Seven and one-half hours of driving to get here… and where’s the lake? Drought conditions have caused drastic water level drops in Lake Mead. In the photo above, you can’t even see the water from the bottom of the boat launch ramp. The change in colour, from light below to darker above, depict earlier (higher) water levels.
Located on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado river. Drought has dropped the reservoir level to about 26% of capacity at this time. What was once an active recreation area has fallen into disuse. We drove up through the park to one of the main facilities (Echo Bay) and discovered that most of it was boarded-up and looked like it hadn’t seen any use in years.
A couple of fisherman were cleaning fish which aroused the interest of some local denizens.
On our way to Echo Bay we stopped at the Redstone Trail to see the spectacular red rock formations (photos don’t do them justice). Formed about 140 million years ago, these former sand dunes were turned into red sandstone by the presence of iron ore, and a lot of pressure!
The campground and facilities are also showing signs of neglect. We met the camphost who told he moved to another area two years ago when the electricity stopped working, and only drives by the campground from time-to-time.
No services here, so we run the generator for cooking and to charge up the batteries (more on this later). Water is available from a spigot next to the washroom. No showers here.
The views from the campground are great and there is a nice hiking trail from the campground that follows along the top edge of the canyon.
Lots of coyotes in the area. Not only can we hear them, but one of the other campers has been feeding them for a couple of weeks (idiot) , so they are now wandering through the campsite.
The views of the surrounding mountains are better than any views we got of Lake Mead.
In order to be able to do more “off grid” camping (boondocking, aka no services camping) we are going to upgrade our battery charger and add a solar battery charger. Our current battery charger (powered by generator or 120v serviced site) has a maximum capacity of about 3.8 amps which recharges our 105 AH AGM battery (1260 watts total capacity, 630 watts usable at 50% discharge) at a whopping 45 watts/hour (takes about 14 hours to recharge our battery when it reaches 50% discharge). So it is time for an upgrade; a 25 amp charger can recharge the same amount in about 2 hours.
We are going to add a portable 200w double panel solar charging system as well, so that we don’t always have to run the generator to recharge the battery.
It is a bit challenging to get Amazon deliveries when we are moving around a lot, so we will get these items delivered when we are at our next stop… Bend, Oregon!
Bend, Oregon is about 14 hours away, but we have decided to take a vacation from retirement and go snowboarding for a month. We chose Bend because it is close to the Mt. Bachelor ski resort.
There are some logistical challenges, as we need snow tires and won’t be bringing Rosita.
We had to pre-order snow tires (not a lot of demand for snow tires in the Las Vegas area apparently). Jireh Tires was not interested in buying my old all season tires (well, 3 all season and 1 Mud + Snow tire that we acquired in Organ Pipe – see that entry for details), so we may use them when we get back.
We found a temporary home for Rosita at Sunset Boat and RV Storage, located just outside the entrance to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. She looks lonely. Bye Bye for now Rosita!
Trip Summary:
Depart from: Alamo Lake State Park, AZ
Depart time: 10:00 am (Feb 6)
Odometer: 131668 miles
Arrive time: 4:30 pm Las Vegas Bay campground, NV
Odometer: 131950 miles
Gas Summary:
Selome, AZ: 9.6g @ $3.80/g ($36.41)
Needles, CA: 13.5g @ $5.90/g ($79.67)
Henderson, NV: 12.9g @ $4.30/g ($55.28) odo 131937