(Note: Picture intensive blog!)
On February 8th, we decided to take a road trip on the 11 miles of the Parker Dam Road Scenic Byway.
“Parker Dam Road is in southeast California and west-central Arizona on the banks of the Colorado River. On the California side, the byway travels between Earp and Parker Dam. Earp is on CA 62 about 50 miles north of Blythe. The Arizona side travels between Parker and Lake Havasu City. Lake Havasu City is approximately 60 miles south of Kingman.
The California side of the byway is the officially designated portion. As its name implies, the scenic drive follows Parker Dam Road, which is a two-lane paved road safe for travel by all types of vehicles. The Arizona side also follows a two-lane paved road, AZ 95. Both roads generally remain open year-round. Eleven miles of this 55-mile route is designated a Type I Back Country Byway.”
The Byway goes right past Emerald Cove so we decided we would do the loop. We have done this many times and I still find the scenery is just beautiful.
There are many campgrounds, resorts, parks and open land along the way.
Our first stop was the Crossroads Campground which is right along the river – $2.50 a night for us old farts. We had a wonderful visit with the campground host.
This is one of the walkway’s to the river at the campground:
Many of the hills/mountains have American Flags flying proudly at the top:
Next stop was the area where the town of Cross Roads existed:
The Mercantile:
The rest of the town no longer exists. In its place is an RV park, storage units, and the desert.
From there we went to the visitor center for the area. We have been thru here many times but the center was never open. This time they have a wonderful host, Maureen. She was such a joy to talk to and told us all about the area. She is working with the BLM rangers to upgrade the center so it will be both an educational center for adults and children. She truly hopes to have this as a field trip for the schools in the area.
They are also looking for another host for the center and we talked about it. (But no summers – it got to 130 F last summer. 40 degrees too hot for me. LOL). What a nice visit and we are staying in touch.
Our journey continued upriver:
Flat areas on the other side of the road. Helps with flooding.
Private homes on the Arizona side of the river:
Sand dunes just pop out of nowhere. They start and end!
More sculptures at another resort:
Flat areas near the river:
What a view!
Wonder what is hiding here? Nope, I wasn’t going to check them out!
HUGE trees along the way:
An occasional Saguaro:
Check out those mountains:
First glimpse of the Parker Dam:
AWWW:
Parker Dam:
“Parker Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam that crosses the Colorado River 155 miles downstream of Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation, it is 320 feet high, 235 feet of which are below the riverbed (the deep excavation was necessary in order to reach the bedrock on which the foundation of the dam was built), making it the deepest dam in the world. The portion of the dam above the foundation stands 85 feet tall, making it the only dam in the world that stands more underground than above ground. The dam's primary functions are to create a reservoir, and to generate hydroelectric power. The reservoir behind the dam is called Lake Havasu and can store 647,000 acre⋅ft. The dam straddles the Arizona-California state border at the narrows the river passes through between the Whipple Mountains in San Bernardino County, California and the Buckskin Mountains in La Paz County, Arizona.
The power plant has four Francis turbines with a combined capacity of 120 MW. Each turbine weighs 60,000 pounds. The head is 72 feet. It produces electricity at 97 percent efficiency. Half of the electricity the plant produces is used by the Metropolitan Water District to pump water along the Colorado River Aqueduct, and the rest is sold to utilities in California, Arizona and Nevada. The generation of power is limited by a requirement to keep the water level of Lake Havasu between 440 and 450 feet above sea level for proper operation of pumping plants for the Central Arizona Project and the Colorado River Aqueduct.”
Truly wish they still did tours but after 9/11 most of the dams closed for tours.
Lake Havasu:
Boaters can camp along the lake:
The water is beautiful:
One of the Lake Havasu Lighthouses (Still on my bucket list to find them all):
Beautiful!
Over the last week as we came south from Havasu, we passed this little nook in the hills and every time we passed, there was something new here. Initially I thought it was a memorial to someone but after we saw other things appear, I had to find out more. Today we stopped and the owner was there.
Folks, meet Ernie! What a great guy and I had a blast talking with him. His land is above the gazebo. He talked with the BLM folks about putting a road in from here and sprucing up the entrance. And he got their permission. So here it is so far:
I cannot wait to see what he does with the place. I told him I was going to visit him next season. He is hoping to have his house done by then. I told him that if he does, I want a cup of tea! He laughed!
One of the neatest things about traveling is the folks you meet along the way.
From there we headed thru Parker and down the Arizona side.
Railroad bridge over the river:
We noticed how low the river was here and went to find out why.
One of the aqueducts heading to the fields:
Coming back to the California side, the alien greeted us:
We decided to follow one of the dirt roads in towards the river and found this:
We also found a number of other paintings and areas where people camp. This area is part tribal lands and BLM lands so we are not sure what the rules were here. We did notice folks camped here over the time we were here. An option, hmmmm?
We finished the day at Happy Hour at the Club! What a great day.
Stayed tuned for our next adventures and enjoy today.
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