A Day in the Valley of Fire With Discover Today's ATV and the ASI

When I first heard of The Valley of Fire in Clark County, Nevada, I envisioned a typical hot desert adventure on ATVs, something I love. So when Discover Today's ATV and the ATV Safety Institute asked me to join them for a day of riding, I eagerly agreed.

When we started getting close to The Valley of Fire, I quickly realized there was much more to it than just a ride in the desert. The fiery red rock formations that came out of the ground provided a brilliant backdrop to what would turn out to be one of the best rides I'd had in years. It was hard to concentrate on riding because I was literally in awe at the scenery, but the riding was superb and offered several different types of riding, including desert trails, lush sand dunes and very technical crawling. Truly an epic ride.

The sandstone formations are from prehistoric sand dunes and have been turned into their current shape after centuries of earthquakes and erosion. This nearly 35,000 acre state park sits about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas and was used as the back drop in films such as Transformers, Star Trek Generations and Total Recall.

Having spent much of my childhood camping at nearby Lake Mead, The Valley of Fire is now on my short list of places to take my kids before they get too much older.

Images by Matt Finley