Horseshoe Trail: Davis Dam Overlook

Off of the road to Pyramid Canyon outside Laughlin (see “Davis Dam and Lake Mohave”), there is another trailhead. This one is for the Horseshoe Trail crushed granite trail, that switchbacks over the small mountain and connects with the paved Riverwalk Exploration Trail mentioned in some of my previous posts. On the day that Donna and I walked over Davis Dam, we also explored this trail. However, we only walked the portion to the Davis Dam Overlook.

This portion of the trail is not long, but it does require a bit of uphill travel. It climbs a long, slow grade to the crest of a hill, then there is a short downhill section before it climbs one more time. At the end is a short loop which provides views in various directions. The actual overlook is located a bit downhill from the high point. This trail is heavily used by horses, so watch your step and be sure to give horses the right of way, which is standard trail procedure.

The views are great all along the trail in all directions. I took a number of pictures, some of which I have posted below. We started up the trail a bit late in the day. We had previously been walking in full sun over the dam, so we were quite warm and had taken off our jackets. However, as we began coming down from the overlook, the sun began setting in the west and we found ourselves in the shadows quite a bit on the return trip, and it was a bit cool.

But this is a great trail and it provides numerous photo ops.

Trailhead to Horseshoe Trail. Note horses in pens lower right. Earthen Davis Dam is in left center of picture.

View of Arizona from the trail. The highway is the one that connects Laughlin to Kingman.

Mountains to the west. I suspect Grapevine Canyon and Spirit Mountain are in there somewhere (see "Christmas Tree Pass and Grapevine Canyon")

Davis Dam, power plant, and Lake Mohave from the trail.

Donna near the top of the trail.

Donna in same place as in picture above. I climbed to the top of the small hill to snap this picture. View is towards the west.

The casinos of Laughlin.

I love the way shadows play on the mountains. Depending on the time of day and the light, the mountains look different.

King of the mountain.

Davis Dam and Lake Mohave

I recently wrote about the Riverwalk Exploration Trail in Laughlin (see "Riverwalk Exploration Trail"). The north end of the trail is the Davis Dam. A few days ago, Donna and I drove out there and walked across the Davis Dam.

From the Laughlin Bridge, take Highway 163 west for 3 or 4 miles. You’ll see a sign for Pyramid Canyon and the Davis Dam. Turn right onto this road. It heads northeast down a long slope. As soon as you get on the road, you might want to pull off to the side as this is a wonderful place to snap photos of the dam, Laughlin, and the mountains in the area.

Residential section of Bullhead City across the Colorado River in Arizona.

The road basically ends at the park which marks the north end of the paved Riverwalk Exploration Trail. We parked the truck in the parking lot, then continued up the road towards the dam. About a quarter mile up the road, barricades block entrance to the dam except for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Once on the dam, the clear blue waters of Lake Mohave snake their way northward along the course of the Colorado River. The contrast between the blue waters of the lake and the brown tones of the surrounding mountains is beautiful. The views looking south along the Colorado River and the casinos of Laughlin are also quite good. 

The blue waters of Lake Mohave contrast beautifully with the brown earth tones of the surrounding country. Notice how clear the water is at the bottom of the picture.

Looking downriver to Laughlin. That is the Riverside Casino visible. The boat in the center of the picture is a tour boat that takes visitors up and down the river.

Donna and I love the rugged country around Laughlin. We never tire of the views.

 Davis Dam, completed in 1951, today performs various tasks. It controls the flow of the unpredictable Colorado River, provides water to the desert region, and generates hydroelectric power. Lake Mohave, which is formed by Davis Dam, contains a surface area of nearly 30,000 acres. It stretches from Davis Dam all the way north to Hoover Dam. The Davis Power Plant produces 1.25 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, enough to power over a million homes.

Kiosks are located on top of the power plant, providing information about the dam, the lake, and the power plant.

The power plant, as seen from the top of the dam.

This is the forebay, which stores water from the river. This is essentially level with the top of the power plant. From here, water passes through 5 intakes down through the power plant, turning the turbines and thereby creating electricity.

After flowing through the intakes, through the penstock, and turning the turbines, water returns to the river via the outflow, which is the area in the center of the above picture.

Vegas, Baby

We're in Las Vegas now. We'll be here at the Las Vegas KOA RV Park at Sam's Town for the next 2 weeks. But I still have several entries to post from our stay in Laughlin, and I'll be doing that over the next few days. I have a pretty good WiFi connection now, and that will certainly make posting entries much, much easier.

So hang in there, and I'll get some new entries posted soon.

Christmas Tree Pass and Grapevine Canyon

Donna and I have been hearing about Grapevine Canyon since we started visiting Laughlin several years ago. On this trip, we finally got around to visiting it. In fact, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and take in Christmas Tree Pass as well.


We left Laughlin and headed all the way to the west end of Christmas Tree Pass Road, which is near the small community of Cal-Nev-Ari on Highway 95, the highway from Needles to Las Vegas. Christmas Tree Pass Road is a dirt-surface road. From Highway 95 to Highway 163 near Laughlin, total distance of this road is just over 16 miles.

Start of the dirt road towards Christmas Tree pass, which is in the notch in the mountains on the horizon. We've just turned off Highway 95 and are heading east.

Nearing the pass, which is more visible now. Road is still in very good condition.

There is a little information kiosk as you turn off the highway just south of Cal-Nev-Ari. Then the dirt road rises due east, heading for a gap in the distant mountains. For the first several miles, the road surface was pretty good, though there were several washboard sections. Near the pass, the road began to narrow and some rutted areas appeared.


The tallest mountain along the route is Spirit Mountain, a sacred mountain to area Native American tribes. Spirit Mountain reaches a height of 5,643 feet and is located north of Christmas Tree Pass Road. We approached the pass after 6 or 7 miles. At the top, numerous juniper trees are decorated with various items. I do not know if the pass is named for the decorated trees or if people began decorating the trees because of the name. We saw a similar thing as we approached Oatman, Arizona, from Fort Mohave.

I believe this is Spirit Mountain, but I'm not absolutely certain.

Juniper tree in the pass with some unusual decorations.

There is some rugged but beautiful country up here.

Looking back west from the pass.

Up to this point, the road was in pretty good shape, but in the pass, it began to deteriorate. For about 2 miles on the east side of the pass, the road deteriorated, with several areas washed out to some degree  by recent rains. I would not recommend low-clearance vehicles travel this road. I have to admit that there were a couple of places when I considered turning around, but I’m glad I did not.


We continued on our route. At just over 14 miles and almost 1 hour of travel, we arrived at Grapevine Canyon. There is a turnoff into a parking area, complete with restrooms of some sort – I can’t tell exactly what type as we did not use them.


We parked at the trailhead. By the way, this is not a maintained trail, so there is no marked trail. Just point towards the mouth of the canyon and head there. You should see lots of tracks of previous visitors. You really need to be down in the wash itself rather than up on the higher shelf.

Mouth of Grapevine Canyon. Petroglyphs are on boulders on both sides of the mouth of the canyon.

There are numerous petroglyphs located on the boulders on both sides of the mouth of the canyon. As I understand, you can follow the canyon farther up to a spring. However, this requires some boulder climbing and, to be quite honest, we just simply were not interested in doing that. So, we turned around, headed to the truck, and made our way back to Laughlin. It was an interesting trip.

Click this picture to enlarge it to more clearly see the petroglyphs.

Click this picture to enlarge it and more clearly see the petroglyphs.

Looking east from the canyon.

How Are We Doing in the Trailer

It was one month ago that we closed on our house. Ever since, we’ve been living in our trailer. So, how are we doing after a month?


I guess we’re doing alright. This trailer is a bit small. It is only 28 feet long with a single shallow slide-out, so room is limited. When 2 people live in such a confined space, they better like each other. We’ve only squared off once. Donna got angry the other day and pulled her switchblade on me. I slipped on my brass knuckles and we went at each other for a while. Things are okay now, but I try to sleep with one eye open.


Seriously, you do have to work together to get along in such a small space. We try to respect each other’s space and be patient with one another. We’ve also developed a routine for each day, and that always helps us.


When we first started out, we had a couple of problems with the trailer. The converter was not working properly at first. Among other things, the converter recharges the battery when it is plugged into either shore power or the truck. Ours was not doing that. Until we could get into town to get parts, we just recharged the battery periodically with our battery charger.

Then, when we arrived in Big Spring just after leaving San Angelo, we discovered the clothes rod in one of our wardrobes had collapsed from the weight of the clothes. I made some repairs, and then we reassessed our clothing situation and took what we felt we didn’t need to our daughter’s home just outside of Big Spring to store for us until we return.


Other than that, the trailer has performed well. The first few days we were in Laughlin, the weather was bad and even cold. Since then, though, we’ve not seen a freeze. We’ve used just over 3 tanks of propane, and we use a couple of space heaters to cut the chill from time to time.


The biggest problem is that I’m not comfortable sitting anywhere in the trailer. Our main sitting area is the sofa, and the padding there is practically non-existent and there is little support. We’ve purchased some small cushions, and they help, but I miss the comfortable chairs we had in our previous trailer, and I miss the room we had in that trailer as well. But we are adjusting, and it amazes me just how little people need to live. I really don’t know why houses continue to get larger. What do we need with all that space?


We are heading to Las Vegas soon, and we’ll visit the Camping World there and look at trailers. If we find one in our weight range that has a rear living area, we may upgrade. It all depends, of course, on weight and price. But we’ll look. It also depends on the wait list at Rio Concho West and how long we think we might have to live in a trailer.


Until then, Donna will keep her switchblade sharpened and I’ll keep my brass knuckles handy.

I'll see you down the road . . . I hope.

Mojave National Preserve

Before this trip, I was not aware of the Mojave National Preserve, and that’s a shame. It is really a wonderful place.


The preserve is located just west of the lower California/Nevada state line, neatly tucked between interstates 15 and 40. The preserve contains 1.6 million acres, making it the third largest unit of the National Park System. Previously assigned to the BLM, it was re-designated in 1994 with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act. The park is rich in volcanic formations, such as Hole-in-the-Wall and the Cinder Cone Lava Beds. It is also home to the largest Joshua Tree forests in the world.


The land was originally occupied by Native American tribes, such as the Chemehuevi and the Mohave. During the days of California gold fever, gold mines were established throughout the area. Silver, iron, and other deposits were discovered later and were also mined in the region.


Donna and I saw only a fraction of this preserve today. We started by driving west from Needles on Interstate 40. We exited on Essex Road, about 7 miles west of Fenner. We drove northwest along Essex Road for 10 miles, then almost due north along Black Canyon Road for 10 miles to Hole-in-the-Wall, where an information center, campground, and other facilities are located. Unfortunately, the information center was not open –although the sign on its window indicated it should be – but we wandered about a bit and drove through the campground. There were probably half a dozen campers in the campground, which has no hookups of any type but does have potable water and a dump station.

Informational center tucked into Hole-in-the-Wall

From Hole-in-the-Wall, we headed due north, where Black Canyon Road turned into a dirt road. For the first several miles, the road is well-maintained and quite wide. However, as the road reaches the hilly sections, the road narrows quite a bit, with numerous twists and turns. During our trip, there had been a recent snow, so the road was damp, but in relatively good condition. Snow still covered much of the surrounding hills. We had no problems, though. After about 9 miles, we intersected with the Cedar Canyon Road and turned west. This road in places follows some of the old Mojave Road, which is a notable piece of history in and of itself. It cuts through some hilly areas and passes a wonderful Joshua Tree forest.

Black Canyon Road after a light snow. The road is in generally good condition.

Joshua Trees

After 3 miles or so, the road becomes paved again, and eventually intersects with the Kelso Cima Road. We turned southwest and followed the road to Kelso. For most of the way, the road is a gradual downhill slope. Soon the Kelso Dunes appeared in the distance. The Kelso Dunes, which are at the base of the Granite Mountains, are about 700 feet in height. They are formed by sand carried by wind from Soda Dry Lake, the Mojave River Sink, and the Devil’s Playground. They appear as a splotch of sand-colored area amid a larger terrain of darker hues.

Kelso Dunes as seen from the Kelso Cima Road

At Kelso, we stopped at the information center. As with its counterpart at Hole-in-the-Wall, it was also closed, though its posted hours indicate it is closed on the day we visited. The information center is housed in an old railroad station. Howevet, the outside restrooms were open, making this a good stop along your drive through the Preserve. The availability of good water was instrumental in the creation of Kelso as a railway stop. With the rising grade to the northeast, “helper” trains were needed to pull trains up the slope. The little desert town declined after World War II.

Kelso Depot

Joshua Trees near Cima

After our stop, we retraced our route by heading northeast on the Kelso Cima Road. Near Cima, which is nothing more than a road junction, there is another very large Joshua Tree forest. Beyond Cima, a large valley opens, with views far into the distance. We were able to clearly see Primm to the north and Nipton to the northeast. We intersected with Ivanpah Road, turned north, and then intersected Highway 164 and turned east to Searchlight, Nevada. From there, we worked our way back to Laughlin.

Posting Entries with a Smart Phone

We've been without an Internet connection for a week now. I posted my last entry on the Riverwalk Exploration Trail using my smart phone.

It really isn't too hard to publish text using a smart phone. I just write the document on the computer, move it to my smart phone, then copy and paste it to my blog.

Adding pictures using a smart phone is much more difficult. The options for the picture move all over the screen, and selecting them can be awkward. But it is certainly doable, as evidenced by the Riverwalk entry.

So please be patient as I continue to work this way until we get another Internet connection.