My apologies to the good people of Golden Shores, Arizona, but when I drove up beside this (mobile?) house, it struck me as somewhat typical of some areas of southern California/Arizona.

The style seems to be a low chain-link fence with a mean dog inside. This one fit the bill to a 'T'.
If you look closely at the mound of gravel at the corner of the fence, you can tell it has been formed by countless full speed rushes at that corner by the resident pit bull, who is watching me carefully, and loudly.We had just crossed the line from California over the Colorado river, between Hoover and Parker Dams, and enjoyed the ensuing 2 hour time change when daylight savings time change occurred just as I crossed over the line. Talk about jet-lag without going anywhere!

They are nice in these parts, and they even apologize for their hills blocking the scenery!
A portion of this National Wildlife Refuge had also been recently burned, but the fishers were still out testing the backwaters, for - Catfish, would be my guess?
Just north of Lake Havasu City is a popular BLM camp spot where I have stayed before, and no doubt will stay again. We spent several days here, day-tripping to see the sights of the area, including the much-hyped London Bridge.
Some of my neighbors - many of which were from Ab and Bc.
Other resident neighbors who would come out to enjoy the morning sunshine, just like me.

Further up Craggy Wash are more private site selections.
Which I generally chose.
I think this was the day my furnace at home quit, freezing and bursting the pipes, and flooding the basement! Nothing to do but have another beer.
And watch the fire at sundown.
The next day, the plan was to climb a lofty peak in the area!
And so I climbed.
And climbed. So high that I thought I could see home. Then I realized that it was - Home Depot, just past the airport in the distance!
At the top, it was evident that it was not likely a 'first ascent'.
In spite of that, I named the peak, "Mt Craggy Wash".

On the way home I took the long way around, making it close to a 6 or 7 mile hike.
Lake Havasu's finest dealing with some speeder, who just happened to pull up beside where I was sitting. Guy #1 was on a motorbike, parked out of sight behind the van.
And a rabbit, trying to figure out why that drainage pipe used to be so easy to fit into ...
Sunset, which happened promptly at either 4PM or 7Pm, or ... ? Depending on what time zone you happened to be in. My iphone kept picking up alternate signals from California and Arizona, so it would change time, several times a day.
In case you haven't seen this new type of gang activity before, you might want to check out this grainy video I was able to take surreptitiously of this group out looking for trouble. Not sure if they were related to the Hell's Angels or not. You be the judge.



Next: if I survive this gang, on to Quartzsite!

After we exited Death Valley at Shosone, on the south east quarter of the park, well it was breakfast time, so we stopped at the best restaurant in town (I think it was the only one, too!), the famous Crowbar Cafe and Saloon. Upon googling it to see why it was famous, all I came up with was a couple of restaurant reviews. But it looked like it should be famous!


The local chamber of commerce has a free wi-fi service next door, so after days of being deprived in Death Valley, I took advantage to get caught up on news, e-mails, and paying bills.
By the time this was done, there was only enough time left in the day to find a shared camp with some other RV'ers on a back road just outside town.

We continued south to Baker, on the I-40 after a dip in the hot springs at Tecopa, I think it was.
After re-stocking important provisions in a small market in Baker, once again there was only enough time to find this delightful campspot on a deserted little road.South of Baker is a huge area designated the Mojave National Preserve, which is relatively new (established in 1994?)

At 1.6 million acres, Mojave National Preserve is the third largest National Park Service area outside of Alaska. Death Valley National Park and Yellowstone National Park rank first and second.

At a central crossroads in the preserve is Kelso, a small encampment (with a visitor centre) that was established as a 'pusher station' on the railroad, where smaller locomotives would help push to the loaded trains up a long steep grade to Cima. At various times in it's history it was a busy place with many saloons, hotels and business. It did not have it's own jail, so to end the use of empty box cars as a lockup, a famous 2-cell jail was built.



A large portion of the preserve was affected by forest fires that swept the area in 2005, including Midhills campground, which was about 2/3 burned over. But all facilities are operational, and I found an unburned site to use to cook up some grub.

Managed to talk some of the local fauna to pose for my camera.

Then, I checked out some trails in the Hole in the Wall area of the preserve.
This trail had some steep sections (depending on your point of view, of course) where they installed big rings for hikers to use as hand or footholds in the narrow canyon.
I made it through!


I noticed that a garbage bin in the parking area strongly resembled some we use at home - other than a desert colored paint job - and sure enough, I saw that these bins originated in Lethbridge Alberta, just like the ones in Canadian Parks.
Then I spotted this nice truck and camper through a hole in the wall, while I contemplated where the name had come from.

Now it was time to head for Arizona. First up - Lake Havasu!

After visiting Lake Isabella, the route takes us east, through Ridgecrest, which seems to be a military town, based on being somewhat surrounded by weapons test ranges.A night was spent near the Trona Pinnacles on the way back north towards Death Valley.
A 4-wheel drive road that I wanted to check out appeared to be in bad shape, or even closed in the high passes, so I checked out the price of fuel at Pinnamint, then took the traditional route into the west side of the park via Stovepipe Wells.


I had never been in the northern part of the park, and so headed up to check out Scotty's Castle.
On the way, I met a herd of dirt bikers, who just may have completed the route I had previously considered?
There are still places where you can see the original wagon tracks from the early gold rush explorers headed west through here. You may have to blow up my pic to see them, diretly behind the sign.
I also checked out the original well at Stovepipe Wells, named as such because the well was marked with stovepipe when it became partially buried in drifting sand. The wagon tracks might also be visible in this pic - directly behind the monument, as I recall.
Next, it was off to Scotty's Castle in the north east part of the park. I didn't take the official tour, but I did walk around the grounds and snooped as much as possible. Some pretty neat examples of early technology and innovation were on display.



A view from the hilltop where Scotty's grave is.

I hiked around the perimeter of the Ubehebe crater in the same area, created through a volcanic explosion - a mere 2000 years ago! It covered 6 square miles - well, you read the plaque!

Camper visible in the parking lot.
Camper still visible?
Camper visible at center of far rim.
Watch your step!




Watch your step in this video!



Camping is allowed along backcountry 4x4 routes, at least two miles from the start. This is mine.
And, the road leading to yet another very quiet, scenic camp spot the next night.
Next: Mojave National Reserve.