Day 132: Bike ride to Hoover Dam

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Ben

This morning, before we left the Hacienda Casino, I photographed a failed weld on one of our GCI Outdoor director’s chairs. I e-mailed it to GCI and they will be mailing a replacement to Grandpa Glenn’s house. Thanks GCI!

There’s a gravel trail from the Lake Mead visitor center to Hoover Dam that follows the old railroad used to build the dam. I was interested in riding the trail because it has five tunnels. My parents drove up from Henderson to ride with us:

I rode with our son on from the midpoint down to Hoover Dam:

It was quite a climb back up to the trail where we caught up with the rest of the group. The white line on the islands is the “bathtub ring” that shows where the water level used to be before withdrawals started to exceed deposits:

After the ride, we drove South and arrived in Laughlin, NV. We did our laundry in neighboring Boulder City, AZ, then came back to Laughlin. We’re overnighting at the Pioneer Casino. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 131: Lake Mead NRA, Day 6

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Ben

Another amazing sunrise at the end of 8 Mile Road here in Lake Mead NRA:

We had a productive morning in homeschool:

I worked with our son on a button and LED project for Arduino that illustrates the use of for loops and arrays:

Meanwhile, our daughter continued her work in Scratch:

After lunch we went for a farewell kayak trip. It took a bit of work to get out of our local bay and be able to look south into the vastness that is Lake Mead, North America’s largest manmade lake. The far shore is about 10 miles away, and that’s across the narrow axis of the lake:

In this photo of our return paddle, our RV is visible just to the left of the leftmost kayak:

The kids wanted to have a “campfire” using tumbleweed. The stuff burns really fast:

A moment of truth came when we had to leave our campsite and tow our RV back to the main road. There’s a 500 foot long climb with an average grade of 10%, max grade 13.5%, and that’s rutted gravel. I put the Sorento into “4×4 low” mode, and in 2nd gear at 10 mph and 3000 rpm, we climbed out without any slipping or skidding. Very impressive! I’m glad I bought off-road tires for the SUV a few months back. Here’s a view down the hill towards our site, but it doesn’t really convey the steepness very well:

Here’s an elevation profile of the hill:

Leaving at sunset, we headed back to Boulder Beach to dump/fill/shower/fill/dump, then drove another couple miles to the Hacienda Casino where we’re overnighting in the parking lot. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

We will miss Lake Mead NRA, and will definitely come back again!

Day 130: Lake Mead NRA, Day 5

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Ben

Today we did a day trip to Valley of Fire State Park. I left early to ride my bike there, and Trish and the kids left later to arrive by car.

I hit the road 30 minutes after sunrise:

We all arrived at Valley of Fire at about the same time. I changed and stowed the bike in the trunk, and we checked out the visitor center:

We did a hike in the White Domes area of the park:

Our daughter checks her work:

We got into a slot canyon:

Amazing patterns in the sandstone:

After our hike, we had lunch and then drove to Atlatl Rock, where ancient petroglyphs, estimated to be 4,000 years old, are carved into the stone. The Atlatl can be seen at the top of the scene:

Next we visited a group of structures called The Beehives:

We also hiked a short trail to some petrified wood:

Inside a sandstone cave:

There’s something special about desert sunsets:

Day 128: Lake Mead NRA, Day 3

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Ben

This morning we met my parents at the Lake Mead visitor center:

The kids received their Junior Ranger badges:

Next we went to the marina to feed the fish and birds:

The carp opened their mouths wide above the surface, so I tried throwing little crackers in, but with little success:

Nom nom nom nom….

Next we visited the Clark County Museum, which has a row of historic houses built and decorated in the styles of various decades. My favorite was this RV from 1948:

They had an old newspaper office:

The museum also has an extensive collection of mining and railroad equipment:

Day 127: Lake Mead NRA, Day 2

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Ben

I was up in time to see this morning’s sunrise:

Here’s a view of our campsite. The RV is just left of center:

My parents stopped by, and my father went for a walk with our son while I went kayaking with my mother. We had lunch, and then drove a few miles to the east for a hike in Lovell and Rainbow Wash: