Tuesday, November 19, 2013 (Atlatl Rock Campground, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

We started today's sightseeing off at a spot near our campground...Atlatl Rock.  An atlatl is a throwing stick or a dart thrower used by ancient tribes to give more force to their darts or spears....









There is quite a set of stairs up to see the petroglyphs...




Nice view from up here. That's our campground in the distance...


Then it was time for a hike at Rainbow Vista...







When I first saw this, I thought...oh, oh....we have a bit of a hike down...then I saw the "end of trail" sign...whew!












After our hike at Rainbow Vista, we drove the short distance to....

...Mouse's Tank where we decided to have our lunch, across from the trailhead, before hiking the trail. Named for a renegade Indian who used the area as a hideout. He died in 1897 in a shootout with a posse after being tracked here. Mouse's Tank is a natural basin in the rock where water collects after rainfalls, sometimes remaining for months.


Then it was time to walk the trail...another beautiful canyon with petroglyphs along the way...

Although a little hard to see, this was at the trailhead explaining what some of the possible translations are...















End of trail...Mouse's Tank has a small pool of water below...












After we were finished at Mouse's Tank we drove back out of the canyon and then headed east towards the east entrance to the park.



We drove all of the way out of the park, to the junction in the highway...to the south it goes towards Lake Mead, to the north it takes you to the town of Overton.


We turned around and went back, stopping at the east entrance to the park. There is no manned kiosk at the east entrance, only a self-pay station.


Time for another hike.  We are going to hike the Arrowhead Trail, but first we take the short trail to Elephant Rock...




 Elephant Rock....





I think this rock formation looks more like an elephant...









Looking back towards Lake Mead Rec area...



The trail looped around and paralleled the highway for a bit before it met up with the trail to Elephant Rock and back to the parking lot.

On the way back toward the campground, we stopped at the Clark Memorial....



After another great day, it was time to relax and enjoy the late afternoon sunshine. This little fellow...a desert ground squirrel...joined us (actually about 5 of them joined us).

Am I late for Happy Hour?


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