1) without the man-made stairs how the F did they get up there and 2) Looking at the paintings from centuries ago is almost unsettling because I’ve seen enough movies to know that you’re one mistake away from aliens/government/pissed off animals chasing you into the night.

Besides the flora and fauna, a lot of these campsites and rocks are just awesome to try to hike to the top of and get captivating panoramic views. Sunsets here are stunning as expected.

One thing I’ll say you can miss is their advertised “Arch Rock”. Its underwhelming when you see pictures and expect a Zion or Arches esque arch. Could’ve been just me but the thing was TINY.

In Summation: Go see the petroglyphs, go play on some rocks, bring a camera, and AVOID SUMMER.