In the desert hills east of Las Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park.  We spent the day exploring the park hiking some of the short trails.  We liked the look of the campgrounds (although they would be blazing hot in the day time), so we may return for a few days to explore all of the trails, canyons, pictographs, and geological features another time.   Information on the park can be found at this site (link)

Mouses Tank Trail

This short trail takes about an hour to complete.   The route follows Petroglyph Canyon which has hundreds of 3000 year old drawings on the rock walls.   The red Aztec sandstone of the area was formed from petrified sand dunes, and has been weathered into bizarre shapes.   At the end of a box canyon is a bathtub-like pothole protected from the sun, the Mouses Tank.   The water seemed pretty stagnant, but this is desert and native people knew the location of this "tank.".     All of the area around Valley of Fire is hot and extremely arid, so any reliable source of water was essential to survival.   Around every corner were weird shapes and "masks" in the rocks. 

Several other hikes led to caves (cool in the desert heat), rock domes, slot canyons, more petroglyphs, and desert landscapes.   This is so unlike Kamloops and area –  a side trip to Mars, an hour out of Las Vegas.