Valley of Fire State Park and the Arrowhead Trail

[Max Rockatansky]

Valley of Fire State Park is Nevada's first state park and is located north of Las Vegas within the Mojave Desert of Clark County.  The red sandstone formations of Valley of Fire largely came to be known in modern times due to the original 1916 alignment of the Arrowhead Trail which passed through what is now the State Park heading southwest from St. Thomas towards Las Vegas via Griffith Summit.  The Arrowhead Trail was a major Auto Trail established in 1916 which connected Salt Lake City to Southern California via the Mojave Desert.  The Arrowhead Trail north of Las Vegas would become part of Nevada State Route 6 in 1919 which brought much attention to Valley of Fire.  Despite the Arrowhead Trail and Nevada State Route 6 being realigned in 1924 to Apex Summit the original road still drew much attention for tourism to Valley of Fire.  The State of Nevada subsequently purchased land within Valley of Fire in 1931 and opened it as the first State Park in 1934.   Much of the original Arrowhead Trail within Valley of Fire State Park was recycled into a new designation of Nevada State Route 40 in 1935 on what came to known as Valley of Fire Road.  The Nevada State Route 40 designation on Valley of Fire Road was swapped to Nevada State Route 169 during the 1976 Nevada Highway Renumbering which was subsequently dropped circa 1981-82.   Valley of Fire Road and White Tanks Scenic Byway were both designated as Nevada Scenic Byways in 1995 and continue to be a heavy draw for outdoor recreation in Nevada. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/03/valley-of-fire-state-park-and-legacy-of.html

[roadfro]

Nice write up and photo journey, Max!

Despite growing up in Las Vegas, I've never actually made it out to Valley of Fire. Ever since I did a little bit of work on the Valley of Fire Road article on Wikipedia a while back, I've been wanting to head out there. I'll need to see if I can talk my family down there into a day trip during a future visit.

[Max Rockatansky]

Nice write up and photo journey, Max!

Despite growing up in Las Vegas, I've never actually made it out to Valley of Fire. Ever since I did a little bit of work on the Valley of Fire Road article on Wikipedia a while back, I've been wanting to head out there. I'll need to see if I can talk my family down there into a day trip during a future visit.

I've been there a couple times when I worked occasionally in Las Vegas but the significance of the corridor wasn't apparently until 2016 when I found out it was part of the Arrowhead Trail.  That was the same year I tried to run from North Shore Drive over old NV 12 (the Old Arrowhead Trail) to St. Thomas.  I had to bail out after 7 miles because of the heat but there was long buried asphalt out there near St. Thomas.  One hell of a State Park but also one hell of a historic road corridor.