Fire Wave (Clark County, Nevada)

Since I was headed to Las Vegas anyway for work, I decided to take an extra day and explore an area of Valley of Fire State Park that I had read about. The Fire Wave is a not-so-well-known rock formation full of rich colors. It seemed worthy of checking out. I arrived at the park early and headed to the Northern end of the park, near where my sources said the trail to Fire Wave was located. Just as I had read, there was a very small sign on the side of the road labeled “Wave” with an arrow pointing off into the desert. I parked my rental car about at a pull-off about a quarter of a mile up the road and walked back to where the trail began.

Immediately upon loosing sight of the road, I was bombarded with a palate of deep reds, sandstone whites, and a all variations of pink in between. The landscape here is gorgeous. From the information I had, the Fire Wave itself was only about a quarter of a mile further, and so I began making my way over flat sandstone formations, until finally, I reached what was obviously the Fire Wave.

While the whole surrounding landscape is breathtaking in its beauty, this area above all us steals the show. Several wind-polished boulders and hillsides combine to form what seems to be a wave of lava frozen in time and space. The whites and reds take turns with each ripple. The wind has worn some sections down while leaving others as little islands of color for all to behold.

It’s no wonder this place is not talked about all that much, for I fear too much foot traffic would damage the Fire Wave’s splendor.