This is a great 6.7 mile loop hike at Valley of Fire State Park. It is not a maintained trail and unless you know it's there, it's easy to miss. There is information at the Visitor Center, but the Visitor Center is undergoing renovation during this fall/winter. To get to the trailhead, drive in the Valley of Fire Road and keep going past the Visitor Center and then the Seven Sisters. After the turnoff to the Cabins, keep driving a little further and look for a small road on the left side that is for park employees only. This is the place to park as long as you don't block the road. The trailhead begins in a wash on the other side of the road. Cross the road and start into the wash. You'll see a sign that says "Charlie's Spring 5.5 miles" and on the hill to the right there's a monument with a cross on it. Hike down this wash. The monument is to Sergeant John C. Clark who died here in June 1915. You can walk up to the monument, but the hike is down the wash. Keep heading east in the wash. Several side washes come in from the right and left but stay in the main wash. It's gravel and hard to walk at times. The scenery is great! After about 2 miles, the wash narrows and you come to two gorgeous, sandstone dry falls. They are easy to climb down. A short time after the second dry fall, you'll start to see water as the spring water seeps out of the ground and forms a creek. Keep hiking. The springs stretch for about 1/2 mile. There are many reeds growing, a stream, and some beautifully eroded rock of various colors. At about the 3 mile point, you come to a power line road. Turn left and hike up this steep road out of the wash. Walk along the power line road until there's a split in the road, and you'll see a different wash heading back to the northwest (left). This is the different wash to take to get back to the car. Hike up this side wash until it gets so narrow you have to climb out and go cross country. Head north (right) and in about 1/2 mile, you'll come to the Valley of Fire Road near the east entrance fee station. Now all you have to do is get to the road, turn left, and walk the road back to your car. NOTE: I do not recommend you do this hike in a loop fashion unless you take GPS coordinates. The sandstone may tend to look the same if you don't know where you're going. Instead, hike down to the springs, enjoy, and then hike back the way you came. Here is a link to my EveryTrail report on this hike with GPS coordinates you can download to your GPS unit. I am also including a link to my website so you can see more photos. EveryTrail GPS coordinates: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=880776 More photos: http://gallery.me.com/nkresge#100778 Happy hiking! read more

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First hike for the New Year...yeah!! Hiked this trail for the first time today! Located inside Valley of Fire. Pay the $10 per vehicle fee and a good idea to make a stop at the visitor center and grab a map. We got there today around 12:15pm and finished at 3:15pm. It took us around 6 miles, easy-moderate loop in the backcountry of the park. Roughly a half mile in to the Valley of Fire, from the East entrance, you'll see a "historical marker" sign and a grave marker on your left. Go ahead and park in one of the pull outs and follow the unmarked trail down in to the wash. From here you can follow the wash for 2.5 miles to the spring. The trail is unmarked and the hike continues down the wash for about 2.75 miles to the spring. I don't like walking in the silky sand, however it was pretty cool we came across fresh bones, probably a bobcat attacked a big horn sheep. We also saw more bones near the spring which creeps me out a little. After a few miles of hiking, we approached a small section of narrows and slot canyon. I loved this area. It was dry but would have made a beautiful waterfalls. read more

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