Rainbow Vista to Fire Canyon Overlook, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
11/3/2026	1 miles	34 minutes	63''	2.0 mph	356.4

Parking: 

• Rainbow Vista Trailhead, $10 Nevada resident park entry fee, $15 out of state fee.

Map:

• Gai GPS app
• Map available from the visitor center

Directions:

• Take the trail from the Rainbow Vista Trailhead to the Fire Canyon Overlook. Return the same way.

Another national park trip this year. The Urban Sketchers Salt Lake City chapter organized a 3 day casual sketching event (no instruction) at Zion National Park. I think they assumed only people in Utah would attend. I'm working on visiting as many national parks as I can, so this was the perfect excuse for another trip. I extended it into a 2 week trip. Plus, I'm meeting up with 2 friends from DC at the sketching event.

I flew into Las Vegas. I managed to get a great American Airlines voucher for taking a later flight. I could have doubled it by taking an even later flight. Somehow the new flight they put me on was overbooked too.

I am staying close to Valley of Fire State Park, so didn't have far to drive. A friend recommended it to me due to the petroglyphs. I stopped very briefly at the visitor center to pick up a map, though the same map is available online. There is a bunch to see at the visitor center, but I didn't stay long. Hopefully I'll spend more time there tomorrow.

My first stop was the Fire Canyon Overlook. Oh my gosh this park is stunning! It blows my mind. There was a lot of dirt on the roads here - signs of recent flooding. Luckily the weather is perfect today. It's in the low 60's with clouds in the morning and sun in the afternoon. The sun can make it feel quite warm despite the cool temperature. Many of the trails in this park are closed from May to September due to the heat. This would actually be a great time to camp at the park - perfect daytime and nighttime temperatures. I figured that out too late, or I would have been tempted! This hike was a quiet hike, maybe because I did it in the morning. Trails were more crowded in the afternoon.

Bighorn sheep walking along the road, causing a traffic jam

Broom Snakeweed