The Valley of Fire

Outside the small city of Overton, Nevada, and just about 50 miles Northeast of Las Vegas there lies a beautiful little gem of a state park. It is called The Valley of Fire. It is 45,000 acres of pure Desert Beauty! The easiest way to get there from Vegas is by car, and this park you pay by the vehicle. If you are a Nevada State Resident, you will pay 8.00 a vehicle. If you are an out of state resident, you will pay ten. If you are in a large group, Reservations are 25$ per reservations, plus per vehicle rate. Camping is allowed, only in designated areas, and by sunset, you are supposed to be in your camp sites, and not roaming parts of the park, or it is considered trespassing. 
I paid 8$ and it was worth every penny. 
I entered from the West Entrance, and from there, stopped at the Beehives, which looks like Beehives. I couldn't stay long, because I was wanting to get to the petroglyphs. So, I got out of my car, snapped a couple photos, and then stopped by the Petrified Logs to get another photo of one. I then hopped into my car, went by the Visitors Center, and drove a little bit up the road from there to "Mouse Tank". Although there seemed to be many cars upon arrival, I didn't feel over crowded with people when I got there. I really loved that, actually. I was at Mouse Tank for 4 hours, and I feel like I still didn't see everything. I am sure I didn't see all the petroglyphs, and this is why I want to go back. Next time, I will bring the Long Rock with me. He will love it there. 
The petroglyphs is believed to have been there for over 2,000 years. Archeologists have speculated the meanings of the petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are believed to be Pueblo (Anasazi) to Pre-Pueblo. It is said that the petroglyphs are stories or maps, and even speculated that this region of people were probably on an altered state of mind while making the drawings, because the glyphs appear to have more of a shayman quality. The other difficulty in interpreting the glyphs in this region is the reason being that Paiutes of the area don't really know what they mean, either, and the Anasazi have remained a mystery. 
 Mouse Tank, also known as Petroglyph Canyon, is where you can find a lot of glyphs in Valley of  Fire, and, I wanted to see this for myself.  Mouse Tank is named for a natural basin that fills up with water from the rain that is collected throughout the year. Mouse Tank is a half mile trail, both ways, from the parking area. Mouse Tank is also named after a renegade Native American who was a Southern Paiute. He used the Valley of Fire as a hideout in the 1890's after he was accused of killing two prospectors and some other crimes he committed in the region. (His name was actually Little Mouse). 
Here, in this little ravine of rock formations, are so many petroglyphs. I will be bold in saying that the petroglyphs are not confined in just Petroglyph Canyon (aka Mouse tank), but, I think they're all over Valley of Fire, and there is another place called Atlatl Rock that is quite remarkable, however, I didn't get there. 
So, I saw people come and go while I was in the canyon. As I mentioned, I was there for four hours, although the canyon is 1/4 of a mile, I hiked around, went up and down and didn't stay on the path, and felt like I could have stayed there for hours more, and still have found more petroglyphs. As I looked and looked and walked more than 2.8 miles in the 1/4 mile canyon, and 14 floors of stairs, I wondered if all the people who go there actually see everything, or if they just see the main maybe three or four that are in plain sight. If you aren't paying attention, you can very easily miss them. It was amazing. In fact, I was snapping photos and didn't even realize until I got home and zoomed in, that there were parts of the walls of the canyon that had writings on them... It made me definitely want to go back and bring a really good camera with me, and hike around more. In fact, I would love to stay in the park to get as much hiking, camping time as possible. upon my return and reading more about this beautiful region. I live in quite a remarkable area, and I found there are places to see more Petroglyphs. I am marking up my map of places to go and things to do and see!  
I look forward to writing more about this topic and can't wait to get some more time to go, see, do!