Valley of Fire State Park, NV
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About 50 miles outside of Las Vegas NV.
Well I’ve wondered around Bullhead City and Laughlin for the past week. Found out Bullhead City was incorporated into a city in 1986. No wonder both cities look like they just grew up out of the desert and bare mountain ranges in the area. Isn’t it amazing that even though everything is relatively new, that tacky buildings still get built and all the planning and design still can’t change the fact their these homes and businesses are still sitting in the middle of a dry arid desert landscape. The Colorado river being the only break from the bleak scenery.
I won’t say I’ve been bored, but I knew something was missing. Yes they have all the big stores to shop in and the Casinos have all the restaurants and buffets, but I’ve discovered I need more than that to be happy or feel fulfilled. So the other day, I was looking through the list of Points of Interest in the area. There are the boat tours, Davis Dam which one can’t go to unless it’s via water, as it’s off limits after 9-11. Then I saw a listing for Grapevine Canyon.
A perfect morning for an excursion, the temperature is warm and the sky is overcast keeping
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I already feel alive driving out into the country. This is exactly what I needed. Out in the open spaces and back to nature. Two miles up the road and a turn off and I’m at the edge of the canyon. A wide sand bottom wash defines the area leading to the rock outcroppings and the Petroglyphs. Camera in hand, a bottle of water, good hiking boots and I’m off. I follow the trail as it tracks along the top edge of the wash. I can see numerous tracks leading down into the wash and across to the other side, all leading to the rock outcrop on either side of the canyon beyond.
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The experts don’t believe these are very old, possibly anywhere from 200 to 800 years old. Petroglyphs are hard to date. I can almost feel the feverish urgency of the writings on the walls and rocks of Grapevine canyon. It’s like hearing a foreign language and dying to know what is being said. It always amazes me that a people would end up in such a desolate area. They tell me that a natural spring flows most years except during major droughts. I don’t see any water flowing. I’m sure that’s what attracted these native Indians to the area, but the Colorado is also only a few miles away and like the present day communities, humans are attracted to life giving water.
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It’s Thursday and it must be moving day. 170 miles and about a 4 hour trip with stops for coffee and lunch along the way as well as some stops for photo ops you know. It always amazes me how long it takes to go such a short distance. This time though, part of the longer time was due to traveling the back roads through Lake Mead National Rec. Area and slow downs numerous times for road construction. You should see my camper after traveling over dirt construction roads, wet down to keep the dust down. The front of the camper looked like it was a real mud collector. Did a quick one bucket wash on the front of the camper and part of the truck to make them look presentable.
One of the great pleasures in life is coffee and although I’m not supposed to have caffeine, I do occasionally indulge. Before heading out on the road, I stopped in a local Firehouse Coffee shop for a Danish and a huge cup of coffee. I was partially good as I had them mix ½ decaf and ½ leaded. But even with that I was able to get that delicious charge from the caffeine, that slightly acidic taste way back on my tongue, then the flavor of the cream on the sides of my mouth…. A hint of sweetness from the sweetener and it all added up to one caffeine induced high… Ahhhhhh.
Life’s little pleasures.
On the south side of Las Vegas is Henderson and as I drove NE though this bedroom community, the edges of town mixed with awesome mountain views and sparkling new Spanish style communities and townhouses hugging the cliffs and hill promontories. Creating almost a European flair on the edges of Lake Las Vegas.
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A number of movies have been filmed here including Star Trek. Commercials galore. So in and of itself, that points to the fact this is one awesome place for picture taking and ogling. I’ve already visited a few sites containing more Petroglyphs (over 4,000 years of Indian habitation), petrified wood and “water tanks” These are natural rock hollows where water collects during a rain. They could retain the water for many months and it’s believed the Native Indians knew where they were all located and used them. The small town of Overton has a Lost Pueblo Museum where they tell you about a string of pueblos covering over 30 miles along the mud river area.
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1 comment:
Found your blog when I was looking at photos of Valley of Fire park in Arizona. We're newbies, and are going down to the Consumer Electronic Show in january.
Could you give me some more information about your Verizon phone and how it can be used as gps and tethered to your laptop. How much does it cost? do you pay per amount of bandwidth. It would be so great to be able to access my email, get on the internet etc while we're on the road.
Love your story. Inspired me to start a personal blog too now that I'm retired. Husband is still working part time - during the tomato season here in California. He's a truck driver. We have a fifth wheel and are very excited to be going on our first long trip
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