What Is The Fire Wave And Where Is It?
When you hear about The Wave you probably think of The Wave in the Coyote Buttes North section of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument that sits along the border of northern Arizona and southern Utah. It is difficult to get permits for the Coyote Buttes Wave but the Fire Wave does not require any special permits.
It turns out there is another Wave. It is often referred to as the Fire Wave. It is located within the boundaries of the Valley Or Fire State Park in Nevada. It is about an hour from Las Vegas near the town of Overton, Nevada. While there is no special permit required to go to The Valley Of Fire or the Fire Wave, the Nevada State Parks do charge a $15 per car entrance fee for non-Nevada residents to enter the park. A first come first served campsite only costs $25. If you plan to spend some time at the Valley of Fire your best bet and best deal is to camp there.
Probably due to vandalism, the park is open between sunrise and sunset to day use visitors. This means the park rangers will sweep the park roads at sunset. This makes it hard to get sunset photos at the Fire Wave and most other areas within the park. If you are camping in the park you can of course be in the park overnight buy you are not permitted to be anywhere else in the park outside of the campground before sunrise or after sunset.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph The Fire Wave At The Valley Of Fire?
Most people who go to The Valley Of Fire do it on the way to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, The Coyote Buttes Wave, Buckskin Gulch, Lake Powell or other places like Horseshoe Bend. It is a popular spot among people who fly into the Las Vegas Airport to go the Utah National Parks and the spectacular northern Arizona areas around Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona.
If you’re not taking a road trip and are flying into the area, you’ll probably fly into Las Vegas or possibly the St. George airport. If you fly into Vegas you can do a day trip to the Valley of Fire. The Valley Of Fire is about 90 miles from St. George and about an hour from Las Vegas.
The drive to the Valley Of Fire is an easy one. The drive through the park is an easy one. Parking can be a bit of a challenge in some spots in the park. For the most part, parking is limited to designated parking lots and pulling off along the side of the road is prohibited.
If you plan to spend multiple days in the park, the best way to do that is to camp in the park. If you want to get away from the craziness of Vegas but don’t want to camp, there are a few hotels around the small town of Overton, Nevada. You may also want to try camping at Lake Meade National Recreation area not far away.
Overall, the Valley Of Fire state park is an easy place to get to once you are out by Las Vegas or St. George, UT area. Camping IN the park makes the most sense but if you prefer not to camp there are plenty of other options from St. George to Las Vegas. The sunrise to sunset restriction for visitors to the park is a real bummer and makes it tough to get sunrise and sunset photos. Despite that restriction there are still plenty of photo opportunities when you can access the park.
The Fire Wave formation is located near the end of the Mouse’s Tank Road which is one of the most remote parts of the park and farthest from the visitor center.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of The Fire Wave At The Valley Of Fire?
The Fire Wave may be THE most popular spot at The Valley Of Fire and as such, the most crowded. The hike itself is a pretty easy and mostly flat 1.5 miles round trip. That is short and easy enough so as not to deter many people from hiking it especially if they have seen photos from it. The crowds of people who flock there make it really difficult to get photos of it without people all over the place. People hike on it, they sit on in, they lay on it. During most daylight hours there will almost always be someone on The Fire Wave.
If you can be one of the first people out there in the morning, that can improve your chances of getting a natural, people free photo of The Fire Wave. You won’t be able to get there AT sunrise. You’ll be able to start driving the Mouse’s Tank road at sunrise. Then you’ll have to make the .75 mile hike out to The Fire Wave. That will probably put you there AT LEAST 45 minutes after sunrise.
During the day it will be almost impossible to photograph it without people. If you go out at sunset when this photo was taken it may improve your chances. The challenge is, of course, that the main parts of the park close at sunset. They don’t close at dusk a bit after the sun has gone down, they officially close at sunset. To get this photo you’ll have to stay out there till the very last possible moment and hope nobody who wants to surf The Fire Wave stays out there with you. Once you snap the photo you’ll have to make a beeline back to your car in the parking lot. You’ll get back to your car as the park rangers are clearing the road and hopefully not so late as to get a ticket for being in the park too late.
If you are willing to hike out there in the rain with your camera gear and wait for the rain to stop you may be able to get a people free photo that way. You might even get a bonus rainbow.
If you will have more than one day at The Valley Of Fire and Fire Wave photos is one of your main goals you’ll be well served to hike out at least once to scope out the area, explore some compositions and figure out approximately where to stand and how you want to frame things up. When you make the effort to go out there at a better time for photography you’ll be able to more quickly setup the shots you want and get as many in as possible during the brief moments when people clear out of your frame.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Fire Wave At The Valley Of Fire?
If you’re heading out to the Fire Wave to come home with a wall art quality photo, you’ll wan to take some decent photo equipment out with you. The hike out is pretty short and pretty easy. It’s about 1.5 miles over somewhat uneven sandstone. The weight of your camera equipment shouldn’t be a big deal when hiking to the Fire Wave.
Your best bet will be to take a decent DSLR or mirrorless camera. If you have to pick one lens, something like a 24mm to 105mm zoom lens would be a good choice. A second choice would be something even wider, say a 17mm – 40mm lens. That will enable you to capture wider landscape and get closer to large scenes and large rock formations.
I always suggest a tripod because it helps you frame up the exact scene you want to photograph. Since your best photos at the Fire Wave made come shortly after sunset or close to sunrise when the light may be a little low, a tripod may be necessary for sharp photos since the light may not be that bright. If you’re out there in the heat of the day, you may want to shoot bracketed image for HDR photos in which case you’ll definitely want a tripod.
This photo is a stitched panorama. While a single shot photo will certainly provide a nice photo, the landscape is wide. A setup to shoot stitched panoramas may be worth hauling out with you.
Finally, a circular polarizer can help make colors more vibrant and bring out deep blue skies on clear day.
What Is The Story Behind This Fire Wave Wall Art Photo?
I’d seen some photos from the Valley of Fire over the years and wanted to spend some time there for a while. A number of years prior, I ran into a guy who had a photo gallery in Moab, Utah who sold prints of the Fire Wave. He said it was his best selling photo. At the time that provided a bit more motivation to find out where it was and how to get there.
During the spring of 2016 I was wandering through the southwestern United States. After spending some time in Death Valley I passed through Vegas as quickly as possible. I picked up a detailed map of the Valley of Fire state park, checked out the admission and camping fees. At the time it was $10 for a day pass and I think $20 to camp in the park. With that fee structure it made much more sense to camp in the park instead of getting day passes and sleeping outside the park somewhere.
The campsites were first come first served. I got in there early and secured a spot that I booked for a few days. The restrictions on park hours from sunrise to sunset were a bit of a bummer but staying in the park seemed to give me a little advantage for getting out close to sunrise. Since I was already in the park I could get to the Valley Of Fire Elephant Rock formation close to sunrise. The park rangers chased everyone out of the park near sunset so camping in the park provided no advantage for sunset photos.
The campground was nice, the sites were pretty large for one person staying in a tent an there were sowers available. $20 per night to camp was a great deal.
Every day the weather was clear or at least not raining I’d start out by heading over to the Elephant Rock formation on the main road through the park. I couldn’t get there before sunrise but shortly after sunrise was possible. First thing in the morning, it was people staying in the campground who would gather there and there weren’t that many people. We all managed to stay out of each others way for the most part.
After getting up and out or sunrise and heading over to Elephant Rock, I’d hang out there for a bit and look for other spots along the main park road for more interesting photographs. I never even tried to head out to the Fire Wave early in the morning. It was impossible to get there first thing in the morning. I’d have to wait for the road to open, drive 20 minutes or so on the Mouse’s Tank Road, park and then go hike 20 minutes out to the Fire Wave. It may still have been worth it to get out there an hour after sunrise but it seemed like too much trouble to get out there an hour or so after sunrise.
Every trip out to the Fire Wave was in the afternoon or evening. I’d stay till the last possible minute when most everyone else had gone back. I’d then have to hightail it back to the car to avoid getting a ticket or a warning from the park rangers as they cleared everyone out of the park.
On this particular night, the skies were fairly clear, the Fire Wave itself fell under a total shadow and the cliffs off behind the Fire Wave took on a nice orange glow as the sun went down. There were still some people in the area but by shooting a panoramic shot I was able to shoot one frame, wait for people to move, shoot the next frame and get a complete panoramic shot with no people in it. As soon as I was done with this shot, I had to quickly pack up the pano gear and switch to a camera on a tripod in case there were any cool single shot photo opportunities on the way back to the car.
When I got back to the car, the rangers were there working to clear people out of the Mouse’s Tank Road before the sun set and it got dark. I put a towel down on the car seat to soak up the sweat pouring from my skin after the brisk walk back to the car, put the camera gear in the back and took my spot in traffic on the way back to the main park road. Once back at the campsite I fired up the stove, made some noodles, took a shower, reviewed some of the photos from the day and headed off to bed for another early morning the next day.
In What Formats Is This Panoramic Photo Print Of The Valley Of Fire, “Fire Wave” Available?
This Panoramic Fire Wave Sunset photo from The Valley Of Fire is available on metal, acrylic, paper, canvas, and wood. If you plan to hand it in an area with diffused lighting it will look great printed on any material with any finish. A glossy or metallic finish such as that on metal, acrylic or glossy canvas or paper will look more vibrant than a paper or canvas print with a matte finish in an area with diffused lighting.
If you will hang it in an area with bright natural or artificial direct lighting or somewhere with exposed light bulbs then a matte finish on paper or canvas will likely be the better choice. A glossy or metallic finish is much more reflective and will probably reflect the lights or the or even the other furnishings in the room. This is particularly true with metal prints.
The metal prints are available in sizes up to 70×40 inches. On any other material it is available in sizes up to 84×74 inches.
If you’d like to show it off on something else, it looks great on shower curtains and can even be paired with matching bath towels. Alternatively a large, soft Sherpa fleece blanket can make a great addition to a bedroom or living room, provide an awesome look. The Sherpa fleece blanket are super soft, warm and comfortable to curl up under!
If you’re in need of shopping bags to replace the plastic grocery store bags, this image looks great on high quality canvas tote bags. They are super sturdy and can even be used for beach bags. If you’d like something smaller, this image comes on cel phone cases for all the latest phones from Apple and Samsung. You can also get it on a variety of apparel including t-shirts and sweatshirts.
Finally, it is available on jigsaw puzzles that come in 500 and 1,000 piece varieties. The image comes printed on the box. A puzzle will make a great gift for any fan of the Valley of Fire and the stunning swirling sandstone features there!
Leave a Reply