Valley of Fire State Park is located a short drive north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the Mojave Desert. It features phenomenal Aztec and Navajo sandstone rock formations similar to the national parks in southern Utah. Colorful veins of lavender, red, rust, yellow and purple streak the sandstone as a result of oxidation of iron minerals. In places, a rose quartz can be found amid the sandstone formations. The valley was once the bed of an inland sea. Petrified pine trees, seashells and coral have been found in the formations, a testament to the variety of climate changes that have occurred here.