I love quirky, unique geology, and Valley of Fire State Park between St. George, Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada, definitely falls into that category. Nearby landscape looks deserted and desolate, until driving inside the park to find strange and contorted jumbles of red rocks and geography. It’s beautiful and well worth a visit! Simply driving the Scenic Road from the visitor center, even without getting out to explore on foot, is beautiful.

Fire Wave

The Fire Wave is about as close as you can get to the more famous “The Wave” near the Utah-Arizona border without needing a highly coveted permit. The 1.5 mile out-and-back hike starts through sand and slickrock with views of colorful sandstone and rock formations. Nearing the wave takes you onto beautiful slickrock streaked with multiple colors, and depending on the light, season, and time of day it can look like a river of fire under your feet. The Fire Wave is a rock outcrop where these swirls of color twist up the sides of the formation in a beautiful pattern. Like the rest of the area, the colors will look different depending on time of day and season.

White Domes Loop

At the end of the scenic road is the White Domes Loop, which offers a little bit of everything and is well worth a visit! Parts of this trail are sandy, others are rocky, and some are on slickrock. From the parking area the trail heads downhill through a somewhat rocky section between short canyon walls. At the far end of the loop is a short but beautiful, and non-technical, slot canyon. The return trip is slightly uphill with sand, rock, and slickrock and beautiful rock formations along the way. I love this trail because it offers a wide variety of colors, textures, views, and canyons in one short hike.