2/10 Willow Beach Campground

Keeping my fingers crossed that I can get this post finished before the internet dies.  This is one of my top five campgrounds west of the Mississippi, but it has one BIG problem--because it is so isolated and surrounded by mountains, it has absolutely no cell service.  For me, that also means I have no internet service because I get my internet through my cell provided, Verizon.  

The campground managers give you a coupon for free internet for one device, but the problem is that their router is working on solar power stored in batteries.  Mostly, but not completely, the system works well during the day when the sun is shining, but after dark, the batteries often lose power before morning.  Luckily, a lot of the campers here have Star Link through a satellite system.  I have investigated this, but I already have two Verizon mobile hotspots from the years I spent teaching college classes while traveling.  They work well, most of the time, assuming I have decent cell service, but without cell service, I am relying on the iffy internet this place has.  I could switch, but at this point, I am not sure how many more years I have on the road, so I will make do with what I have.   

Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed I can get all my photos uploaded!  🤞  I am working as fast as I can to beat the dying router batteries! 

I assume you have already read the post from yesterday.  When you reach the end of the canyon, you will finally see the Colorado River.  The beige building is the visitor center and marina boat rental facility.  They have a few snacks for sale, some shirts, and a lot of kayaking or boating stuff.  If you are camping, you need to stop here to check in.  

 

  

If you head straight past the visitor center, you will find a fishery, but I did not go there this trip, so no photos of it.  But if you ever do come here, it is worth a walk or short drive to check out all the young fish growing in the big tanks. 

If you are heading to the campground, you need to turn right after checking in, and head uphill through the large parking lot, following a two lane road that will take you uphill.  The campground is about 200' higher than the river because several people died in the 1970s in a large flood that wiped out the original campground, which was down by the river.  No flood can possibly reach the new campground!  

Hidden under what looks like a building is the campground hosts motorhome.  Since the temperatures can get extremely hot in summers, most campgrounds in desert areas in the Southwest provide structures with roofs to shade camp host's rigs.  The people who are camp hosts in this campground have been here almost 10 years, so they have added canvas sidewalls and front and back walls that keep them relatively cool.

 

Campsites here are very large and paved, and they also have electric, water, and sewer hookups, which is a real luxury.  They are expensive, but if you are over 62 and have a national park senior pass, you get a substantial discount.  

  

Here are a couple more typical campsites.

 

 

Sorry for the different size photos, but the taller ones were taken with my cell phone. 

 

 

And here are some of the tent sites.  

 

 

 

 

 

The ranger's homes are located even father uphill.   

 

 

Since the campground is on a slope, they have provided a little walkway that zigzags down the hill from the restroom/shower house that also contains a small laundry.   

Very nice restroom and shower facility.

This is a rock on the edge of my campsite patio.  I have been tossing out a couple of handfuls of bird seed every day, so this is the part of the flock that waiting for me to feed them. 

 

 

It is amazing how fast these little guys can eat every grain I toss out to them.  Usually, there are also a couple of flocks of Gambles quail, but they don't seem to be around this year.  I assume maybe this is due to the drought--no rain for almost a year.  There are a lot of hummingbirds because the camp host has put out several feeders. 

 

 

Need to look this bird up because it does not look like the others.  

The other "wildlife" here is a very pretty feral cat that the camp hosts feed and care for.  They call her "Meow-Meow" because even though they feed her, she spends a large part of her day going from RV to RV loudly and endlessly saying "meow-meow, meow-meow, meow-meow."  She is mostly Siamese but with longer fur than usual, but she is very wild and will not let anyone get near her. 

 

One other problem with this campground is that the road from the visitor center to the campground doubles as a flood control system.  In other words, it is assumed that when a flood comes, the road will turn into a river and keep campers trapped until the rains have subsided.  Luckily it does not rain much here, and this roadway does provide a fantastic view!

This is a fairly small campground, and relatively expensive if you do not have the senior pass, but it is really one of the beautiful areas I have camped in.  The mountains may not  have much vegetation on them, but Big Horn Sheep, desert cottontails, and a lot of other animals manage to live here.  

2/9 Drive to Willow Beach Marina & Campground

Willow Beach Marina is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, but it is on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, about 13 miles south of Hoover Dam.  It is part of the Mohave Desert, but is extremely dry and mountainous, and it looks a lot like something from a moonscape.  However, it is very isolated and wild, and I think it has a lot of beauty in it. 

There is almost no access to the Colorado River between the dam and Willow Beach Marina.  Because it is part of the Lake Mead Recreation Area, no off-road vehicles are allowed, though there are a few hiking trails in the area, but no camping other than in the one, developed campsite at Willow Beach.   

You get here from Las Vegas, by taking U.S. Highway 93, over the new bridge that bypasses having to drive over the dam.  

Here is a copy of a Google photo of this area.  You can see how the mountains on both sides of the river have created a series of washes that carry rainwater from large areas into the river.  Even though this area is dry, when it does rain, an awful lot of water flows toward Willow Beach, and in the past floods have wiped out the fishery, visitor center, campground, and rangers' cabins, not to say having killed several campers.

Highway 93 is a good, divided highway, but the three or four miles where the road crosses the river near the dam can be extremely scary because winds get funneled through the canyons.

 

Notice in this photo that trucks, and motorhomes like mine, are told to move into the left lane so they are slightly shielded from strong winds.  I have driven this many times, with hands clutched tightly on the steering wheel to keep my vehicle from being blown into the right lane or into the barrier on the left.  As you go from between mountains over a canyon, it really feels like you are being picked up and moved over.  I usually drop my speed to between 45 and 50 MPH.  Cars may not like my being going slowly in the "fast" lane, but I do not care.  I’ve been honked at by drivers who missed the signs telling high vehicles to drive in the left lane.   

A lot less scary once the area opens up a bit.  Luckily, there is seldom much traffic here. 

 

About ten miles past the bridge and dam, there is a small scenic pullover.   In this photo, you can see a glimpse of the Colorado River as it goes past Willow Beach, which is where I am heading.

 

 And here is a telephoto photo of the river in the distance with the sun shining on it.  It looks very empty around that area, but the campground and marina are hidden behind the hill on the right.  It is a three-mile drive from U.S. 93 to get to this point on the river.  Also, during that drive, you drop 1,300’ in elevation though it really does not seem like a steep drive.

 

After driving through a national park check-in booth, you drive on a paved road that really needs to be replaced.  The problem with this road is that it goes through one of the canyons that drains several square miles of mountains, so when it rains, parts of the road can get washed out and extra gravel has to be scraped off, plus some parts have been heavily patched over the years.  

The park has the money to build a new road, but they are still in the process of deciding on the best route to avoid flash floods.  

They keep road grading equipment at Willow Beach, and as you can see here, that gravel has been piled up along the road as it goes through the canyon. 

And this is a chunk of roadway where there is no pavement left, so it is just gravel, but it is really a small section, and they keep it well plowed. 

 

 

Another bad section of road.  

 

 

I tell people that when they get to the end of the canyon and the view opens up, it is guaranteed that they will say, "Wow!"   

On the left, you can see that a company that rents kayaks and drops you off near the dam and then picks you and the kayak up at Willow Beach, is picking up some paddlers to take them back upstream.

Not a very good photo of the visitor center, but here it is on the left.  There is a huge parking lot on the right and a roadway up to the campground.

It's getting late so I will post on the campground tomorrow night. 

 

 

 

1/30 Valley of Fire, Drive to White Domes

This state park is so huge, it is really amazing, and I am sad that so many people never come here.  So, if you ever head to Las Vegas to do some gambling and enjoy the big hotels, save at least one day to drive out here--maybe two days.  (Pack a picnic because there are no restaurants or takeout for at least 10 miles in any direction and that is on a winding and curvy road.  Also bring a few bottles of water in a cooler.)  Las Vegas has yellow air most of the time, just like Los Angeles, so you are better not even stopping there at all!!

First, head to the visitor center to look around and get a map.  Then drive up the steep road beside the visitor center to the higher area.  Spend a few minutes looking at the craggy rocks as you drive up here because if you are lucky, you will see some ewes and their lambs who are excellent at rock climbing. 

Your first stop should be Mouse's Tank, which will take you 1-2 hours to walk it.  It is level but soft beach-type sand, so flip flops are not a good idea.  It's only about a half-mile walk each way, but if you are short of time, you really only have to walk in about 1,000'.  Spend some time imagining what the pictographs mean. 

Then continue driving about 6 miles straight down road to the White Domes.  Park and walk through the opening to the large area where the domes are located.  Basically, just follow the crowd.  There is a long hike that starts here, but you don't have to walk the entire way. And look out for sheep. 

Here are a few of the photos I took today as I did this drive.  I did not stop at Mouse's Tank because I had been there a couple of times, but I did stop at the Domes and walked a couple of hundred feet to where i could see them in the distance.  Frankly, it was getting cold as the sun was getting low over the mountains. 

They are building a new visitor center near the campground.  The rangers I asked about it said the old one was in poor shape with the septic system not working anymore, and it was just too small anymore for the number of people coming since COVID.  

I love long vistas and lack of traffic in the desert!

The visitor center is the low building in the distance, but the road turns left and heads up the mountain just before you get to it. 

It was really cold today, but taking water with you is always a good idea.

The road goes past the visitor center and turns right, up a steep incline.

Hard to tell how steep this road is from the next few photos, but trust me on this.  I had to push the accelerator down hard, and my V10 engine roared as it took my 15,000 pound vehicle up the hill!

It is getting more level now, but what a view!!

Finally at the top.  Notice the various colors in the rocks.

And do watch out for the dips.  Most desert places do not put pipes under the roadway to handle flood waters.  They just lower the road so the water flows over it. 

By the way, I am holding my camera up towards the windshield and just taking photos, hoping they are in focus and the camera is pointed in the right direction.  I probably end up with one good photo out of three, but i need to watch the road instead of the camera screen.

I'm not quite sure how they are formed, but this is one of what they call the "domes."

When I got to the parking lot, it was full, so I had to park in one of the spots along the roadway.  It was a bit downhill, so I cocked my front wheels so they would not take my vehicle off the highway.  

Then I put one of my super-chocks under a rear tire.  There are actually dual tires here, but one chock will have to do because the inner tire is too hard to reach.  

I walked up to the beginning of the trail and took a couple of photos.  Had I been here when I was a few dozen years younger, it would have been nice to walk down a few more hundred feet.  😞 But those days are gone. 

Headed back to campground.

And down the hill!  Can you see the road in the distance?

Can you see why this is one of my favorite places in the West?  In a lot of ways, I think this is prettier than Zion National Park, and it is certainly not as crowded.