Twelve miles from the interstate, Hwy-169 crests the Muddy Mountains and enters Valley of Fire State Park . A huge panorama opens up ahead, stretching down toward Lake Mead, but the road has to pick its way gingerly down, threading between abrupt, jagged outcrops. Having paid a per-vehicle fee at the entrance station, you soon come to the first of the big red rocks, the ridged, bulbous Beehives.

A little further on stands the park's visitor center , located at the start of the spur road that holds the park's most spectacular formations. Besides displays on the geology and history of the region, the center provides an introduction to local wildlife, including live rattlesnakes in glass cases.

The broad, paved road beyond the visitor center leads through a wonderland of misshapen stone monstrosities, worn smooth by millennia of wind and rain and striped in a broad palate of colors. Cream, yellow, gold, pink, and purple strata are interspersed among the lurid omnipresent red. Many hikers set off walking when the road dead-ends 5.5 miles along at the White Domes, but that entails plowing through thick sand drifts, and there are better trails earlier on.

daily 8.30am-4.30pm; phone 397-2088

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