Valley of Fire State Park was a proof-of-concept trip that I took that I needed to do in the height of my pandemic stir-craziness. I wanted to test a targeted photography weekend trip to a completely new biome. The goal was to find a place that I could get to quickly with the sole purpose of grabbing amazing photos and connecting with a weird and different place.

I live on the East Coast, and work took me out to Seattle during the week. I extended the trip by one night and re-routed my trip back through Las Vegas.

On Thursday morning, I left Seattle, landing in Las Vegas early. I grabbed a rental car, the most amazing tacos of my entire life, and a case of Gatorade and set out to Valley of Fire State Park, only about an hour outside of the city. I stayed a single night in the area, and returned to the airport in Vegas on SFriday at midnight for a red-eye back home to my family. This allowed me two sunsets and a sunrise to take photos, and a full day and a half in the Park.

It was an exhilarating experience to do such a whirlwind trip with such a singular focus in mind - to get some amazing shots. Those two days, I was so focused and in the zone, and the trip was a complete success.

This was also my first exposure to the desert, and part of what was so amazing about this trip was that for a couple of days, everything I saw was just so different.

If you’re interested in taking your own trip to Valley of Fire State Park, check out my itinerary.