St. George, UT to Snow Canyon State Park (UT), Valley of Fire State Park (NV) and Las Vegas, NV

188.41 Miles | 4:15 Riding Time

It’s Saturday, May 18, 2024, and it’s Day 38 of my cross country motorcycle trip. Unfortunately, I started having some problems with videos today, so I don’t have very many pictures of Snow Canyon or Valley of Fire to share. (Sometimes, the camera just got too hot, and sometimes, there was some operator error.)

Today, I’m heading to Las Vegas, but I’m not going to take the most direct route. When I first started telling people about this trip, so many people suggested Snow Canyon State Park in Utah. It’s not far from Zion and St. George, where I stayed last night. So, I went to check it out.

Snow Canyon is small, by national park standards—the park road was only about 5 miles long. But, it was beautiful. The ranger at the gate suggested that I ride through the park. Then, turn around and ride back, because it looks like a whole different place. He was right. The road wound through the valley and crept uphill the whole time on the way in. Although there were warning signs to be on the lookout for tortoises, I didn’t see any. I did see Jake the gopher snake in the visitors center. He was quite happy that it was warm out.

I rode back to St. George, and on to Route 15 that goes to Las Vegas. The section between St. George, through Arizona and into Nevada was as stunning as people told me it would be. Covering three states that quickly was pretty cool, but the weather was anything but. As I descended from Utah, the temperatures kept going up.

Taking a side trip off RT 15, I visited the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Holy triple digits! In the valley, the temps got up to 101 degrees. This park gets the award for the best heat-related sign so far. At the entrance, there was a sign that simple said, “Heat Warning. You Might Die.” I stopped several times to soak my neck gaiter in water, and the evaporation did help quite a bit. But, hot is hot. The scenery was amazing. The “fire” was not only the temperature, but also the bright red rocks and sand that made up the valley. I can imagine what it must look like at sunset.

I moved back on to the highway and into Vegas. It’s funny/scary how the closer you get to a city, the faster and more aggressively people drive. The speed limit was 70. I was doing maybe 75+, and I was getting passed like I was standing still—left and right.

I made it to my hotel, but the rooms weren’t ready. Across the parking lot, I spotted an In n Out burger. I had never been, so off I went. Ok, folks. It’s good. Not life-altering, but good.

Back at the hotel, I was about to park, when the person who turned out to be the operations manager called me over, and told me to park right by the front door. That happens sometimes, when you run into folks who ride. He said this would be safer, and on-camera the whole night. Thank you, kind sir!

I Ubered off to Caesar’s Palace, and the Apple store, to pick up a new case for my phone. The old one kept getting in the way of my screen protector and it would crack. New case in hand, I found a bar seat at Amalfi, by Bobby Flay. Bobby doesn’t have a restaurant that isn’t excellent, so a salad and linguini with tomatoes and clam sauce caught my eye. It was delicious! Back to the hotel and off to bed—tired and well-fed.

The Route