Hikes #4 & #5 for 2026
Our debut glamping trip of the 2026 season was to Valley of Fire State Park – a bucket list destination for us!
As we were prepping the trailer, my husband discovered that the water pump wasn’t working. It’s always something with recreational equipment. 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️ He spent a day searching for the parts at various nearby stores and installing the new water pump himself.
Well, “how it begins is how it goes”, as my father says. This was not a glamorous glamping trip. All three of my kiddos had a slight cough before we left the house. My husband and I assumed it was either allergies or something mild that would surely be better by the next day.
It was not better the next day. The second night everyone was up half the night coughing and entirely miserable. We left a day early.
Additionally, my oldest son (age 16) has grown a lot and is essentially the same size as my husband and I are. This makes it very difficult for him to squeeze into the triple bunk in our Lance trailer (which worked perfectly when he was smaller). He ended up sleeping on the converted table but woke up super stiff and feeling like he didn’t sleep well at all. We’re going to have to figure something out for his sleeping arrangements before our next excursion.
Then there is something wrong with the toilet. After flushing, the water keeps running and doesn’t turn off when the peddle flush is realized like it’s supposed to. We’ll have to figure out what’s going on with that.
While 70°F water is colder than I thought it would be at Barton Spring Pool, a high of 80°F is much hotter than I thought it would be in the super dry and exposed Valley of Fire desert. Afternoon hikes were out for us! It was just way too hot! 🥵 Next time, we’ll visit here in Feb. or March.
Our campsite #7 – gorgeous!
Big horn sheep mamas and babies near our campsite at Atlati Rock (photos by my daughter age 13) – So Adorable 🥰
The first day, we checked in at the visitor’s center and the tween/teens each picked the thing they wanted to do most from a map and itinerary board.
We ended up doing: Petrified Logs Loop (0.3 mile), Sandstone Loop (0.1 mile), White Domes Loop (1.1 mile), and Elephant Rock (0.2 mile – there-and-back) for a total of 1.7 miles.
Photos from White Dome Loop: 1.1 mile on loose fine sand
Photo of Elephant Rock
The second day we hiked Fire Wave (1.4 miles – there and back) and the tween/teens were amazingly tough about hiking even though they were definitely not feeling good at all. My husband and I got up the morning of the second day and agreed we should just drive home. Everyone was just too miserable to endure another night in the trailer. When we announced we were leaving early we were met with pleas to “just see Fire Wave before we left”. We compromised by driving 45 minutes (there-and-back) to the nearest gas station/convenience store to pick up cold medicine and then hiking Fire Wave there-and-back 1.4 miles instead of the 1.9 mile loop.
Parents of the year. 🤦🏻♀️ Ugh 😑
Photos from Fire Wave (which was arguably one of the coolest hikes we’ve ever done): 1.4 mile there-and-back on colorfully layered sandstone rock and a little bit of fine loose sand
We started our long drive home in the afternoon and arrived at bedtime where everyone was relieved to have their own snuggly beds and humidifiers to help with the coughing. Hindsight being 20/20 we probably should’ve postponed this trip until next year.
I’m really hoping that the rest of our camping adventures for the 2026 season go significantly smoother than this one did! 🤦🏻♀️
Anytime we’re wandering around in the desert heat, I think of one of our favorite books, “Holes” by Louis Sachar.
heavens to betty 