Calico Ghost Town RV Park

Day 55, Saturday, March 18, Calico Ghost Town RV Park, Barstow, California

Jim has been doing all the driving.  That makes both of us feel safer, I think, and he does drive faster than I do!  We got to the RV Park and got settled, then went back down to Home Depot so Jim could make more repair purchases.  There are lots of wildflowers around this park, and I took a walk up the wash to get pictures of the Mohave Desert bloom.  This has been a wet year for the west coast, which is good for everybody!

Our campsite.  The town is in the hills to the left.

Lots of blooms in the Mohave Desert this year!

In the morning before we left I walked up to the Ghost Town to get postcards for the kids.  I have sent bunches of postcards to all 8 grandchildren on this trip, trying to make sure that the postcards for each house were unique.  I brought the postcard stamps from home, but sometimes it has been a challenge to find a place to mail them!

The old mining town of Calico was restored and turned into a tourist spot by Walter Knott, creator of Knott's Berry Farm.

Preferred RV Resort

Day 52-54, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, March 15-17, Preferred RV Resort, Pahrump, Nevada

Preferred is another RIP resort, in the middle of Pahrump.  Also recommended by the Weigants.  We did some hardware and RV errands after we arrived.  Jim bought the 2005 Bounder last May, and he continues to do repairs and updates on it.  Replaced the kitchen and bathroom faucets on this trip, replaced a toilet water connection that was leaking.  He is always making something better on the motor home.  We probably know where nearly all the hardware stores are in these small towns we stay in!  There was a great hardware store in Pahrump, with home decorator items, art supplies, lots of fun stuff!  I bought a hand made cutting board for the motor home, which I will sand and oil.  We bought little rubber feet to screw on it.  Wednesday night we went to a dinner at the resort, Greek salad and gyros.  Tasted great!

Thursday we went to Death Valley for the day.  We came up through Shoshone, to the Badwater area, then to Furnace Creek Visitor Center, where we ate our picnic lunch.  We got lucky, and they had just re-opened a side road that went to Artist’s Point, a short hike to a view of colored hills.  On the way back we drove up to Dante’s View, which overlooks Death Valley from 5,475 feet.  The salt flats are all that is left of an ancient lake now called Lake Manly, that was an average of over 1000 feet deep and surface area of 620 square miles.

Blooming desert on the road up from Shoshone

Ashford Mill ruins, 1914 mine processing

Ancient lake that filled this valley up to 1,000 feet deep

Bad guy by the Badwater sign

Always to the west we could see the Sierra Nevada mountains with snow on top, Mt. Whitney at 14, 496 feet, being the highest point in the continental United States.  Badwater, in Death Valley, is 85 horizontal miles away, and at -282 feet below sea level, is the lowest point in the continental United States.  Badwater is almost 3 vertical miles below Mt. Whitney!

Trail our over the fragile salt flats

Even some water here in this wet year!  Pretty salty!

On the road to Artist's Point

Looking back down at the parking lot from the trail at Artist's Point

Chromatic hills at Artist's Point from top of trail

Nobody likes drones!  Jim has not been flying this trip!

Salt flats from 5,000 feet up at Dante's View

Wild animals in the desert

Linda at top of Dante's View

Zoomed in to show me better!

Looking down at Badwater from Dante's View

Friday we went to Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge, an area of springs with water that comes from underground.  This area was planned for development at one time, with a resort, golf course, and community of 30,000 homes.  Much more population than the water could ever have supported.  With lots of people working very hard, including the Nature Conservancy, this was avoided and the area protected.  It is a very unique desert environment. 

We went to see Devil’s Hole, a place where the water comes up out of the ground.  When there are earthquakes in Mexico, the water in this hole sloshes around!  We saw a film in the Visitor Center that showed this!  Kind of makes you feel like you are living on a thin crust!  There is a unique species of pupfish that lives in Devil’s Hole, and the projected extinction of this species gave some impetus to the process to protect the area.  We did get a picture of a different species of pupfish, in one of the springs at the main Refuge visitor area.   As the waters of Manly Lake dried up, pupfish got separated into various springs and evolved into different species.  Jim bought an Ash Meadows T shirt to support the refuge.  The visitor center is all staffed by volunteers.

Pond at the Visitor Center area.  We could see pupfish in this pool.  They were named pupfish because they dart around like puppies playing.

A model and a photographer on the boardwalk at the Refuge.

Devil's Hole, goes way, way, down!

The weather in the last couple of weeks has been warm for us, getting into the middle 80’s during the day!  But we just look in Accuweather and see what the weather is at home.  Then we feel better!  If has been a cold, rainy winter in the Pacific Northwest!

Ridgeview RV Resort

Day 49-51, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, March 12, 13, 14, Ridgeview RV Resort, Bullhead City, Arizona

Ridgeview had been recommended by the Weigants, so we decided to try it.  It is also RPI.  It is on the ridge above the river, with Laughlin, Nevada and its casinos on the other side.  A very interesting pool and activity center!  And nice views!

Our campsite by a blooming tree

View of casinos at Laughlin, Nevada, from our campsite

Casinos at night

Unusual pool shape, and great view of Laughlin from the Activity Center above

Monday we drove our bikes down to the Heritage Trail in Laughlin, just across the river.  The trail took us up a gradual paved bike path to Davis Dam, and we rode to the top of the dam, continuing on the other side of the dam until we came to a road.  Then we rode back down, and up a long, railroad-grade road (no cars) Davis Dam Road, until we came to the Laughlin highway, then back down to Laughlin, along a cement ditch by a building (!), until we came to a bridge back over the highway, then to the trailhead!  About 18 miles.

Top of the dam.  The paved bike path circles around the hill down to the right, along the river.

Looking back down Davis Dam rode

Crossing back over Laughlin Highway on the bike bridge

After lunch we went for a drive up to Mohave Lake, which extends 57 miles up the Colorado River from Davis Dam.  We went to Katherine Cove, visited the Marina there, then drove up along the lake for a ways.  All undeveloped land, dirt roads, past the campgrounds at Katherine Cove, and lots of desert wildflowers blooming.

Desert wildflowers on a hillside

Tuesday we went for a boat ride on Mohave Lake!  We rented a ski boat for 4 hours, went much farther up the lake than we could ever have gotten with our kayaks!  We saw only a few fishing boats and a lone kayaker.  I am sure this lake would be full of water skiers, jet skis, etc., on a warm weekend in the summer!  We pulled into coves a couple of times and Sarah got to play stick.  The first place we stopped, as we pulled into the shallow cove and Jim got out, Sarah jumped right out of the back of the boat!  She does love the water.

The captain wearing his boating captain's hat.  Hee hee!

Guard dog watching out for sharks and sea serpents

A reflective moment

Heading up into a magic cove

Happy Sarah fetching in clear water

Interesting rock formation.  We say the kayaker paddle through the arch.

Cottonwood Cove, marina and campground, lots of houseboats

First mate, also wearing her nautical cap.

Blooming desert along the lake edge

There is not a ridge with water behind it.  This is a mirage!

There is not a section of entirely still water.  This is a mirage.

Emerald Cove RV Resort

Day 46-48, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, March 9, 10, 11, Emerald Cove RV Resort, Earp, California

Emerald Cove is a Colorado River Adventures park that is right on the Colorado River, with nice beaches, even a dog beach!  Saves us money, too, since it is part of the RPI membership I belong too.  The regional and state parks are $35 a night by the time you pay reservation fees, and this is just $10 a night!   Lots of noisy grackles, which makes us feel like we are in the tropics.

I did laundry Thursday afternoon in the outdoor laundromat at the park that faces west – pretty hot and sunny!  We had planned to kayak the Colorado River and the Bill Williams Wilderness area, but Jim had hurt his back lifting Sarah in or out of the motor home, so we just did some sightseeing.  Friday night we listened to karaoke at the resort – some of the people in the group of friends who were there could actually sing, some could not.  Saturday night we went to dinner at a place on the other side of the river, called Roadrunner’s.  The tables are on a dock on the river, with people arriving in their boats, etc.  A really fun place, and good food, too!

Driving through a town called Hope on our way

Colorado River and excited girlie

Dog beach

On the dock at Roadrunners

Sunset at Roadrunner's