Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Valley of Fire SP, NV

After seeing Hoover Dam, we drove north toward Valley of Fire SP, just south of Overton, NV, & right next to the northern edge of the Lake Mead Nat'l Recreation Area. About 2 miles beyond the Park entrance is a free boondocking area. I don't think it's actually BLM, just no one's cares. It’s called Snowbird Mesa & is a couple of fingers of land (flat, gravelly  mesas) above Overton, NV & the Virgin River just before it becomes Lake Mead (the same river cutting thru Zion NP). The highway dips down sharply past the entrance to the area, so the edges of this area are pretty high. Nighttime viewing of Overton's lights was fabulous. It wasn't crowded & everyone was spaced out. Didn't talk to any neighbors & only saw a couple of campers to wave at.


We spent about 3 hours mostly driving thru Valley of Fire SP. There is a $10 self-pay station near the entrance, but the highway comes out on the west side at I-15.


This place is amazing to see & intriguing from a geological point of view. The red Aztec sandstone formations (old sand dunes turned to stone) are younger than the grey, limestone tops of some areas. Very strange. The wind erosion has created awesome formations, including lots & lots of arches (tho none as big as at Arches NP).


We had a pleasant, sunny 2 - night stay here, & Jeff got to watch the Super Bowl as well. We drove into Overton also to the only grocery store in the area. Nice selection & prices weren't bad.


On the way back to Quartszite for the Fiberglass Rally, we took the AZ route into Kingman. South of Hoover Dam is a scenic view where the Colorado River makes a sharp cut west thru the mountains. Pretty spectacular. There's a road down to the River & some kind of recreation area we didn't go see.


We stopped at Walmart on the north edge of Lake Havasu City & spent the night at another Coast to Coast campground in Earp, CA (across the Colorado at Parker AZ). I wanted to do some laundry but the campground was working on the plumbing so the laundry was closed. At least the sunset was awesome.


We made it back to Quartszite on Wednesday & the Rally officially started Friday. Got laundry done finally on Thursday. Met old friends & made a few new ones. Officially had 104 fiberglass rigs show up. Nice weather finally for good solar. We didn't leave until Tuesday cause that 10-day trip up to Death Valley & Hoover Dam & back had us needing to vegetate for awhile. I guess leaving Q means we're now on our way east to MO finally. Boy, the winter everywhere north & east of AZ has just been brutal at times, so once again, we are OUTRAGEOUSLY grateful for the chance to enjoy this winter in the SW. I just love having wheels on my bed!


1 comment:

  1. It was good to see you in Q. Don't move too fast. I'm hearing nasty stories of weather elsewhere!

    ReplyDelete

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