Sunday, November 28, 2010

Craggy Wash–Lake Havasu, AZ

When it came time for the decision to be made whether to move or not, I had a little help.  My main power inverter decided to fry itself early in the morning as I was checking the news and weather, so that was all the urging I needed to pull of stakes and head out.  My back-up inverter is noisy and only works some of the time, so it is not much help.  I could always run some of the stuff from the generator, but I prefer the quiet of the suns rays and battery power if at all possible.

A pair of hikers approach the bottom of the main dune summit.

They are at low center of the photo and the trailhead is at the top center.

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Now they are practically on hands and knees trying to climb up the sliding sand!CIMG2665CIMG2662

So we loaded up in the morning and headed further east on I-40 into Needles, where I googled a recycling depot and off-loaded all my cardboard, paper, and cans.  They didn’t do small batteries or plastics, so we still have a bit of that.  Loaded up on a few groceries at Bashaw, then headed for Arizona and a return to Mountain standard time.  I was sure there used to be an RV dump at the Pilot truck stop at the 95 junction, but there wasn’t one in the area, nor was there a convenient water source.  Nor did they fill propane tanks!  But they did have power inverters, so I went all out and got a 1000W version.

 I came up the ridge line, which was somewhat easier.  Sort of like climbing in snow, except not cold or wet.

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From the summit, I could make out traffic on the I-15, about 30 miles to the north!CIMG2677CIMG2679

  Then we headed into Craggy Wash BLM site just north of Lake Havasu City.  More changes here again!  Last time I was here they closed the first mile of camping area, now they have an active host on site who actually issues permits!  They are free, but it is a way to enforce the 14 day rule, as there had been a fair sprinkling of homeless types in the area, and a fair bit of garbage, etc.  It’s all good, I guess. 

Map picture

 

But the road has suffered a bit of damage, partly due to flood waters at some point, and too many quads on the corners which forces all the gravel to the outside and makes quite a slant.  One corner was a bit too interesting to make it around with the fifth wheel – even in 4 wheel drive.  May have to do some roadwork myself to make it safer on the way out!  But I like to go a lot further back than the majority of campers, so for them it is not a problem.

Lake Havasu in the far distance, Hailey in the foreground.

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But we got all set up in time to watch Hockey Night in Canada, and are all set to watch the Grey Cup game today.

If I don’t blog again for 3 weeks, maybe it is because the Rider’s did not win?  But there is little chance of that.

GO RIDERS!

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8 comments:

  1. The sand dunes reminded me of White Sands near Alamogordo, New Mexico. We have sand dunes along the shoreline where we live in Canada so know how difficult it can be walking & especially climbing in loose sand. We've never been around the Lake Havasu area. My mind seens to think there are way too many people up there for our liking. Maybe, maybe not.....

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  2. We checked that area out two years ago, and we thought it looked more like a homeless shelter than a camping area. Glad to here it is improving.

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  3. We used to stop there for about a week each year before heading to the Ehrenberg area where we spent most of the winter. We did see a lot of homeless types too and on the weekends we heard lots of shooting. Not really my cup of tea.

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  4. Sorry about the Riders, all us westerners were pulling for them, but.....

    We stopped by Craggy Wash a couple of years ago and although they had cleaned it up some it was pretty crowded in that first mile or so so we ended up heading almost as far up as you look to be. Not the greatest trail for our 40 footer...lol.

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  5. Sorry about the Riders, all us westerners were pulling for them, but.....

    We stopped by Craggy Wash a couple of years ago and although they had cleaned it up some it was pretty crowded in that first mile or so so we ended up heading almost as far up as you look to be. Not the greatest trail for our 40 footer...lol.

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  6. Dear Ivan

    Sorry that we won't be hearing from you again for awhile!! Go Alouettes Go. Phone if you start feeling out of touch! Cheers. Duane

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  7. Dear Ivan

    Sorry that we won't be hearing from you again for awhile!! Go Alouettes Go. Phone if you start feeling out of touch! Cheers. Duane

    ReplyDelete