Mouse's Tank is possibly the best hike to be done in Valley of Fire State Park. It not only allows you to explore a mysterious canyon associated with prehistoric rock writings and a regional legend based in historical fact, but it is a particularly versatile trek.
You can make it a quick half-mile hike to the natural water tank itself, or turn it into a half-day adventure exploring the rock formations, peaks, and side canyons, and trying to read the story in the hundreds of petroglyphs lining the canyon walls.
Valley of Fire State Park was Nevada's first state park, dedicated in 1935. Its signature red sandstone was formed millions of years ago from complex uplifting, faulting and erosion that left us an amazing landscape that now serves as a natural playground for adults and children and an outdoor museum of prehistoric art.
Nowhere do the two purposes coincide more happily than at Mouse's Tank. Just a few steps from the trailhead, you will already be in a canyon, and in minutes you'll start to see the first petroglyphs. The most striking panels seem to be on the left.
Occupation of the area is thought to have taken place from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D., starting with the Basketmaker culture, followed by Ancestral Puebloan. The latter is the same culture once called the Anasazi by archaeologists, but that name is now considered derogatory.
In the Southwest, petroglyphs are found on many different types of surfaces, but the most common place is on desert varnish. This thin black coating, made up of fine-grained clay minerals, made an ideal place for prehistoric people to create rock art. They pecked away at the surface, which exposed the lighter rock underneath. Here there are images of wildlife, human shapes and many mysterious symbols, whose meaning we will probably never know.
As you travel along, you'll also find thousands of holes, windows and pockets in the sandstone formed by natural erosion. The park allows you to explore and climb around the formations; just don't touch or climb anywhere near the petroglyphs. Crawl into one of the holes rounded out by wind erosion, and find the place where the natural stone hollow just exactly fits your back.
On a cool afternoon, with the sun-heated stone radiating warmth into your body from every direction, you can feel comfortable as a kitten in a hatbox. If you have children along, this canyon will easily become an educational experience. A stop at the visitor center, which is on your way to the trailhead, offers kid-friendly exhibits and interactive displays on the geology, wildlife, prehistory and history of the area. Once you reach the trail, encourage your children to travel back in time, imagining where the Indians might have slept, hunted and prepared their food.
After walking about a quarter mile you'll see a sign pointing left 20 yards to the tank. You'll have to lean over between two rock walls and twist your body in a peculiar fashion to get a good look, and I wouldn't let a child try it without a firm adult hand holding her belt to prevent a tumble into the tank.
Such natural tanks or tinajas were critically important water sources to human travelers even into the 20th century, and remain so to desert wildlife. Mouse's Tank is not the largest in the park but because of its deep bowl shape and shaded location, it holds water the longest.
Mouse's Tank gets its name from a Paiute who lived in the region in the 1890s. There are several versions of Mouse's story, but it's generally agreed that he ran afoul of the white man's law and became a much-feared fugitive.
Look carefully in the sand along the sides of the trail and you might see small tracks made by kit foxes, chuckwallas and zebra-tailed lizards, and the distinctive continuous trails made by snakes. Before you place your feet or hands in any holes, take a quick look inside; the park boasts 13 species of lizards, and 15 species of snakes, a few of them poisonous. Most of the wildlife is completely harmless. On the canyon floor, you may see white-tailed antelope ground squirrels, black-tailed jackrabbits and even the less-usual cottontails darting to safety.
Deborah Wall is the author of "Great Hikes, A Cerca Country Guide," published by Stephens Press. She can be reached at Deborah@hikingthewest.com.
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