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Lake Havasu City Party Zone
Ann convinces me to go with her to the Lake Havasu City beach, where boats can dock and alcohol consumption is allowed. I’m still in my desert canyon hiking clothes, and couldn’t be more out of place. Nearly everyone around is overweight, and it is ALL hangin’ out on display. We see a crowd of…
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Crack in the Wall Slot Canyon
Ann finds information about a slot canyon hike near Lake Havasu City, which includes warnings about small dropoffs and tight squeezes. We start down the wash and it gradually narrows to a hallway-like passage. The biggest dropoff is pretty easy to climb down, and has a fixed cable hanging nearby for extra reassurance. Likewise it…
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Island Loop Hike
We land at Ann’s friend Lana’s house in Lake Havasu City, plunking the camper down next to the garage. Her daughter Jana takes us across the town’s famous London Bridge (a bridge relocated from London to its much sunnier home) to a paved loop walk on the island in Lake Havasu. Jana shows us the…
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Lake Havasu City
Ann’s friend Lana has invited us to stay at her RV-friendly house in Lake Havasu. Ann thought she might like to go there for her birthday.
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Shea Road
We pick our campsite for the evening with the help of freecampsites.net, and find a large tract of BLM land sparsely dotted with boondockers like ourselves. It takes a little exploring to find a spot we like with a good phone signal, but then we’re quickly settled. After dinner we go out for an evening…
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Saddle Mountain
We’re still developing a sense of when to turn around when exploring dirt roads to possible camping and climbing areas. Today we’re headed toward Courthouse Rock when the road goes to dirt, then gets bumpy, then narrows, then gets sandy. Turning around in these areas with camper and trailer is not easy, so we when…
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Picacho Peak
We were thinking this would be a kind of remote, lonely little hike, but we failed to consider several things. We see the first as we approach: this peak looks really dramatic, with cliffs on three sides, some overhanging. Second, it’s right by Interstate 10. And last, Picacho State Park is scheduled to be closed…
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Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
When we see the throng of tourists with kids waiting for tickets, we nearly turn around. Did we end up at Disney land somehow? The Line Thankfully we persevere, and the crowds disperses a bit once inside. There is a reptile lecture featuring a live gila monster and rattlesnake scheduled shortly after we gain entry,…
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Laini’s Little Pocket Guide – Geo Mashup with Street View
A small Geo Mashup customization for Laini’s Little Pocket Guide adds a link in the info window to Street View where it is available. Street View is loaded over the map, similar to Google’s interface, with a close button up top to return to the map. This is good stuff – some of this code…
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Mount Kimball
We realize we’re about to leave Tucson without doing any of the “challenges” we concocted for ourselves while researching the area. The most practical one is to hike Mount Kimball via a trail in Finger Rock canyon that gains 4,000 feet of elevation in 5 miles, for a 10 mile round trip. We figure we’ve…