News & Photos - March 2010


East Into The Desert
Current Location: Site C4, Spaceport RV Park, Mojave, California
Dates: Mar 11-12, 2010
Services: E/W/S/WiFi($); Cost: $18.00; Nights: 1
Current Location: Site 12, Arabian Oasis RV, Boron, California
Dates: Mar 12-13, 2010
Services: E/W/S; Cost: $20.00 (GS); Nights: 1
Current Location: Site E17, Calico Ghost Town, Yermo, California
Dates: Mar 13-15, 2010
Services: E; Cost: $28.00; Nights: 2

With the weather turning warmer, it's time for me to slowly follow the spring temperatures back to Canada. Rather than head back through Oregon and Washington, I'm going to head east to Arizona, see the Grand Canyon, then go north.

Boron is home to the world's largest borax mine (the city's primary employer), and produces nearly half of the world's supply of borax. It is used in detergents, glazes and insecticides. This area is known for the “twenty-mule teams” used from 1883 to 1889 to ferry borax from the Death Valley mines, 165 miles to the nearest railroad spur in Mojave. During this gruelling 10-day journey through the desert, the mules pulled a 30-ton load using two large wagons, plus a third wagon for food and water.

The Calico Ghost Town is a short drive north of Yermo. Silver was discovered in this area, and from 1881 to 1907 the town of Calico was booming. It eventually produced $86 million in silver before closing down. In 1951, Walter Knott bought the property and started restoring many of the buildings which had burnt down or fallen into ruins. It is now one of the area's main tourist attractions, with many gift shops and displays of life in the late 1800's.

North-west of Barstow is the Rainbow Basin Natural Area, an area of strange hills, eroded sand/rock sculptures and other geological features. There is a small unserviced campground here, but the main attraction is the spectacular rock formations, especially along the Rainbow Basin road.



Near Mojave




Joshua Trees



Calico Ghost Town


Rebuilt schoolhouse


Silver mine tour
⇧ Landscape around Yermo



North of Yermo


Dry lake on the Mojave River


Mojave River



Rainbow Basin Area









⇧ Lookout point on Rainbow Basin Road

Under The Mountains
Current Location: Site 50, Calizona RV Park, Needles, California
Dates: Mar 15-17, 2010
Services: E/W/S/WiFi; Cost: $25.00; Nights: 2
Current Location: Site 2, Blake Ranch RV Park, Kingman, Arizona
Dates: Mar 17-19, 2010
Services: E/W/S/WiFi; Cost: $23.80 (GS); Nights: 2

Leaving Yermo, I-40 is a long drive through the high desert. This land is mostly empty; there was a one-hour section where I did not see a single building! “Towns” like Ludlow consist of a truck stop and a restaurant, just enough to help travelers on their way. After winding across high plateaus between mountain ranges, I-40 drops steeply into the Colorado River valley, and the town of Needles.

Leaving the trailer in Needles and back-tracking a bit, I took a guided tour of the Mitchell Caverns. Due to staff shortages, the tour was given by the maintenance man, and he gave an excellent presentation! Two large caverns have lighting, railings and a cement path leading through numerous examples of stalactites and stalagmites.



I-40 near Ludlow


Barrel cacti

⇧ View from the Caverns picnic area



Cavern entrance
















A City In The Sky
Current Location: Site 46, Canyon Motel & RV Park, Williams, Arizona
Dates: Mar 19-20, 2010
Services: E/W/S; Cost: $33.32; Nights: 1
Current Location: Site 105, Black Bart's RV Park, Flagstaff, Arizona
Dates: Mar 20-25, 2010
Services: E/W/S; Cost: $24.30; Nights: 5

Heading east from Kingman, highway I-40 continues to climb. Near Williams, with an altitude of around 7,000 feet, there is still snow on the ground, slowly melting in the warm afternoon sun. This area receives a lot more precipitation than further west, and there are many pine trees here. On a hill west of Flagstaff is the Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered in 1930. Public tours are available four nights a week.

South of Flagstaff, the I-17 descends down to 4,000 feet. Near Camp Verde, the Montezuma Castle National Monument contains a 1,000 year-old cliff dwelling. Although the dwelling and cliff are closed to the public, several park rangers were touring the dwelling while I was there, lending a sense of scale to the place.



Near Williams








Montezuma Well
Two hours drive east of Flagstaff is the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park, a vast area of badlands and petrified wood. A 28-mile road wanders south from I-40, providing numerous scenic lookout spots, as well as a few short hiking trails.







Blue Mesa Trail





Petrified wood

⇧ View from Tawa Point
⇧ View from the bottom of the Blue Mesa trail

South-west of Flagstaff, highway 89-A descends through a set of switchbacks, then goes south through Oak Creek Canyon. Steep cliffs on each side have the colours of their red rocks brightened by the setting sun.















The town of Sedona



⇧ Looking east from Sedona


Arizona's Best-Known Park
Current Location: Site I-56, Trailer Village, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Dates: Mar 25-29, 2010
Services: E/W/S; Cost: $36.29; Nights: 4

Even at this time of year, the Grand Canyon was busy; as I did not make a reservation in advance, I was only able to get a campsite for 4 nights. With a high elevation similar to Flagstaff, the shady parts of the canyon rim had some snow remaining; the even higher (8000 feet) and colder north rim was completely closed until mid-May.

Averaging 10 miles wide, 4000 feet deep and 277 miles long, the Grand Canyon is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It is not a single cliff straight down to the bottom, but a series of cliffs and slopes. The Rim Trail runs along the top of the developed part of the canyon, paralleling the road which provides access into the numerous lodges and gift shops.

On my final day here, I hiked part-way down the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail (the full trail takes most of a day each way). The trail surface was mostly sand and mud, with some shady sections covered with snow that had been packed down into ice by the numerous hikers and mules. Twenty mules per day take visitors down the canyon to the Phantom Ranch, where overnight accommodations are available. As you might expect, these trips are booked a year in advance!











Lodges and Gift Shops








Eastern part of Grand Canyon



Trailview Lookout






Descending the Bright Angel Trail




Crossing The Colorado
Current Location: Site 32, Lee's Ferry Campground, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Marble Canyon, Arizona
Dates: Mar 29-30, 2010
Services: None; Cost: $12.00; Nights: 1

Even through the Grand Canyon is only 11 miles across “as the raven flies”, it is a very long way to drive around! Today's trip of 2.5 hours brought me to the nearest bridge across the canyon on the east side. Most of the trip was through the Navajo Indian Reservation, where there are shacks every few miles (most of which were closed this time of year) with hand-made jewelry for sale.

The Navajo Bridge, opened in 1929, replaced an earlier ferry which crossed the Colorado River here. Due to the width and height of the Grand Canyon, the next bridge further down the river is 600 miles away! The bridge was closed to vehicles in 1995, when a wider bridge (capable of handling today's heavier vehicles) was built beside the original. The narrow original bridge is now used as a pedestrian crossing and a tourist attraction.
⇧ Vermillion Cliffs



Lee's Ferry Fort, 1874


The Colorado River


Balancing Rock

Pink Sand And Red Cliffs
Current Location: Site 20, Kanab RV Corral, Kanab, Utah
Dates: Mar 30-Apr 1, 2010
Services: E/W/S/WiFi; Cost: $30.30; Nights: 2
Current Location: Site 10, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Mt. Carmel, Utah
Dates: Apr 1-2, 2010
Services: None; Cost: $16.00; Nights: 1
Current Location: Site 3, Ponderosa Grove, BLM Land, Mt. Carmel, Utah
Dates: Apr 2-5, 2010
Services: None; Cost: $5.00; Nights: 3

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park provides a small unserviced campground, mainly to serve the large number of ATV and dirt bikers who come to ride around the sand dunes. Sadly, the campground was fairly noisy, as many of them did not respect the speed limits for their vehicles while going to and from their RV. After one night, I moved down the road to a much quieter (and cheaper) BLM campground. Although mild during the day, temperatures in Utah went below freezing at night, and there occasionally was a dusting of snow that quickly melted in the morning light.












The Kanab area was also a good place to stay while exploring the nearby Zion National Park. Here, a free shuttle bus took passengers past many strange rock formations, waterfalls and hiking trails.



Checkerboard Mesa




Weeping Rock





Rock Climbers

West of Zion is the Grafton Ghost Town. Originally settled by five families of Mormons around 1859, the town reached a population of 168 people by 1864. However, after attacks by Navajo on settlers in Kanab in 1866, the Mormon church ordered its families to coalesce into towns of at least 150 men. For the next two years, the cotton and food crop farmers of Grafton moved to nearby Rockton, and would return daily to tend their fields in Grafton. However, the scant rainfall, regular floods and lack of electricity eventually took their toll, and by 1945 all of the families had moved out, mostly twenty miles downstream to Hurricane where the farming was easier. Today, the town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and some buildings have been restored.






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