Mojave Musings
Goat Horn Arches, Valley of Fire State Park, NV
I don’t have a favorite National Park, a favorite place I’ve been or a favorite photograph that I’ve taken, but I do have places that I never tire of and am always challenged by, and one of those is Valley of Fire State Park, located an hour northeast of Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport.
It’s a place where you are free to roam, explore and discover and a place where light interacts with nature and constantly alters your perception. Valley of Fire is Nevada’s oldest and largest State Park and features approximately 45,000 acres of Mesozoic Era red sandstone formations. It’s the kind of place where if you stop only at the marked attractions along the Park’s two roads, you’ll miss the real beauty of the place. If you can imagine a heaven for natural arches, this is what it would look like.
Mojave Musings
The Mojave Desert extends from the Base of the Sierra Nevada Range in the west to the Colorado Plateau in the east and covers all of the southern tip of Nevada. Aside from the nearly three million people who populate the Las Vegas metropolitan area, the next largest incorporated Nevada town within the Mojave, with a population of a little more than 20,000 people, is Mesquite.
Within Whitney Pocket, Little Finland, Buffington Pockets, Bowl of Fire, Valley of Fire, Hidden Valley, Pinto Valley and Color Rock Quarry is a land of treasure and awe. Most are within either the Lake Mead National Recreation Area or Gold Butte National Monument and only Valley of Fire State Park is accessible via good paved roads.
Of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, Great Basin and Mojave Deserts, that together form the North American Desert, the Mojave is the smallest and driest. The colorful and fragile formations, numerous natural arches and wildflower and cactus blooms belie the common perceptions of such a place. Although I first visited the area decades ago, I only began to explore it within the past few years after moving to the adjacent Sonoran Desert.
I enjoy it as a photographer because it is an endless puzzle. There is beauty everywhere you look, but seeing and photographing are different things entirely. The harsh desert light, the complexity of land forms and the endless contrails that crisscross the sky are all obstacles that frustrate even those who have learned to see the beauty in these harsh environs. The moon may be a harsh mistress, but it is the sun and sky that you must master.
These images are just a beginning. I’ll hopefully improve upon them each time I return.
