May 20 -- Valley of Fire, part 2

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Here is a link to the interactive expedition map.



Shrubby plants.

Closeup of flowers (I think) of the above plant.

Lots of red rocks.

I hadn't known there are lichens in the desert.  I think of them as belonging to moist green places.  But clearly there are a bunch of different kinds that can survive here.  As I recall it, these were underneath overhanging rocks, where they wouldn't get a lot of direct sun.

Looking up.  These openings were way too small for people.  Maybe big enough for a bird nest.

This looks like a pile of loose rocks.  But they were stuck.  I bet these are the sort of small black rocks that we've seen spread on the red ground rocks in a couple of pics in the previous post.  Very dark, and not round.

Some of the red rock has a thin much-darker coating.

When you see the layers of rock going every which way, you know you are looking at old rock.....

We are definitely not in Michigan (or Kansas)..............

Cacti.

Closeup of flowers from the above.

Gray-green plant with dark purple flowers.  I like the shadow.

Closeup of flowers.

Big red rocks, with black covering, and small arch.  The big rocks were bigger than cars.  Maybe bigger than a pickup truck?

Closeup of arch.  I think a small skinny little kid could fit through this arch, but not a bigger person.  Not that anyone should be climbing on it, but just to indicate scale.

Looking into the distance over different colors and textures of ground.

Now we are back on the road through Valley of Fire State Park.  We're going to go on one more trail, but in the mean time, we are gawking at the landscape.

We stopped a few times just to look at what was visible from the parking lot.  This boulder (3' high, maybe?) looked like wet mud was slopped down.  I expect that's what happened.  A very very very long time ago.....

The thing on the horizon, sort of near the middle, above, that kind of looks like a person ... isn't.

Closeup of upper right corner of the above.  There's a black layer on top of the red rock.   The red underneath has crumbled away, but the black is still there.....

Yellow over red & white.

Pebble parking lot.  I like the texture.

Here is a link to the next post about the Grand Canyon Expedition.

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