Historic marker · Valley of Fire State Park
A quick marker stop for the park’s early history and Arrowhead Trail.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Valley of Fire Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Valley of Fire State Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Balancing Rock: A Short Walk at the Old Visitor Center“Balancing Rock is ahead by the Old Visitor Center, with a short path to a small sandstone stack. Its top block projects over pitted layers below.”
Plays as you drive up to Nevada’s First State Park Historical Marker in the Parkwolf Valley of Fire Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Nevada’s First State Park Historical Marker is a small plaque at the former Valley of Fire visitor-center site, along Visitor Center Road. I’d stop for a tangible link to the park’s beginnings; it’s a short history stop, not a reason to cross the park by itself.
An 8,760-acre land exchange transferred the area to Nevada in 1931. Civilian Conservation Corps crews began the first facilities in 1933, and the park opened in 1934; the Legislature formally established it in 1935. The state park system put up this marker in 1972, looking back to those early years and the old Arrowhead Trail route.
The old building is vacant, and the operating visitor center is several miles west, with exhibits, a shop and restrooms. The marker is located at the former center, but current park information does not confirm visitor parking there. The park asks drivers to use designated parking, so don’t assume the old building or its lot is open for visitor use.
The blue metal frame stands out against the tan wall. Step back enough to catch the red hills and desert plants through the porch opening; that gives a small marker more context than a tight shot of its face.
Wildlife
638 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
11 sightingsMojave Desert TortoiseMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
23 sightingsSidewinderMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
18 sightingsBlack-tailed JackrabbitMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
11 sightingsRingtailMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
19 sightingsRed-tailed HawkMost seen around 10 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Valley of Fire. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyBalancing Rock Trail0.3 mi · 15 min · At the trailheadA short walk to a sandstone stack with an eyelet.
EasyMouse’s Tank Trail0.7 mi · 36 min · 0.8 mi awayLook up as you walk: petroglyphs mark a sandy red-rock canyon.
EasyRainbow Vista Trail1 mi · 45 min · 1.4 mi awayA sandy canyon walk to a rugged overlook above Fire Canyon
ModerateProspect Trail4.6 mi · 3.3 hr · 1.5 mi awayAn open cross-park hike over a red-rock pass into a striped wash.
EasyPetrified Logs Loop Trail0.3 mi · 20 min · 1.6 mi awayA short loop with fossil wood and the story behind its grain.
EasyThe Cabin Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 1.8 mi awayWalk to 1930s CCC cabins, then pause at the shaded picnic area.
ModerateSilica Dome Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 1.9 mi awayA short scramble climbs to a wide view over Fire Canyon.
ModerateFire Canyon Loop Trail5.7 mi · 3.5 hr · 1.9 mi awayA longer Silica Dome circuit where a downloaded track earns its keep.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayBalancing RockAn odd little sandstone perch on a very short walk.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayMouse's TankA short canyon walk where petroglyphs lead to a rain-fed basin.
Picnic area · 0.7 mi awaySeven SistersA shaded roadside picnic area beneath seven red sandstone towers.
Picnic area · 0.8 mi awayMouse’s Tank Picnic AreaA shaded lunch stop with petroglyphs just behind it.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayFire Canyon OverlookA short, sandy hike ends above a rugged red-rock canyon.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayRainbow VistaA ridge-top panorama over miles of multicolored sandstone.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayPetrified LogsThe best-exposed trunks come farther along the short loop.
Picnic area · 1.8 mi awayLone Rock Picnic AreaA big solitary boulder, with petroglyphs tucked across the lot.Parkwolf’s Valley of Fire ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
