February 5-6 2014 Quartzite, AZ

Yesterday we went on a very informative nature walk with the rangers. Learned a lot about plants and animals on the desert, plus a little geology.

Sunset our last night at Lake Havasu. On the way south to Quartzite we went by where the Bill Williams river runs into Lake Havasu. Lovely marshy area. Kind of a dreary cloudy day.

Quartzite is on of the largest gathering places for RV’s in the USA. They say over 100,000 RVs are here. It only costs $175 to just park out on the desert from Sept- April. We are in a two week free area. Little north of the crowds. It is just wide open desert, pick a spot and park. The ground is what is called desert pavement, which is flat solid gravel. With lots of desert vegetation scattered about and beautiful mountains surrounding. In actual Quartzite is supposed to be the biggest market ever, everything imaginable and very cheap. We will check it out later.  They have a huge RV rally here in late January and many on going rock and gem shows. This area is a rock hound paradise I guess. We like the wide open spaces and of course that it is free.

The clouds this evening were beautiful while we were wondering around. A saguaro cactus in front of the mountains.

The bus around sunset. Sunset over the pavement, saguaros and mountains.

Closer up of the sunset. Some flowers that are blooming now.

February 4, 2014 Lake Havasu, Arizona

 

John and I hiked the trail to Whyte’s retreat. I decided that I needed to take the boat out in this beautiful water. I headed out into a head wind. John stayed home to smoke a brisket.

 

On the right here is one of many skinny channels to investigate. Coming back out.

The water was so clear that you could see way down. It was like flying over ridges. Then it got deep, flying over a cliff. My shadow on the wall.

Flying over another ridge.

The colors of the water fascinated me. My shadow on the bottom of a shallow bay. The boat at Whyte’s retreat.

More cool water colors. The sky, the red rocks reflected, the features on the bottom showed through the colors.

The clouds were rolling in, it was getting cooler. I put on my splash jacket.

On the way back.

There were waves on the way back. I had the wind to my back. Back on land.

Faces in the rocks, big nose, bad hair!  A lizard, mussel shells on the beach, palo verde branches. The branches are green so the tree can drop it’s leaves during a drought and still photosynthesize with the bark, swallow nests on the canyon walls.

John was still smoking when I got back. He made an appetizer of roasted vegetables, which ended up as mostly dinner, the brisket did not get done till 10 pm. I was in bed by then.

Sunset.

February 2-3 2014 Lake Havasu, Arizona

Sunset our last night at Davis Camp. We were in Arizona at Davis camp, but there was no Arizona sign there, but when we went south, back into California, then back into Arizona at Needles, here it was.

The Needle Mountain Wilderness by Topock, AZ looked pretty interesting. The bus parked at Cattail Cove State Park on Lake Havasu. It is a lovely campground. Much nicer than staying in Lake Havasu itself. Very quiet and dark at night, and on the lake.

I walked on the Whyte Trail. One and a half miles each way- I thought it was round trip-but no it was 3 miles round trip. It went right along the cliff on the lake edge. Lovely. The water in the lake is heavenly looking. I am going to take my boat out tomorrow and boat the same area.

The trail goes inland around a couple of these slot like canyons down into the lake.

The colors were beautiful. Even the hill sides had lots of color.

Backlit cholla cactus. The last of the sun across the lake-in California.

Looking south at Parker dam and the evening light on the surrounding hills. Sunset from the end of a canyon.

From the side of another. I got back just in time for the ranger program. Gary was singing at the amphitheater  here by the cactus garden. He was followed by a slide show of the animals in the area.

There is a huge flock of quail in the campground and along the trail. I saw this hummingbird sitting on a branch, then he took off, an evening primrose and scorpion weed blooming. I also saw a hawk and a kangaroo rat.