Up bright and early for our flights from Nashville to Las Vegas Baby! No time for the casinos or bright lights of the strip this trip. These six ladies have places to go and adventures to seek. After we were able to regroup and load up our luggage into our rental cars we were off on our 3 plus hour drive to our cabin in Duck Creek Village.

First stop Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.  After a quick detour from our route, we were treated to majestic red sandstone formations and 2000-year-old petroglyphs. The desert temperatures were quite a shock to our Tennessee bodies. Going from 60’s to 90’s made for a quick costume change in the parking lot and application of sun shirts and sunscreen. Backpacks were adjusted and extra water bottles filled for our hike. The sweat and heat were worth every mile. Dessert blooms surrounded us on our hike through the Fire Wave and Seven Wonder Loop. Although moderately challenging, the trail was filled with other tourist and hikers. We found our group off trial briefly several times before we quickly learned to keep our eyes peeled as the metal trail markers were hard to spot. We were treated to towering red sandstone, waves of striped rock, followed by Pink Canyon with swirls of pink sandstone. Some Narrow canyon passes gave us a break from the sun before crossing the road to access to last half of our trail. Plenty of areas to break in the shade and lots of great picture opportunities greeted us on the second half of our hike. From here we went to Petroglyph Canyon via Mouse Tank Trail for a short but magical hike through a decorated canyon. Thanks to the timing of our hike we were able to travel in the cooling shade of the canyon.  Ancient stories are seen painted on the canyon walls in the form of petroglyphs. Formations that you could easily imagine as dwellings peppered the trail. Again, desert vegetation delighted up with its various blooms.