A Grand Tour

One of the things I love about RV travel is that we are not beholden to anyone.  We have no specific date or time to be anywhere (except our flight home), so, until July we can go wherever we please!  We’ve changed our mind about which direction to travel in several times already.  Mostly, due to the weather.  We thought we’d head north to the California Parks, Kings Canyon, Yosemite and on to Lake Tahoe but the weather had other plans!  So instead, we’ve decided to head east, crossed the border into Arizona and took a lesser road up to Lake Havasu and then across to the Grand Canyon.

A veritable oasis in the desert, Lake Havasu is the culmination of one man’s dream to build a town around his business, right on the border between California and Arizona.

Here’s a question:  What do these two things have in common?

The answer comes under the “who would have thought” heading.  It turns out that in 1960, the inventor and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch, (have you twigged?) sought a suitable body of water to test his boat motors, not his chain saws!  He purchased 26 square miles of barren land adjacent the Colorado River and with his friend, Cornelius Vanderbuilt (who designed Disneyland), set about developing a town around his business.  An extensive ad campaign and warmer climate encouraged many northerners to relocate to his oasis in the desert. 

What does this have to do with London Bridge?

I’m glad you asked.

Apparently, McCulloch heard that the City of London were selling their dismantled old London Bridge which had stood for 600 years.  Ever the entrepreneur, he made a successful bid for the bridge, which consisted of the ornate lampposts and 10,276 granite blocks which were subsequently shipped to Lake Havasu.  The current canal was dredged, creating the island that the newly erected bridge would span. 

The grand opening occurred on October 10, 1971, and included an “English village.”  It became Arizona’s only “beachfront resort.”

We arrived late in the afternoon and went for a walk along the canal, marveling at the pontoon boats that lined the shores resplendent with afternoon revelers and their tipple of choice, and very flash speed boats that motored ever-so-slowly up and down.

The following morning, we parked in the town and walked down to the canal and along the foreshore to the “English Village” and back.  Shorts and T-shirts were our chosen attire because by mid-morning it had warmed up to 30C.

Apparently palm trees are perfectly ok if you carve and stain them

A new movie? Honey I Blew Up the Dog. He certainly was much bigger than me!

It certainly was a change from the LA landscape we’d just left.  Palatial homes and lush gardens were replaced with bare, rocky hills, arid landscapes, pueblo-style homes and a quirky sense of humour.

Our summer attire was short-lived however, because late that afternoon as we settled into our Bureau of Land Management (BLM) disbursed campsite a short drive from the Grand Canyon National Park, the temperature had dropped to below zero.  These areas are set aside in many forests and parks for free camping and provide no services but are great bush camps where you can have a campfire.

Our temperature gauge at 7am.  The left number is inside and the right, outside and this is Fahrenheit which translates to 8 degrees Celsius inside and -5.5 degrees outside!

Our last visit to the Grand Canyon only entailed a short rim walk on the southern side because it was the end of the season, and most things were shutting down.  This visit, we said we’d do as many hikes and activities as possible.  

First up, an early morning walk along the south rim to the visitor center, museums and of course, the tourist shops.  Wearing several layers of clothes to keep the below 10-degree temperatures at bay.  We ended at Hopi Point and retraced our walk back to Joey.  We were just as amazed walking the other direction.

Hopi House is now a shop and gallery that sells jewelry, rugs, pottery, dream catchers and other items made by local native Indians. There were some exquisite pieces and I was impressed that any items not made by the local Indians were clearly marked. It’s lucky we live in moveable premises or I would certainly have bought a few pieces.

Rocking chairs were a feature on the porches of all the buildings we saw and they certainly fitted in with the decor.

The resort chalet was also build at the same time and is certainly in keeping with the rugged log cabin theme.

But what we came to see was the Canyon and it didn’t disappoint! I can’t tell you how many pictures we snapped because every time we looked out we saw a different view. The light hitting the canyon and highlighting another area, or the changing colours as the sun moved through the morning.

We even saw some squirrels that call this area home. They were quite striking to look at, unbelievably quick darting around and clearly not concerned about the sheer drop!

You can see how muddy the Colorado River is in this picture, the bridge and its shadow and the trail along the cliff edge.

There are no fences along the rim trail and many opportunities to get as close to the edge as you want. Don’t look down if you’re scared of heights!

I love taking pictures of dead trees and this one was quite striking.

The rocks on the path edge certainly aren’t going to stop anyone going over! You can see how close the edge is in some places to the path.

It really is a “Grand” canyon!  I don’t think you’d ever get tired of looking at this yawning abyss.  The colours, light and shade, varied rock patterns and its sheer size are spectacular.  We began our rim walk at about 7.30am.  By the time we got back to Joey in car park 3, (RVs and large vehicles always get the parking allocations the furthest away), it was after 11am!  Of course, this is still low season.  Several roads and hiking trails are still shut and road access to the north rim won’t open until mid-May.  However, many of the lookouts were several people deep by our return and not only were the 3 very expansive car parks full, but people had lined the roads, parked on dirt verges and around the perimeters of the car parks.  Note to self – make sure we arrive early tomorrow too!  It must be sheer bedlam in high season!

Because of the crowds we stayed put in the car park and had lunch, then walked the inner route, through the forest to the marketplace and the lookouts at the far end of the public access.  By 5pm and having walked around all day, we decided to catch the free shuttle bus that circumnavigates the marketplace, accommodation and the car parks.  We walked just over 16kms and felt that the canyon is so vast, we’d barely seen a fraction!

We stayed our second night in a closer campsite, determined to arrive earlier the following morning because it was Saturday.  We’d parked by 7am and planned to walk the rim in the other direction to South Kaibab trailhead. 

Views from this direction gave us better vantage points to see the mighty Colorado River as it snaked through the bottom of the canyon.  Until you know where to look, it’s difficult to spot from so high up because of it’s muddy colour.

There were already several people sporting backpacks and hiking sticks, headed down the trail, so we followed on down.  The trail snakes backwards and forwards across the cliff face with hairpin bends and nothing at all to stop your fall on the downhill side, should you take a misstep!  There were too many rough stone steps to count and not a foot of flat path!  It was downhill all the way, and you know what that means!  Uphill all the way back!

It’s recommended to take two days to hike to the bottom and back up, which means carrying all your camping equipment and tent overnight at the bottom.  We passed several hikers who had intended to make the bottom, but we were surprised because we knew what the weather held in store for later in the afternoon and following day.  Strong winds, rain and the likelihood of snow!  We hadn’t decided how far we’d hike down, but the lookout at Ooh Aah Point (yes it really is called that!) seemed like a good point to turn around.  Then we saw that Cedar Ridge plateau was actually not that much further, so we continued on down. 

Cedar Ridge is a relatively flat area with water available to refill bottles, long drop toilets and hitching rails to tie up the mules.  There were several mules corralled at the top and a lot of evidence on the trail that they’d recently traversed it. When we reached the top we saw two mules whose riders told us they were going down to Cedar Ridge to exercise them.  I certainly wouldn’t want to ride a mule down the very steep and narrow path or have to step to the downhill side to let them go past. 

What goes down, must go up and after taking time to take in the incredible scenery, we began our hike to the top.  We were quite amazed at the numbers of people now coming down the trail.  It was almost a constant queue.  Not surprising, however, were the numbers of people who were unprepared to leave the cliff side and pass on the right! The wind and cold change they forecast also arrived and on some of the switchbacks it was difficult to climb against.

Other than one brief stop on the way up for a drink, we made it back without stopping and were not out-of-breath at all.  All those morning walks have paid off!  Then we had the 4km walk back to Joey.

We saw everything we wanted to see and that was available, so we headed off along the alternate south rim road, stopping at the scenic lookouts on our way out of the park. The further we drove, the higher we got and the more snow we started to see.

We had planned to stay in Flagstaff for a day or two and see some of the sights, but the weather forecast for the Grand Canyon region reached Flagstaff overnight and we awoke to about 3 inches of snow!  Joey is unprepared to stay in below freezing conditions for lengthy periods and we are also aware of how treacherous driving in icy and snowing conditions can be.  

There was no snow here when we pulled up the night before. It all fell overnight!

Our windscreen wipers were under all that snow

Some pictures I took as we drove out of Flagstaff.

After braving the snow for photos we upped stumps and headed down from our 7,000 feet elevation to a small town called Black Canyon and below the snow line.  We found a very interesting community trail that snaked its way around the hillside in and around many cacti and succulents. 

We’ve discovered that many of the native Indian tribes’ own casinos and they are very happy to let RVs and trucks stay in their secure parking lots so that’s where we found ourselves in Sun City.  Just for something different we decided to check out the casino for dinner.  It was packed with people, most of whom were seated at the hundreds of slot machines.  We opted for Mexican cuisine.  Unsurprisingly, I opted for the salad with roast veg and Peter treated himself to the “lets eat all our calories for the day in one meal” nachos bowl. I’m told it was very delicious!

The following morning, we awoke to clear blue skies and light jacket temperatures.  We hiked two spots in the White Tank Mountain State Park, which, like most everything in this area, was either newly build (in the last 10 years or so) or currently being built.  The amount of new infrastructure here is astounding!  Housing estates, shopping complexes, an extensive road and highway system, and more gargantuan warehouses, manufacturing and office buildings than I’ve seen anywhere.  But I digress.

Our first hike to Petroglyph Plaza and Waterfall Canyon gave us some glimpses into how spectacular the cacti will be when fully out in flower.  There are also 11 archaeological sites where the regional Hohokam Indian tribes carved into the rocks between AD 500 & 1100.  The information provided suggested holy men carved the symbols while under the influence of hallucinogens, so their meaning has remained ambiguous however, archaeologists have discovered evidence of farming crops, damming water and living in villages. 

The trail culminated in a small water pool and the very slightest trickle of water at the waterfall site, but nonetheless worth the hike.  Our second hike led us around the mountain to view Willow Canyon and views of the towns below. 

On the search for interesting and scenic walks and hikes, we found Estrella Mountain Regional Park. It wasn’t as picturesque as the White Tank region but interesting in that it was so much more arid and dry, but only a few miles away. So, the following morning we found ourselves back in White Tank Park and trekking the Ford Canyon Trail.

While still arid and rocky it was much greener with a lot more grasses, ground covers and wildflowers. The hike takes you up and over the hills, along a water course that had, in the past been dammed, and snakes around the hillsides back to car park. We had intended to hike up to the dam wall and then retrace our steps back down but instead, we continued on to complete the whole 16km loop.