Saturday, January 08, 2022

Mouse's Tank Trail: Valley of Fire State Park, NV

Mouse's Tank was named after an outlaw who used to hide out in this valley because of it's shade and close proximity to water.   In certain seasons there is a valley that fills with water.  The deep sand was hard to walk on so we climbed along the rocks on the side of the trail.  

There were a lot of crevices to explore and way up above, Kim saw what looked like a door.   That would be some climb to get up there! 
   But the way the rock is formed it looks like the perfect entrance to a house.   
Above Green arrow points to doorway
Below: Zoomed in doorway area
The rocks in Valley of Fire have many crevices to shelter from storms or the sun.   I imagine Mouse, the outlaw took full advantage of these.  
 One of the greatest things about this trail is the amount of petroglyphs on the canyon walls, that have been dated back as old as 2000 to 4000 years old. 

 We took a lot of breaks and I'm glad we did, because otherwise I wouldn't have seen some of the petroglyphs.  
There were human figures, what looked like weapons and amazing goats and a deer or elk.  
 The cliff faces that had the dark coloring were the ones that had the ancient writing on them.   Some of the petroglyphs looked like a family was represented. 
 I also thought that there was maybe a representation of water or rain and shelter. 
The end of the trail was a bit anti-climatic because there wasn't any water.   It's signified by a sign that says, "End Of Trail."  And you can't really go any further because of the drop off.    I think Boomer really enjoyed climbing on the rocks, and he did so good when he saw other dogs enjoying the trail as well.   We headed back and enjoyed one last look at the petroglyphs before heading back to camp.

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