Saturday, December 14, 2013

My Feet and the Fire Wave

This week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue, "Looking down at your feet", goes so well with some photos of the Valley of Fire that I wanted to show you. As you know, we went to the Valley of Fire in Nevada during Thanksgiving week. Before we went there, I had seen pictures of one part of this area that really fascinated me. I had no idea what it was called or where exactly it was located in the State Park. I couldn't find it on the map of the park. So we just tried to find it.

We were successful in the later afternoon, when the sun was already rather low in the sky. I found a sign for the "Fire Wave" and beneath it was an image of the place I was looking for. It involved a 20 - 30 minutes hike through rough terrain. No question that we made that hike - and we saw the Fire Wave in the slowly setting sun which brought out the colors of this rock formation even more.

This is where my feet come in - here you can see my hiking booted feet just above the Fire Wave:


Here is the photo of the Fire Wave without my feet - there are many pictures of it on the Internet with way more intense colors, but I wonder how much Photoshop and similar photo editing software contributed to those colors. This is what it looked like while we were there:


It's pretty incredible, right? The different colors of the layers are fascinating, and if I knew more about geology I could probably tell you here why this is so. However, I just enjoyed this sight.

This is the view to the other side (behind me) - not quite as spectacular, but still very beautiful.



8 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Oh what a glorious sight. I found myself (again) missing my father who would have loved this AND known what caused it. Misty-eyed thanks.

Kay L. Davies said...

My one semester of geology nearly 50 years ago didn't stay with me, so I can't explain this either, but I can certainly enjoy your photos. Fabulous (the place and the pictures).
Wishing you and Kaefer and The Geek all the best for the coming season.
K

JoZart Designs said...

It really is, as you said, incredible and quite an experience. Until I was in my 40s I had a dreadful fear and panic when faced with any element of height but I made myself overcome it and now find it exhilarating. I remember refusing a trip up the Eiffel Tower and now I'd be first in the queue! Grand Canyon was amazing but we went the year before they opened the Skywalk.
The strata colours are a wonderful example of the art of Nature.
Jo x

Bren Graham Thebeau said...

There is nothing like nature to take our breath away and bring inspiration. Loved seeing this

Amanda said...

What an amazing place! "Our home" is so unbelievably beautiful! Thank you for those beautiful shots!

Magic Love Crow said...

Incredible is right! Wow!!!!!

patty said...


Oh, Carola, so glad you got to see this! We loved that place so much! Maybe you remember - we were there in February a few years ago and had a lot of rain and storms. But the clearing afterwards.... magnificent! Some of those pics come up on my screensaver and I am still in awe. Truly a very unique place on the planet. I don't remember that exact hike tho.... something for next time. So cool!!

Ginnie Hart said...

And to think I've never heard about this place or seen it in photos before this post, Carola!!! Thank you for sharing it.