Today's hike was one of those adventures I have to file away as one of those "Much better than expected" hikes. It was a pleasant hike into what I'd consider a vortex, an energy-pulling geological formation that pulled me further and further into the canyon. The solitude was unexpected and the beauty was more than I had counted on. The drive alone was more beautiful as we crossed SR95, traveled part of Historic Route 66, drove passed two wildlife refuges and saw lush green riparian habitats sprout from side canyons off the river. No wonder this area is known as Arizona's winter birding ground.
We didn't leave the hotel until 8:40am, an hour later than planned because I was so tired this morning. The drive up here had exhausted me.
The second mistake I made was miscalculating the time it would take to get to the canyon outside of Lauglin, NV. Somehow I thought it would be 30 miles. It turned out to be more like 90 by the time we parked at the trailhead.
We arrived at the site shortly after 10am. There were two cars at the trailhead. "Oh shit!" said Kevin. Cars at the trailhead meant people on the trail, and that meant the dogs had to be leashed. That proved to be difficult the first 1/4 mile as we scrambled up rocks and boulders and awed at the endless number of rocks displaying petroglyphs.
Petroglyphs were visble along the canyon in the first mile. The designs were indecipherable and the most unusual I've seen along the Grand Canyon to date. Once the petros faded the trail became interesting from a geological standpoint, as the rocks changed fault lines and composition with each corner we took.
The cottonswoods still had yellow leaves, too.
We never met other people going out. The dogs were on their leashes but by now they were dragging them. We climbed over naked limestone, over old ash, morphed magma, brushed up against creosote, chaparral, yuccas, barrel cacti, chollas and in the intermittent creekbed willows and cottonwoods.
We spooked quail and other desert birds.
I kept wanting to hike deeper and longer in the canyon, but we had given ourselves a drop-dead time of 2pm so that we would have time to make it back to Lake Havasu City's Mudshark Brewpub and its Happy Hour. We found the beer there exceptionally good and pints are only $2.50 during Happy Hour.
I honestly could have cancelled the bar date and hiked all day. The trail was not marked and was more of a well-trodden trail along a dry creekbed. We turned around in an area I'd call the Soupbowl, as at one point the canyon widened into a round feature with two side creeks running into the main creek. Here the trail faded into the bushwhacks, and we opted to turn around. Radio antennae were visible on one peak to our west. The peaks to our north appeared the highest.
It took us 90 minutes to hike back. The dogs were thirsty and even though we had water on us, they had enough water to drink from the intermittent creek. Melted snow from the area's pre-Christmas snowfall added moisture that perhaps wouldn't normally be here this time of year.
"I wonder if this place got any snow when Las Vegas got that 3.6 inches of snow before Christmas?" I asked Kevin as we walked back. We got the answer later...
We started meeting people on the way back. In fact, the parking lot was PACKED when we got back to the truck at 2:30pm, and people were still starting out. (Most people hike to the first set of petroglyphs and then turn around, for a level half-mile walk.) We briefly talked to a group of older brothers from North Attleboro, MA, two of whom now live in the Southwest. They all knew the police chiefs of North Attleboro going back to the 1950s.
"I heard there are catacombs on that other road, but I don't think this van can make that dirt road" said Rex, the one man who walked back with Kevin and chatted with him about German Shepherd Dogs. (I was in the wash with Sam and Sara to give the two older dogs their away-time from kid Sadie)
Catacombs, huh? After we departed I decided to check out that other dirt road up Christmas Tree Pass.
And what a surprise it was! It meandered up dry red and whit rocks as the gaining elevation revealed more sparkling vistas eastward toward the river. The mountains looked florafree but at closer look we realized the mountains were brimming with yuccas, creosote, palo verdes, sage, willows, pinon pine and juniter in the higher elevations.
Right before the dirt road crested we saw several pines decked in Christmas balls and tinsel. Some of the tinsel was flying in the wind. The reds and golds looked kitchy here.
"What idiot would decorate trees up here with Christmas balls!" I exclaimed. The litter disgusted me. We were afterall in the wilderness.
And then it hit me. "Duh, that's why this is called Christmas Tree Pass!" It must be a local tradition to drive up here over Christmas and decorate a few pines with blue, red and golden balls. Had we stayed on this road we would have come up to SR95 again, which takes tourist toward Las Vegas.
It was colder here and the wind blew. I had to put my black fleece back on. Snow still speckled parts of the northern slopes. So it had indeed snowed here two weeks ago.
It was now passed 2pm and we didn't care. We snacked on cashews Kevin bought yesterday in Parker.
The drive back afforded expansive vistas of the Colorado River Valley. This was indeed beautiful country, and I never expected the southern Lake Mead Recreational Area, which is where we were at, to be this gorgeous. There were many pull-offs from the main road to park and hike up the many side hills. This was wilderness hiking on unmarked trails.
Our drive back was different from our route this morning. Instead of the Bullhead City Parkway we drove through the nondescript town of Bullhead City. Its best feature was perhaps its direct views of the riverfront hotels of Laughlin, NV. It's the kind of town that looks better at night when neon lights hide the ugliness.
The next town south of Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, was an even sleazier town of several Adult Bookstores, Titti bars and gentlemens' clubs. Its one point of redemption was a sheepfarm off the highway, with freshly-shorn sheep grazing along the fenceline. The dogs were too tired to bark at them from our truck.
We stayed on SR95 as it meandered along the river. South of Fort Mohave the route crossed the river and took us directly into the sleazy business district of Needles, CA.
Gas here sold for $2.79, over a dollar more than in Lake Havasu City. The last time I was in this area was in the summer of 1996 when I was on my way to California for a four-year tour in Monterey. Needles back then was a mere gas break, with a warning that there were no services for the next 88 miles as the highway crossed Death Valley.
From Needles we got on I-40 and headed eastward where we crossed the river and were back in Arizona.
We made it back to town at 4:20pm and, as planned, made it to the Mudshark Brewpub at 4:30pm. We earned our beer today and I must admit that the UpRiver Lager here is excellent,especially with a slice of lemon. The Dry Heat Wheat is also quite good. Kevin really liked the Scorpion Amber Ale.
The one major disappointment was the flat, uncreamy Skyline Stout that tasted stale. The Stout yesterday at Barley Brothers was much better. (It won a Silver award in 1999 for stout style beer)
The mushroom pizza I ordered as an appetizer proved to be filling enough for a full meal. Thus, I have to give this Brewpub an A. The beers (and I honestly don't know how many Kevin had) and pizza came to just under $24.
The dogs were visibly tired, too and slept well all night long. Sara never seemed to be hurting today and walked at a steady pace. We made sure we didn't run her. When she got tired and laid down, we all took breaks. Her paw didn't crack open. Hopefully the wound can finally heal and grow shut.
Today's adventure was a success. I'll post photos at home Sunday night; my USB that I packed doesn't seem to transfer data from the Canon to the laptop.
http://www.desertusa.com/spirit/du_spritmt.html
http://www.mudsharkbrewingco.com/beer.html
We didn't leave the hotel until 8:40am, an hour later than planned because I was so tired this morning. The drive up here had exhausted me.
The second mistake I made was miscalculating the time it would take to get to the canyon outside of Lauglin, NV. Somehow I thought it would be 30 miles. It turned out to be more like 90 by the time we parked at the trailhead.
We arrived at the site shortly after 10am. There were two cars at the trailhead. "Oh shit!" said Kevin. Cars at the trailhead meant people on the trail, and that meant the dogs had to be leashed. That proved to be difficult the first 1/4 mile as we scrambled up rocks and boulders and awed at the endless number of rocks displaying petroglyphs.
Petroglyphs were visble along the canyon in the first mile. The designs were indecipherable and the most unusual I've seen along the Grand Canyon to date. Once the petros faded the trail became interesting from a geological standpoint, as the rocks changed fault lines and composition with each corner we took.
The cottonswoods still had yellow leaves, too.
We never met other people going out. The dogs were on their leashes but by now they were dragging them. We climbed over naked limestone, over old ash, morphed magma, brushed up against creosote, chaparral, yuccas, barrel cacti, chollas and in the intermittent creekbed willows and cottonwoods.
We spooked quail and other desert birds.
I kept wanting to hike deeper and longer in the canyon, but we had given ourselves a drop-dead time of 2pm so that we would have time to make it back to Lake Havasu City's Mudshark Brewpub and its Happy Hour. We found the beer there exceptionally good and pints are only $2.50 during Happy Hour.
I honestly could have cancelled the bar date and hiked all day. The trail was not marked and was more of a well-trodden trail along a dry creekbed. We turned around in an area I'd call the Soupbowl, as at one point the canyon widened into a round feature with two side creeks running into the main creek. Here the trail faded into the bushwhacks, and we opted to turn around. Radio antennae were visible on one peak to our west. The peaks to our north appeared the highest.
It took us 90 minutes to hike back. The dogs were thirsty and even though we had water on us, they had enough water to drink from the intermittent creek. Melted snow from the area's pre-Christmas snowfall added moisture that perhaps wouldn't normally be here this time of year.
"I wonder if this place got any snow when Las Vegas got that 3.6 inches of snow before Christmas?" I asked Kevin as we walked back. We got the answer later...
We started meeting people on the way back. In fact, the parking lot was PACKED when we got back to the truck at 2:30pm, and people were still starting out. (Most people hike to the first set of petroglyphs and then turn around, for a level half-mile walk.) We briefly talked to a group of older brothers from North Attleboro, MA, two of whom now live in the Southwest. They all knew the police chiefs of North Attleboro going back to the 1950s.
"I heard there are catacombs on that other road, but I don't think this van can make that dirt road" said Rex, the one man who walked back with Kevin and chatted with him about German Shepherd Dogs. (I was in the wash with Sam and Sara to give the two older dogs their away-time from kid Sadie)
Catacombs, huh? After we departed I decided to check out that other dirt road up Christmas Tree Pass.
And what a surprise it was! It meandered up dry red and whit rocks as the gaining elevation revealed more sparkling vistas eastward toward the river. The mountains looked florafree but at closer look we realized the mountains were brimming with yuccas, creosote, palo verdes, sage, willows, pinon pine and juniter in the higher elevations.
Right before the dirt road crested we saw several pines decked in Christmas balls and tinsel. Some of the tinsel was flying in the wind. The reds and golds looked kitchy here.
"What idiot would decorate trees up here with Christmas balls!" I exclaimed. The litter disgusted me. We were afterall in the wilderness.
And then it hit me. "Duh, that's why this is called Christmas Tree Pass!" It must be a local tradition to drive up here over Christmas and decorate a few pines with blue, red and golden balls. Had we stayed on this road we would have come up to SR95 again, which takes tourist toward Las Vegas.
It was colder here and the wind blew. I had to put my black fleece back on. Snow still speckled parts of the northern slopes. So it had indeed snowed here two weeks ago.
It was now passed 2pm and we didn't care. We snacked on cashews Kevin bought yesterday in Parker.
The drive back afforded expansive vistas of the Colorado River Valley. This was indeed beautiful country, and I never expected the southern Lake Mead Recreational Area, which is where we were at, to be this gorgeous. There were many pull-offs from the main road to park and hike up the many side hills. This was wilderness hiking on unmarked trails.
Our drive back was different from our route this morning. Instead of the Bullhead City Parkway we drove through the nondescript town of Bullhead City. Its best feature was perhaps its direct views of the riverfront hotels of Laughlin, NV. It's the kind of town that looks better at night when neon lights hide the ugliness.
The next town south of Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, was an even sleazier town of several Adult Bookstores, Titti bars and gentlemens' clubs. Its one point of redemption was a sheepfarm off the highway, with freshly-shorn sheep grazing along the fenceline. The dogs were too tired to bark at them from our truck.
We stayed on SR95 as it meandered along the river. South of Fort Mohave the route crossed the river and took us directly into the sleazy business district of Needles, CA.
Gas here sold for $2.79, over a dollar more than in Lake Havasu City. The last time I was in this area was in the summer of 1996 when I was on my way to California for a four-year tour in Monterey. Needles back then was a mere gas break, with a warning that there were no services for the next 88 miles as the highway crossed Death Valley.
From Needles we got on I-40 and headed eastward where we crossed the river and were back in Arizona.
We made it back to town at 4:20pm and, as planned, made it to the Mudshark Brewpub at 4:30pm. We earned our beer today and I must admit that the UpRiver Lager here is excellent,especially with a slice of lemon. The Dry Heat Wheat is also quite good. Kevin really liked the Scorpion Amber Ale.
The one major disappointment was the flat, uncreamy Skyline Stout that tasted stale. The Stout yesterday at Barley Brothers was much better. (It won a Silver award in 1999 for stout style beer)
The mushroom pizza I ordered as an appetizer proved to be filling enough for a full meal. Thus, I have to give this Brewpub an A. The beers (and I honestly don't know how many Kevin had) and pizza came to just under $24.
The dogs were visibly tired, too and slept well all night long. Sara never seemed to be hurting today and walked at a steady pace. We made sure we didn't run her. When she got tired and laid down, we all took breaks. Her paw didn't crack open. Hopefully the wound can finally heal and grow shut.
Today's adventure was a success. I'll post photos at home Sunday night; my USB that I packed doesn't seem to transfer data from the Canon to the laptop.
http://www.desertusa.com/spirit/du_spritmt.html
http://www.mudsharkbrewingco.com/beer.html
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