A Tour & Review of ARCH ROCK CAMPGROUND | VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK, Nevada
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- čas přidán 30. 10. 2019
- Ever wonder what it would be like to camp on a slightly terraformed Martian Landscape? If so, we've got something for you! At Valley of Fire State Park, with very little imagination, you can live out your dreams of spending a night on the red planet. Or at the very least, your dreams of camping in an iconic desert landscape.
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In today's episode we venture off to explore a park in a new state for us - Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada! We stay at Arch Rock Campground and tour the area, provide a review of our campsite as well as visit many of the other sites to give you an idea of what camping is like in this natural wonder.
Valley of Fire is unlike any other location one could possibly visit on planet Earth. With its Mars-like rock structures and breathtaking striped sandstone, there is a lot to explore! Camping at Valley of Fire provides a chance to be truly enveloped by the landscape and sleep up close to history. Two campgrounds offer this opportunity for visitors - Arch Rock Campground and Atlatl Rock Campground.
Arch Rock Campground is the more primitive campground of the two - offering 29 sites butted up against deep red sandstone providing plenty of privacy. Each site has its own potable water source, tent pad, a stand-up barbeque grill in addition to a fire ring, and covered picnic tables. The campground features dry camping so it has vault toilets rather than flushing toilets and no showers. However, the nearby Atlatl Rock Campground is more developed and offers amenities for use by campers at Arch Rock. Each site can accommodate tents, trailers, campers, or RVs. Arch Rock Campground does not, however, provide RV hookups but there is a dump station.
Both campgrounds are on a first-come, first-served basis with no reservation system available. Securing a campsite can be difficult during peak seasons which are in the spring and fall when temperatures are not as extreme. It is advised to come early in the morning and in the middle of the week, if possible, to have the best chance of getting into the campgrounds.
Entering Valley of Fire State Park costs $10. If camping at either Arch Rock Campground or Atlatl Rock Campground, this $10 can be applied to the cost of camping which is $20/night.
The nearest place to purchase items such as groceries, ice, and firewood is in the nearby town of Overton at Lin's Groceries - 16.9 miles from Arch Rock Campground.
VIDEO FILMED: 10/23/2019
▬▬ L O C A T I O N I N F O ▬▬
⚪ Valley of Fire State Park - parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire
⚪ Arch Rock Campground Info - www.campsitephotos.com/campgr...
⚪ Directions to Arch Rock Campground - goo.gl/maps/2KhMa7bdGiUXaCNa9
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking and day trips as well as campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!
I was there in March, absolutely one of my favorite parks to visit.
After all my travels in the southwest so far, it remains my number one favorite.
So beautiful. Incredibly red. Plastic tent stakes will not work. Use metal stakes. Vault toilets. Stop in at the visitors center.
Thanks for sharing this site. We found your video before we headed out and was able to get site six Tuesday night and some great astrophotography shots. My wife got trapped in the bathroom Wednesday morning, faulty/worn handle. Thankfully I was able to find a ranger and maintenance person to break her out before the vault got too hot.
Holy cow! That's terrible about the vault toilet! So glad you were able to find someone quickly enough. And glad you were able to snag a site! I bet the photography is amazing out there at night. Thanks for coming back and commenting. Always nice to know a video might have been helpful. 😊
Wow! What an amazing campground. As always, thanks for the thorough walk through. It really helps potential trip planning. Never would have known about this place if it hadn't been for your video. A big thank you to Amy and Glen for another informative and enjoyable video!
Anytime! Glad we could be helpful. We have no shortage of videos from Valley of Fire for sure. 😅 Really want to go back there again since we switched to 4K just to do the place justice. (Or maybe it's just an excuse to go back. Lol)
OMG!!! You are making my bucket list grow! Thank you so much for sharing your exploration of the campgrounds. Makes trip planning more easier for those of us who plan to come from a far!
Absolutely! We can 100% relate especially when reservations aren't available to make. 👍 Happy to help out.
Talk about an amazing Campground.
So many great sites & every site has different views. I'd have to keep going back to try each site.
Totally agree!
My first trip here will be much less stressful because of your video. Thank you.
So great to hear! Thank you so much and enjoy your visit! ☺️
This place looks phenomenal! If I ever get to that area, I will stay there. Thanks for the video!
Any time! Hope you get that chance! 😊
Oh-my-gosh!!! The night skies must have been celestial. A definite place to drag the telescope to. Then there’s (I’m guessing) the quiet - beyond words. Wondering though about the honor system in paying - does the park ranger check to see that all have paid before leaving the park for the night? I ask as the fees collected are one of the few ways our beautiful park system gets its funding and allowing the $10 entrance fee to be applied to the overall fee is an added more than generous bonus. Beautiful gem in the Nevada desert. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Yes, the rangers do account for fees. In fact, I decided to stay an extra day and when I paid, I mistakenly wrote the wrong dates on the envelope (it looked like I had double paid), and a ranger stopped by to clear up the confusion. I saw a ranger driving through daily to check on stuff. And yes, in the campground, I could see the night sky very clearly, although, you actually do get some light pollution from Vegas (believe it or not), which is less than an hour away. Still could see the Milky Way clearly though, which is a rare treat these days it seems.
Tha is for the video. I have visited the park a couple of times and have considered camping. You’ve given a great explanation of the camp sites and what to expect.
Thank you! It was our pleasure! This was one campground in particular that we found difficult to discern campsites based on photos online when reserving and there were SO many variations between them! We might have gone a little overboard but hopefully it helps someone out when they're deciding on booking a site. 😊
This video was incredibly useful. We're headed to Valley of Fire next week and are nervous about the availability. Detailing each of the sites at Arch was especially cool and loved the White Domes drive video as well. We'll be heading there from Tonopah (loved your video) on a Wed morning. We just got a small travel trailer and plan to travel around the Southwest. We've already been to Organ Pipe. Looking forward to checking out all your other videos and tips. Thanks!
Glad you found our video helpful! Hopefully you'll have no issue with availability when you go. It would be amazing if they would add a reservation system as the park really is like no other place. Best wishes and happy travels on your trip! 😄
It would be cool to set up your tent in the grotto!
Fun idea! 😊
Very informative. Thanks so much for this video!
Absolutely! Glad it was helpful and thanks for watching. 😄
Thanks for the campground tour! I'm planning a trip to VofF in March and I will be heading for the Arch Rock Campground. Also, I'll be ready with some decent tent stakes!!!
Our pleasure! Arch Rock is a great campground! 😄
Dont count on finding a site here make sure you have at least 1 back up site. We ended up at the next closest one 20 miles away at echo bay.
Great video and very helpful. Thank you for Hawaii!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much for watching.
Thanks for your video. We plan on going the 2nd week of February since we have to be in Las Vegas to have repairs on our motorhome that we bought there. We are also planning on going to Zion.
Glad it was helpful! Have fun on your trip! 😄
wow, what a beautiful site! There were some sites that might have looked "better", but being able to channel your inner Hefner in the grotto is perfect!!
Lol! Never did make too much use of the grotto on that trip, but was a nice selling point for that particular site I thought.
Thanks for the walkthrough. I guess there is reservation only now. At least in February.
Yes, Nevada turned on their reservation system within the last couple months. For valley of fire, this could be a good thing. Let’s hope folks don’t book all the sites and then no-show or might ruin it for all.
Was just there Apr 3 thru 6. Reserved 19 and 20. I did notice lots of sights had reservation tags up but no one ever came. Was an awesome time but we had SERIOUS wind. If you tent camp, bring good tents. I had 2 Kodiak Flex-Bow tents up. They handled well. Regular tents would have been SHREDDED. Bring very strong tent stakes as well, preferably threaded that you drive in with a battery powered impact driver.
That no show thing is sadly prevalent in many places we go. 😞
Excellent video!!
Thanks so much! 😄
We got to spend a week inside #41 early January 2020 a dream come true
Nice video thanks!!
No problem! Thanks for watching! 😃
Great info. We are in St George and planning on checking this place out not far at all and the tip on first come first served is nice. THANKS
No problem! Glad it was helpful! Hopefully you find plenty of site availability and options when you go. 😊
Very informative which I appreciate greatly, since Id be driving 8+ hours to get there. Awesome video!
Glad it was helpful! Sounds like your concerns are the same we had heading up there. It can be a long distance to drive without a reservation system and not knowing what things will be like when you get there.
Dont do it relying on being able to find a place there. He went around showing plenty of empty sites abd this was 5 months ago. We just went there and there are alot
of hobos in trailers taken over tge park.
You will not
find a spot so dont waste your money and time you will be disappoined.
ignore the sign...see with your own eyes!
Normally I don't pay for camping but this place does look amazing. Many of those sites are so secluded. Thanks again, very informative. Bing watching the videos on Valley of Fire. Looks like there is free camping outside of the park if it is full on the iOverlander App.
It's one of the more unique campgrounds we've seen for sure! We tend to focus on campgrounds at state and national parks on our channel because they're more known about yet sometimes still difficult to find a really good look at what sites look like. Or that's been our experience. Since camping at Arch Rock about a year and a half ago we've definitely become aware of other places to camp around it. Wish we knew on the drive up though! Had to book a night at a hotel the first night as the campground was full and that's all we could find on such short notice! 😅
Going to Vegas in April & plan to camp there. I will look for spot #6. Be there on a Monday or Tues & try to be there b4 9 am. I enjoyed your video. Very detailed. Much appreciated.
Thank you so much! Happy to help and hope you have a great time at Valley of Fire! 😄
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Looking forward to it. I will also look for the other cool spots but will take what i can.
Looks great. Reminds me of our stay at Arches National Park. That campground is great too although maybe not quite as private of sites. Is there hiking or other activities in the area besides just exploring in the campground?
Yes, plenty of things to do and see there, and I got to experience most of it (camped there for 4 nights). We will be releasing a lot of videos of all these things in the weeks to come in fact. As for things to do within close proximity to the campsite, Arch Rock and Atlatl Rock are within walking distance (both featured on upcoming videos).
Valley of Fire has become my favorite natural park of all time. Such a beautiful, other-worldly place!
The Cactus Atlas thx. We live in Vancouver but I have wanted to come out that way and see parks in that area. Looks like I’m going to need more time off!
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nice information. how many tents are allowed in one campground?
I honestly am not certain. What I can tell you is that there is only one tent pad per site, so I assume technically only one, but I did see some people that had two small tents per site. It seemed very casual there and I doubt you will get into any trouble if you had more than one. There are also a few sites that are close together, so if you are able to grab a few of those, it would be appropriate for a small group. Thanks for the feedback and for watching!
If you can’t get a site just drive up to peasant flats about 10 minutes away
Thank you for this video ! :)
Which are the top 5 🏕️ in arch rock with Privatcy and view ?:) 21 , 18 ? …
Oh gosh. Unfortunately Glenn isn't around at the moment and I'm not sure he would remember the different spots as this video was filmed a number of years ago. I do remember when editing, there being a number of sites which were a bit more tucked away but they were occupied while we filmed there. I want to say they were in the upper numbers. I wish I could remember better!
but one can just drive over to Atlatl to take a shower or bathroom, no?
Hi! Quick question- where did you end up staying the night you couldn’t get a spot? I have heard that there are spots to pull over and camp just outside the park. We may have to do that.
Hi there! Glenn actually stayed at a hotel the first night (I believe the North Shore Inn) in nearby Overton. He called just outside the campgrounds after seeing they were both full and I was scrambling to find something in the area online here at our home. 😅
2024 you need reservations as of 2023.
Yup. Nevada added a reservation system last year. We're actually going to be making an updated video soon because of it.
First off, thanks so much for this. Making my first trip to VOF in a week and this was extremely helpful. I do wanna ask though, can campsites be self reserved at any time during the day, or is there a time (before/after). I read something about a check-in/check out time but I'm unclear how it works and haven't been able to reach anyone by phone. FYI, we hope to arrive mid-week around 7-8am and hope to reserve a spot if available immediately to start our day of exploring. Thanks
I saw people put personal belonging on sites (like a chair) to claim it and come back later to set up camp. I don’t recall any hard and fast rules other than putting your payment in the self pay station. I think mid week is your best bet, and if you arrive between the hours you mentioned, you will likely be fine.
@@CactusAtlas awesome, friend. Thank you@
Whats time of year is the best? Is it too hot in summer?
According to websites, October through April is the best time to visit.