Camped by the mirror smooth Colorado River
The colder weather was chasing me south as usual. But there was an unusual amount of rain happening in the Vegas area, in fact all over the SW desert. I decided to jump over the highlands all the way down to Pahranagat. We would see from there how wet things were for boondocking. At least I knew Pahranagat would be fine, being a road into a proper campground. Join me as I head south into the ‘wet’ desert!
Dead California kingsnake
I debated a stop between Twin Falls and Pahranagat but decided I wanted more warm weather. It’s a fairly long drive with the risk that the campground would be full. I was hoping all the rumours I had been hearing that tourism was down in the States due to the border shenanigans were true. It turned out that the campground was quite empty, but due to having just re-opened, having been closed due to the government shutdown!
This was a nice view once
I drove in to find mud puddles on the road, and a bit of a mudslide cleanup even. The weather system was not quite done with more rain forecasted. Sure enough, we had rain that night, but it was fairly minimal, with things drying out the rest of my time there. I explored the south berm of the lake, finding to my shock that the trees were being ripped out all along the berm. I saw no signs and even asked a worker if it was OK for me to walk down the berm. Being OK’d, I walked down, going around dirt piles and tree remains. They even had all of their equipment sitting there. Anywhere else and I would not have gotten an OK to go through there. Sure enough the next day I talked to someone more senior that requested I stay out of there and they would be sure to put up signs at the campground side.
Even along the paved path almost back to the campground trees were removed
My ecology brain was working, so I asked a few questions about the work. It turns out that the trees were being cut down, with all the trunks and branches being hauled away by dump truck. No thought was given to leaving some wood behind to rot for habitat. In fact the tree cutting seemed excessive for berm maintenance. If this was close to any city you’d have eco-protesters trying to ‘save the trees’ which in this case I would give some support to. There is only a band of Cottonwoods close to the water – not like there are whole forests here. Not to mention the waste of money hauling all the tree remains away. But such stupidity is way down the list of stupid things going on in the USA right now – won’t even make the radar as compared to things like the whole federal government having just come out of a shutdown.
Shooters very visible from the campground
I did my usual walks in the area, visiting the NWR building and doing what part of walking around the lake I could do with the de-construction. I did have one unusual encounter while I was camped there. I hear shooting one day in the mid afternoon. Now, hearing shooting is not unusual, but it sounded close, like in the NWR where no shooting is allowed. Sure enough I see three people out on the north berm with at least one fellow having a long gun out, periodically pointing it up at a 45 degree angle and letting off a shot. Fortunately, he was shooting away from the campground, but still, NO shooting is allowed. I chatted with Marian (camp host) the next day. They had the NWR officers and the Sheriffs out responding to the shooters. She was only a couple hundred yards away herself, with her host camp being beside the berm. Everyone at the campground could see these guys too. These guys were definitely charged, although they tried to feign ignorance of the rules. Good luck with that defence.
Boondocking between water tank and crane
I extended my stay a bit as I was concerned that roads were still soft from the rain, down by my “super secret” Colorado River spot. I learned talking to the locals down there that I need not have worried. It turns out the opposite is true – rains firm up the sandy soils keeping you from sinking. As things dry out, the ATVs kick up the sand, loosening it until it is so soft even my motorcycle has trouble powering through it. I did arrive at the spot with some unexpected company.
From the California side, you can see the canal and the intake construction for it
I saw a portable water tank suspended in the air at the levee road leading down to my spot. There was also a large crane down the road from the spot. There were no signs prohibiting entry so off I went down the road. I knew it was legal to camp there, but the construction crews were within their rights to close off the road with a water tank sitting there, that was being used everyday for the water truck on dust control duty. So I camped, thinking they might boot me out at some point. I kept the kayak packed. I’d had plenty of water adventures in Canada in the fall and could live without my Colorado River paddle. But no visit to boot me out ever came. I even did a second week at the spot, as it is about the best free water spot I’m going to get in the area. I did say “super secret” in quotes as one of the boondocking apps now has the spot listed, drat. I did have one fellow and his kid come down to check out my spot, but there is only room for one smaller rig. He could have gone to the other spot to the north, but decided to move on entirely. One thing is for sure, with the construction activity in the area, most people would just turn around rather than trying to camp like I did.
My spot on the water was not perfect – there is a lot of train noise from the mainline on the other side of the river, a half klick away from the river. There are ATVs driving around too, although the construction kept them away from my immediate area. The construction didn’t add a lot of noise, but still, this is not a solitude spot. I spent quite a bit of time exploring around the California side of the Colorado River, looking for boondocking spots. While I did find some spots, they all have some disadvantage or another. I am not sure I will ever visit any of these.
Intake construction looking towards the river
The construction was for a new intake from the Colorado River to the canal that leads to the lakes in Havasu NWR, to the south of my camp. They were building a fairly large structure that looked to be much deeper than the original, which had to use a water pump to raise the water into the old canal that was not deep enough to pull water from the river at anything but high water levels. So a new intake and deeper canal were being built, I’d hope to not have to pump water at most river levels.
This isn’t even a legal camping spot
I am not sure if the spot I was on will be accessible once they are done with the inlet construction. The development has crept closer to the BLM land here and I can bet there is pressure to discourage camping. The one abandoned perma camp in the area reminds me one of the reasons the locals don’t like campers – the junk they leave behind. It’s not me or short term visitors that dump stuff, but we get lumped in with the others. The locals tend to forget that there are those among them who are even worse than the perma campers for leaving junk behind, but hey, let’s blame the foreigners for all of it.
Three Mile Lake has spots along it if you have a 4×4
I did have fun walking and motorcycling around but the locals were right – as things dried out and more ATVs drove around, the roads got back to soft sand pretty quickly. It means I have to work harder walking, plus the sand in my shoes. The motorcycle just gets restricted to the main roads – the sand is getting too hard for me to push through. But with what I could get to, I visited one of the main oxbow lakes close to my rig, hoping that one of the roads leading to it was firm enough for the RV to travel. Alas no – so those boondocking spots will be left for the 4×4 people to enjoy.
Visiting the Palms in the area
I had a lovely two weeks at my river spot. The weather had been sunny and warm, but it was time to move on. My plans to stay at Larry’s had been canceled owing to him moving to North Carolina. I wasn’t going to be going there, so I had to give some thought to a final destination at points south. I decided that the area southwest of Phoenix had some potential, without being too close to the US-Mexico border and all the troubles there. I wasn’t going to travel too far in one day so I decided to make an intermediate stop in an area I had not been to around Quartzsite, the Shea Road ATV and camping area.
Central Arizona Canal
I’ve been to the Quartzsite area every year I’ve been down in the desert, so I’m pretty familiar with the area. In fact, I’m actually kinda done with being in the area. Parker is OK for resupply, but it doesn’t have any really nice grocery stores. The general crowded areas (to my standards) also put me off. But I decided to try on major area I’ve never been to: the spectator area along Shea Road, leading to the Central Arizona Canal. The road in is paved, but rough for the first few miles. You need to know where the BLM camping starts, but even without a map, once you see a group of RVs that is probably the beginning of the BLM. I stopped at the sign for the area, studying the map a bit. I decided to keep an eye out for a particularly promising road and barring that, I would scout for spots around the junction of Shea Road and Swansea Mine Road. There are spots marked on the apps along the road, for several miles. I, of course, was looking for something away from the people a bit more.
Boondocking at Shea and Swansea Road
I marked one potential spot, but decided I’d continue to the road junction to see if there was anything better down there. A right turn on Swansea and a right turn before the second wash got me on desert pavement that went on past the couple of campers close to the road. It was a good thing I turned off as that second wash had been eroded by the rain and had a decent drop with soft sand beyond. It was quite possible I’d have gotten my RV stuck, more so coming out having to slow for the bump up going back. Going down the desert pavement a half a mile yielded me a good spot I judged to be far enough away. There was just enough cell signal too – something that is hit or miss in the area.
Black Tank. Easy hike to it from Shea Rd.
Overall it’s a pretty good area. You have rocky hills to the north of Shea Road to hike to, including a water tank that actually had water in it while I was there. To the north of Shea road, you end up on gentle hills and sand dunes, with a view back to Shea and looking south towards the Plomosa Mountains. You can ride around with ATVs too, although consult the maps as some areas are closed off. This boondocking area all follows the course for the Parker 400, so you’d expect ATVs. If you want to avoid them, you can try to camp further away from the main trails, but you’re never too far from an ATV track around here. Unless you are interested in offroad racing, avoid this whole area in January when the Parker 400 is on. There will be lots of people boondocking for spectating the race, plus all the noise with the race vehicles. If you think an ATV is loud, you have heard nothing until you hear a race version go by at full throttle.
Sand dune sunset
I decided to return to the area for a second week. I was in need of a decent cell signal with good upload speeds. I had scouted my way back down Shea Road looking at all the boondocking spots for the best cell signal. It varies from almost nothing to pretty good. I ended up camping about a mile west of a cattle watering area, in a little dip that almost got me out of sight of the road. At least it provided somewhat of a noise barrier for the ATVs going by on the main road. I had a view of the Osbourne Wash in front of me. It is pretty wide at this point. I was fortunate that most of the ATVs were driving along the far side away from me going up the wash here.
Things were drying out, but there still was a lot of green coming up after the rains
From here I could take the motorcycle and explore the main parking/staging area for the Parker 400. You can camp there too, in fact there were several RVs scattered about. The cell signal is OK, but you want to check as there are lots of “holes” in the coverage there. If you have an ATV this is probably the spot to be, as many trails converge here for you to go out exploring on. I had been thinking of hitting The Desert Bar for a Saturday afternoon outdoor bar experience. I’ve been there before and know the road is going to be busy going there. There was a backroad ATV trail that would take me there without having to go all the way back to Parker but it was rough and/or soft in places. I decided it was not worth it for a revisit.
Fairly dark skies. The glow is Parker.
I had one minor RV repair issue to deal with: my sewer hose catastrophically failed on my at my last dump site on the way here. It was a good thing I was just dumping the grey water down as the hose completely split open suddenly, spraying grey water about. Considering it was the original hose that came with the RV, it was due for replacement anyways. I ended up getting the Camco RhinoFlex for US$55. It’s a bit more expensive but is supposed to be heavy duty. It came in two 10 foot pieces, with a new 90 degree bend with sewer connection adaptor. Can’t say I’m impressed with it – it’s not so heavy duty with me puncturing one of the ten foot lengths on my first use pulling it past the screw head which acts to keep the hose in on the storage holder of my RV. The male end has too long lock nubs, I had to cut them down to size to fit in my sewer hose storage spot. Part of my problem with the first hose is that I filed the nubs back just enough to fit. The end jammed coming out, so I suspect I poked a hole through catching on the screw trying to pull the end out. I still think the whole hose is too fragile, not ‘tough’ like Camco stated. But at least I have a second hose with ends now cut back and I can watch that screw when I’m pulling out the hose.
Left behind long ago in a wash not far from the Parker 400 staging area
The Shea Road area had been not bad. It was not as crowded as some of the sites around Quartzsite, but not empty either. You will be looking at an RV in at least one direction less than a mile from your spot out here. Having a short ride back to Parker is nice. You have a fair amount of hiking you can do, and a lot of ATV trails. But I was looking to explore a whole new area I had not been to before. See you next time as we explore southwest of Phoenix.
