Last weekend, we took our rooftop tent on its maiden voyage on an epic trip to one of my new favorite places – Valley of Fire State Park, which is about an hour northeast of Las Vegas. It’s about 6 or 7 hours from Phoenix, depending on traffic.
We got there via US 60, I-10, AZ-303, US 60 again, US 93 (the bulk of the trip), I-11, I-215, and I-15.
The trip itself was pretty boring and uneventful, in part thanks to construction on US 93 being inactive on a Saturday.
We stopped for coffee on our way out of town at House of Honey in Surprise, where they specialize in coffee sweetened with homegrown local honey.
After that, we headed northwest toward Nevada.
Kingman, Arizona
Kingman, the unofficial halfway point and the world’s favorite stop between Phoenix and Vegas, was our stop for fuel (the Mobil station on the west side of town is where we stopped – but shockingly, the Chevron just east of the interstate overpass was the cheapest). We also found a restaurant downtown called Floyd & Co Wood-Fired Pizza and Real Pit BBQ where we ate lunch (and I also took the dog for a short walk while we were stopped here).
We found the food here to be good, and better than all the busy chain options right off the highway. The pizza was surprisingly excellent; the brisket was decent. The mac-and-cheese wasn’t too bad, but the “freedom fries” and cornbread we found to be lacking. Ultimately, we would go there again if we ever find ourselves heading that way.
Henderson, Nevada
Once we arrived in the Las Vegas area, we realized that we’d forgotten pillows and a cooler. We grabbed a foam cooler and some ice at a gas station and then headed to Sprouts for camping groceries. The Sprouts was a couple doors down from Marshall’s, so we went in there and got a couple inexpensive pillows. After our stops, we were ready to head to Valley of Fire.
Valley of Fire State Park – Entry and Camgrounds
We got to Valley of Fire on Saturday at around 3:30 PM. The road to the park from the interstate, called Valley of Fire Highway, was a bit hilly, so take it easy if you or anyone in the car gets car sick! There’s also a large 76 station as you exit the interstate, which is helpful if you need to fuel up, get snacks, etc.
Also, there’s BLM land along the Valley of Fire Highway after mile marker 2 or so, if you prefer dispersed camping but want to stay close to the park.
Upon entering the park, we showed our paid camping reservation at the gate with the park ranger. Immediately after the gate was a small parking lot with restrooms and information plaques.
We drove past the some of the beautiful rock formations and then past the new visitor’s center, and then turned onto the road where the campgrounds and their namesake rocks are located.
There are two rock structures (and their namesake campsites) on this loop – Atlatl Rock and Arch Rock. Worth noting about this part of the park:
- Campsites are reservation only and have to be booked months ahead for best selection – we booked maybe a month in advance and had to snag one of the only remaining sites
- Atlatl Rock Campground has electric, showers, etc and is larger but offers significantly less privacy as it was designed primarily for RVs
- Atlatl Rock features a staircase – climb it and get close-up with some ancient Native American petroglyphs and have an amazing view!
- Arch Rock Campground is smaller and has no electric or showers; it does have running potable water and a covered picnic table at each site, plus frequent pit toilets and trash receptacles, as well as a dump station shared by both campsites
- The numbering of Arch Rock Campground sites can take you by surprise – after maybe site 6, there’s a fork. If you bear left, the numbering continues chronologically until you reach the part of the loop where you started. If you bear right, which seems like it’s the main way to go, the numbering jumps to the teens.
- There are more secluded/private sites the further up in numbering (and the further from the entry) that you go; we camped at site #16 and there was a campsite directly next to ours without any trees or anything separating us; there were also a couple sites directly across from us, but there were campsites in the 20s that were surrounded by rock structures on all sides, making for much more privacy.
- The campground traffic flows one way – but it’s a pretty small loop, so if you miss your site, you can just complete the loop and try again.
- The arch on Arch Rock is pretty small – much smaller than, say, the arches of Moab, but still makes for a cool photo
Our campsite (site 16 at Arch Rock Campground)
The site was a pull-in site, and as mentioned, was right next to another site. So it wasn’t terribly private. There was a water spicket between the sites, and the campsite had a nice, covered picnic table as well as a barbecue. The site was pretty level also, which was nice, so we didn’t have to worry about leveling the truck before opening the tent.
But the best thing about this and every other campsite: We were camping right among the amazing rock formations.
Because the truck was also our tent, we decided to stay at our campsite for all of Sunday, the day after we arrived. We did walk to the rock formations near the campsites, Arch rock and Atlatl rock (both pictured above).
If we wanted to do more intensive exploring and hiking, we’d have brought a ground tent so that we could access the truck without taking down the tent. But we knew we could get in just the right amount of exploring on Monday after packing up our site but before heading home.
Meal Plans B and C
Because we forgot our cooler and were limited to the small foam one from the gas station, we were unsure how long the ice would stay cold (it was cold through waking up after the second night, but we were also in mild temps). So when we got groceries on our way, we grabbed peanut butter and bread in case the perishables for Sunday dinner were no longer cold.
However, we would up needing it for a different reason – our stove died after breakfast on Saturday. It was likely just that the igniter quit working, but we didn’t have a lighter (live and learn). So instead of cooking spaghetti for dinner on Sunday night and a breakfast scramble before packing out, we finished our turkey sandwiches and made PB&J, and skipped breakfast. But it all worked out (notes to self: don’t forget cooler; bring a lighter; bring backup non-perishable food if you want to avoid packing up and driving into town)
Fire Wave
On Monday, we had three goals: (1) hike to Fire Wave, (2) see whatever else we could see from the car, and (3) stop by the visitor center.
Fire Wave was a pretty decent trail for a beginner – it was a short half-mile hike from the parking lot to the viewpoint, and the first half of that was a sandy path. As it transitioned from sand to rock near the halfway point of the walk, the path became quite rocky. As unexperienced, leisurely hikers, we managed to get through without a problem, including our 7-year-old and our dog – but it probably wouldn’t be suitable for a toddler. It also wouldn’t be suitable for a dog in warmer weather without booties to protect paws from hot sand.
Once we made it through that stretch, the trail changed over from rock and gravel, to walking on the actual rock formation, which was easy.
The scenery itself was otherworldly, and somewhat reminded me of (photos I’ve seen of) “The Wave” in Arizona, and very much worth the short half-mile hike.
Pizza and coffee in Henderson
After hiking Fire Wave and checking out the Visitor Center, we headed home. We wanted to try out Black Middle Sheep Coffee Roasters, and found a pizza shop in the same strip mall – but the pizza shop was closed for some reason. So we drove down the street to a different one, called Carmine’s Pizza Kitchen. It was pretty good, especially for pizza by the slice, which we opted for in order to get going more quickly.
We almost decided to skip the coffee, and this would have been the ultimate mistake. We went back to Black Middle Sheep Coffee Roasters after filling ourselves with pizza, and Oh. My. Gosh. We were so glad we went back. Of all the local coffee shops we’ve been to in the Phoenix area and our various road trips, this was easily top-5 and possibly our very favorite. We got pistachio lattes – mine was hot, Maggie’s was iced with oat milk and they were absolutely fantastic.
We are practically trying to invent excuses to go back to the area just to get more of this coffee. It was so good! I only regret that we only got to go there once, and that we didn’t try any food items.
We stopped again in Kingman for gas, and headed home with a stop at Sierra in Surprise to pick up a new camp stove for our next upcoming trip.
Summary
We took a quick trip to Valley of Fire over MLK weekend, where we camped in our new rooftop tent for 2 nights among the red rocks, hiked the short trip to Fire Wave, and had some all-time coffee in Henderson. Our trip was not incident free because we forgot our cooler and then our stove stopped working, but we brought good ol’ PB&J as a backup which worked out great. A great recommendation for camping here is to dispersed camp outside the park on the surrounding BLM land as a free option, and/or to use a ground tent so that you can leave your tent to go explore in the park without having to pack up like with a rooftop tent. All in all it was a great time and I’d love to go back!
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