Hiking the White Domes Trail - 4 Videos
Feb. 24th, 2023 08:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNorth Las Vegas Travelog #7
Valley of Fire State Park - Sun, 19 Feb 2023, 11am
Our first hike today at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada is the White Domes trail. Yes, hike. You didn't think we were here just to take amazing pictures from inside the car, did you?
This is our second visit to Valley of Fire. We spent a few hours here back in 2019 as a half-day activity on the way back to Las Vegas from Zion National Park. On that trip I was pretty wrecked after hiking Angel's Landing. My legs were aching after one short hike in Valley of Fire. We vowed we'd come back.
3½ years later we're back. But would there be enough new stuff to make the park thoroughly enjoyable a second time, or would we feel like we were just revisiting the same thing? That was my concern as we drove out to the park this morning.
That concern was erased within minutes of arriving at the White Domes trailhead.
The trail starts with a short uphill slog on soft sand between two sandstone cliffs. The trail then descends into a canyon. In the video above I've walked out along one of the sandstone cliffs above the canyon. The footing is off camber, but the rocks are in condition and I'm wearing good footwear... and I'm experienced with traversing slickrock... so I'm not in danger.
I scampered down from the rocks after recording the video above and descended into the canyon. Below my vantage point are the remnants of some 1950s Hollywood Western filmed here. It turns out a number of movies were filmed here. The landscape sure is evocative.
The next part of the trail where I recorded video was in the narrows of a slot canyon.
This slot canyon starts off only shoulder-deep and a few meters wide. It narrows and deepens to the point where it's less than 1 meter wide at points and at least 50 meters deep. Watch the video above to see.
I mention in the video that it's cool in the narrows. The air temperature was in the high 50s (around 14-15° C) on this February morning in the desert. Out in the open, standing on exposed rock with the sun beating down, it felt 20 degrees warmer. Deep in the canyon I was wearing long sleeves and a sweater.
In the third video (above) I reflect on the Navajo prayer, In Beauty I Walk, that I use as a tag for all my hiking and outdoors trips.
One more video to wrap up this hike:
Overall this hike was incredible. It was deceptively short; only 1.25 miles or so. But it felt almost epic. This hike alone made our second visit to Valley of Fire definitely no retread.
Valley of Fire State Park - Sun, 19 Feb 2023, 11am
Our first hike today at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada is the White Domes trail. Yes, hike. You didn't think we were here just to take amazing pictures from inside the car, did you?
This is our second visit to Valley of Fire. We spent a few hours here back in 2019 as a half-day activity on the way back to Las Vegas from Zion National Park. On that trip I was pretty wrecked after hiking Angel's Landing. My legs were aching after one short hike in Valley of Fire. We vowed we'd come back.
3½ years later we're back. But would there be enough new stuff to make the park thoroughly enjoyable a second time, or would we feel like we were just revisiting the same thing? That was my concern as we drove out to the park this morning.
That concern was erased within minutes of arriving at the White Domes trailhead.
The trail starts with a short uphill slog on soft sand between two sandstone cliffs. The trail then descends into a canyon. In the video above I've walked out along one of the sandstone cliffs above the canyon. The footing is off camber, but the rocks are in condition and I'm wearing good footwear... and I'm experienced with traversing slickrock... so I'm not in danger.
I scampered down from the rocks after recording the video above and descended into the canyon. Below my vantage point are the remnants of some 1950s Hollywood Western filmed here. It turns out a number of movies were filmed here. The landscape sure is evocative.
The next part of the trail where I recorded video was in the narrows of a slot canyon.
This slot canyon starts off only shoulder-deep and a few meters wide. It narrows and deepens to the point where it's less than 1 meter wide at points and at least 50 meters deep. Watch the video above to see.
I mention in the video that it's cool in the narrows. The air temperature was in the high 50s (around 14-15° C) on this February morning in the desert. Out in the open, standing on exposed rock with the sun beating down, it felt 20 degrees warmer. Deep in the canyon I was wearing long sleeves and a sweater.
In the third video (above) I reflect on the Navajo prayer, In Beauty I Walk, that I use as a tag for all my hiking and outdoors trips.
One more video to wrap up this hike:
Overall this hike was incredible. It was deceptively short; only 1.25 miles or so. But it felt almost epic. This hike alone made our second visit to Valley of Fire definitely no retread.
