Spring Camping In The Desert

It's the end of April and I just have to say how beautiful the desert is this year.  We've had record breaking rainfall so far this year and it's paying off in a big way with tons of color and a green desert.  It's great to get out and see it. 

Timm lead the Dunes and Trails ATV Club weekend ride this month just a short 70 miles from home near Mesquite.  We headed out on Thursday...a cold, windy, rainy day...but we knew the weather was getting better each day.  No riding on Thursday, just relaxing and catching up with friends.  Friday we headed out with Keith in the lead on the way to Virgin River.  Upon reaching our location we found out that all the rain that passed thru (and headed north) had covered the sand bar and the river was just moving too swiftly to play with any safety in mind. 

On our way back we topped out on the mesa and actually found a place Timm had seen on the internet...Double Negative.  It's considered 'earth art' if you can believe that.  Here is the link for more info.

We had lots of day trippers show up on Saturday morning and ended up with 18 riders.  We headed down the mesa and across the river and up the mountain.  Our first stop was at the slot canyon. 

Our real treat and adventure for the day was Cabin Creek.  We were heading up it.  Years ago it was a paved road up the canyon to a mine operation but the road was totally wiped out by the creek and now it is just an awesome trail on an ATV.  Keith's Rhino had a few tight squeezes but nothing he couldn't handle, even the sport quad did an fantastic job.  We also ventured to the Great Eastern Mine and the Key West Mine, along with an old steam engine remains (why it's there I don't really know). 

Oh, Nickel Creek was flowing and had a great waterfall.  We all hiked up to it and had our pictures taken there.  Here I am (the short one) with my BBF Liz.

Cassy rode 80 miles this weekend (Friday & Sunday).  Here she is with her daddy at the stone cabins on Sunday's ride.  What an amazing dog she is.  It was great to get out for the weekend with friends.  We shared great campfires each night and good rides during the day.

It's a Cassy Day

On Saturday we got up early and headed for Cedar City to have some work done on Timm's quad.  Cassy, like us, loves a road trip. What a surprise it was to see snow on the ground in town!  They had gotten snow on Thursday...no tracks in most of it.  Cassy loves the snow, so while Timm was handling things at All Seasons I took her out back to stretch and potty.  It was 'game on' when she saw snow drifts against the buildings.  She got all excited, was running around all speedy like and rolling in the snow.  I couldn't help but laugh, she was having such a good time.  While they worked on the quad, we headed up the mountain for some much needed scenery.  The seeps along the road heading up the canyon were still full of icicles, and there was a ton of snow on the ground...way more than when we went to cut Christmas trees.  We stopped at Woods Ranch to let Cassy out to play some more.   

Fortunately, they must have gotten some nice sun on Friday to put a crust on the snow making it easy for us to get around on top of it.  Good thing I didn't wear my Crocs though.

After tromping through, running and playing fetch for a while, we were on our way back up the mountain.  We stopped at Midway to watch some snowmobiles...man those things are fast.  Had a friendly conversation with some of them who fell in love with Cassy.  

Again, play and roll around in the snow...silly girl. It must feel really good. 

We made our way to Duck Creek Village, along the way there was so much snow, especially for April.  The snowmobilers said Brianhead got 18"...we all know they are happy campers right now.  Navajo Lake was covered in ice and snow, couldn't even see it.  Where we stopped to cut Christmas trees, there was about 3-4 feet of snow and no place to pull over.  We stopped at Loose Wheels to get a drink and snack.  Cassy shared a cookie with mom.  The Yamaha dealer was having a BBQ, the guys were all bundled up hovering around trying to keep warm. 

Cassy guarded the truck and quad while we ate lunch at Timm's favorite little Mexican restaurant in town.  She was rewarded with her very own ice cream cone.  She had a good day.

Great Day For A Hike

The weather here has been absolutley gorgeous recently and we've been itching to get out and enjoy it.  We decided the girls needed out as well so out to Lake Mead we headed.  The Historic Railroad Trail was our destination for the morning hike.  It's an easy hike on the old railroad bed that led to Hoover Dam during the building process.   Take a look at the view from the trail...amazing.  Sailboats were racing that Saturday, pretty blue waters, blue sky, and just a slight breeze.  Yes, the water is extremely low...that island barley used to show years ago.  So much green on the hillsides!

Cassy and Shelby had a great time, exploring, sniffing, chasing rocks, greeting other dogs on the trail.  I swear they went three times as far was we did with all the running back and forth, but hey, they were there for exercise too.   

It's been a few years since we were out there, in fact, I think we were there with Boy Scouts last time we were there.  Check out the nice benches placed along the trail.  Cool views of the lake included with each of them and great places to stop and give the girls some water.  By the time we were heading back there were lots of people on the trail hiking, biking , jogging, running, and dog walking including one Cub Scout Den and one Girl  Scout Troop. Guess everyone else thought the same thing.  I wonder if they stopped at A&W on the way back home as well.

A Logandale Trails Getaway

All five of my family headed out to Logandale Trails for a day of riding.  Scott and Christy spent last weekend there camping for Valentine's Day and met some other people with RZRs.  That being said, Scott, Christy, and Chris went on a trail ride with the RZR club while Timm and I...and Cassy...went exploring on our own.  It's been a long time since we were out there and with all the recent rain it was great riding with very little dust.  There were lots of people camping this weekend, but according to Scott much less than last week. I forgot my camera...again...UGH, but I still had my phone with me so I did capture a few pictures to share. 

It started out to be a cloudy day but by 11 or so the some was coming out.  Because it was so cloudy I really thought we might see some bighorn sheep but none showed themselves for us.   We hiked back into the dam and petroglyphs, as you can see the dam has backed up a really nice bunch of water.  Just a couple of years ago we were able to ride all the way in here and to the rocks in the background.  There are petroglyphs all over them and unfortunately the abuse and destruction of a few has not closed it off to all so now everyone that wants to see them has to walk in...at least we can still do that. 

Cassy immediately made her way into the small lake and we played fetch for quite a while.  She didn't have to swim at any point but the water was on her chest in much of the lake.  Then of course, she has to roll around in the sand to dry off...what a fashion statement red sand is on a yellow lab.  I wish I could hide out with a camera to see all the wildlife that makes it way here for an evening drink of cool water.

I truly enjoyed myself today.  It's been a long time since just Timm and I went riding by ourselves.  Even though we didn't ride with the kids, we met up with them and finished off our day together.  Everyone had a great time riding, exploring, and watching others on the dunes. 

A day ride in Nelson

The girl likes to explore what can I say...and pose apparently.  I love this photo of Cassy...so inquisitive. What a bummer, I forgot my camera on this trip but snapped this photo on my phone. It's at Keyhole Canyon and it had rained just a day or two before we went out so there was still water trickling down the falls. 

This is a broad view of Keyhole Canyon, a cool place in the middle of the desert.  Many people visit this place and Scout troops often camp overnight there.

Ancient ones also found this place of great importance to the survival.  There are petroglyphs all over the place.  I wish I could understand all of it, I can catch some things but most elude me as to the meaning.  Scott took these photos, he called it "Indian Graffiti".

Scott, the RC rock crawler he is, had to try to crawl with his RZR at a place we've nicknamed "Bedrock".  It makes a great lunch stop.

All my guys made laps on a short loop on Chris' bad ass Outlaw.  It is one scary fast machine.  He can pop wheelies in 5th gear in the blink of an eye.

Although Christy didn't make it out that Sunday (still suffering from her wisdom teeth extraction), we had a great day riding.  The weather was awesome and sunny.  It had rained most of the week so there was no dust on the trails making it fabulous for everyone.  We covered some new trails that Timm discovered on the DAT club ride the weekend before...some really cool stuff. 

1st ATV ride of the year

It's so exciting...Scott and Christy bought a RZR so now we can all go ATVing!  He needs to sell off his Predator now if you know anyone who's interested.  We went to the outskirts of Tecopa. CA for a day of riding and exploring.  Christy's never done this kind of stuff before and she had a great time.  Scott and Chris have never been out there either, so we were excited to take them all somewhere new to ride and explore. There is a whole mining district with a bunch of mines, timbers, tressulls, and more out there.  Even a small cemetary if you know where to look. 

There is so much for Christy to learn...first of all...bring toilet paper and baby wipes.  Both are a girls best friend on the trail. Better shoes is another big one, needs a pair of boots to crawl around and explore. She loved the barrel cactus, wait for it to bloom and she'll be blown away. She's such a good sport...doesn't matter to her if she gets dirty.  Can't wait to take her to Utah and ride the trails there.  Here she is exploring some of the old mining ruins and what's left of a train trussell.  We even went into one of the mines but all we had was one mini-mag flashlight for 4 people so we really didn't get all that far.

Unfortunately, a portion of this trail trussell has come down since we've been there last.  I'd like to think it was time and the weather but more than likely people didn't respect it.  That section was getting loose last time we were there.   Lunch was grilled hotdogs at the trucks, we must have been pretty hungry 'cuz they were almost all gone. Way better than sandwiches. We also went to China Date Ranch for shakes and bread...yummy.  It's a great way to end the day. 

Another first for Christy...she shot her first firearm...at her camera, no less.  She dropped and broke it...bummer.  So...target practice! Chris gave her a gun safety and shooting lesson.  He's really good at it, very patient.

We all had the best day together out exploring the desert.  It's really remarkable how much is out there when you just get out there to see it.  Can't wait to go out again...all together!!!  It was a blast!

December 31...Oatman AZ

We started 2009 camping and ATVing...a great way to start the year.  Although we're not finishing it that way we did decide to get out and enjoy the last day of one of the most difficult years we've endured.  We thought about several different places but highs were pretty chilly so figured we'd end up doing nothing.   Waking up, Timm said let's go to Oatman.  I'm always up for a road trip so we got ready and off we went...Cassy in tow (which isn't hard to do, she loves adventures).

We made a few stops along the way including McDonalds in Searchlight for a quick breakfast.  Normally, it wouldn't really matter but we have a sticker on the back window that reads, "Elect Anyone Butt Harry Ried".  For those who don't know, he's from the tiny town of Searchlight. Even though he's been a senator for Nevada forever, and he's the majority whip...he needs to go.  He does not have Nevada's best interest in mind anymore in our opinion.  Anyway, I'll move on.

We entered Oatman, parked and walked about the various shops, bought carrots for the donkeys, took some photos, hunted for the donkeys, and just all around enjoyed ourselves.  It was a beautiful day.  We just missed the gun fight but Cassy would have gotten really nervous because of the noise anyway.   Along the way Cassy almost went toe-to-toe with a big black cat...everyone's hair was standing up.  She was growling and the cat was making some very unpleasant noises, too.  Not a pretty sight, but both came away unscathed from the incident. 

I was about to give my carrots away thinking we weren't going to see the donkeys, along they came out of the hills...about a dozen of them.  Timm stayed back with Cassy (we were told they don't like dogs, they think they're coyotes and try to kill them).  Before I knew it I had several donkeys nudging me for carrots. 

Oh my gosh, I really am turning into my mother aren't I?  I really did enjoy feeding them, infact I went and purchased two more bags of carrots for them.  Don't feed the baby ones though, they don't have back teeth and will choke on the carrots.  There are notices all over town and they have stickers on their foreheads too. 

We exited town to the northeast with Kingman as our next destination.  When we were in Oatman several years ago we were told not to take the trailer thru town because the road was not built for large vehicles.  We traveled that way this time and for sure it is a narrow road climbing 800 feet with lots of twists and turns in it.  But we've taken our trailer on worse.  I couldn't get a shot of the really curvy stuff (bummer) but it did keep you on your toes while driving.  There are active mines and old mines also along the road.  At the top we found a makeshift graveyard...more of a memorial I think.  Not like any graveyard I've wandered thru before (and I've been through many).  Most of them were from 1998 and more recent.  Someone even had a cross with Jimmy Hoffa's name on it.

  I really don't think he's buried there either...hahahaha.  Maybe it's for people that have lost their lives on that road.

  

We traveled historic route 66 the rest of the way to I-40, hit Kingman, enjoyed lunch at Golden Corral, and headed home.  Seeing that was New Year's Eve, the traffic to get over the dam was backed up for miles....really...miles.  It was over an hour at a crawl, a steady stream of brake lights to make it too the dam.  The new bridge....amazing!  Our last stop was A&W in Boulder for rootbeer freezes and a potty brake before reaching home at 5:30pm.  What a wonderful day we spent together, a great way to finish off 2009.