GRAND CANYON NP to DEATH VALLEY NP

GRAND CANYON NP to DEATH VALLEY NP

29 Apr

By mid-day we crossed into Nevada and stopped at Lake Mead Visitor Center. Even though the visitor center is closed on Mondays & Tuesdays. We still stooped in the parking lot to eat lunch from the cabin looking out the dashboard window with a picturesque view of Lake Mead. 

Wife's fruit sandwich.... looks so good

Later in the day we crossed into California (there was no "Welcome to" sign board). The only way I knew was because the road sign ever mile or so said SR 190 California. We made our way into Death Valley and the gas prices were ridiculous.

What the !@#%

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

http://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm

Entrance fee $20 a vehicle. Death Valley National Park has plenty to offer, as long as you can handle the heat. It was 3:00 pm when we arrived and it was still hot, just image if we got there earlier in the day. Most everything to see is off the beating path and with the RV and towing there is no way we were going down unpaved dirt roads. If you have a off road truck this National Park is your playground. I really wanted to see the rock race. In the middle of nowhere rocks move along the open dry bed desert, but no one knows how these large rock move, they just do. The way you know they move is because you can see the path these rock left behind.

3:00pm and still hot

We wanted to see Scotty's Castle, but it was on the other side of the park about a 2 hour drive away and was closed we arrived... not enough hours in day. So we made camp for the night at one of the National Parks campgrounds that had 40 sites for only $12 a night. We were first to arrive with two others who would show up around sunset. They spreed out leaving everyone their own part of the campground. The sun was still beating down on us and the only place to take cover from the heat was the shadow in front of our rig.    

I cooked some steaks on the grill for dinner, then the sunset... what a view. Shortly after the cool breeze came with all the RV windows open cooled everything down. I fell a sleep with the bedroom windows open.

30 Apr

Day 2 in Death Valley I started the day off right with a bowl of breakfast of champions (strawberries, banana, whip cream and chocolate syrup). Had to finish the fruits as they are staring to get ripe. 

DEATH VALLEY SCOTTY'S CASTLE

http://www.nps.gov/deva/historyculture/scottys-castle.htm

Walking the grounds are free, entrance fee to the castle is $15 each and the National Park Pass does not cover this tour. The story is mind boggling on why the real owners Albert Johnson of this Castle allowed con man Walter Scott to take credit as it belonging to him. there is a video and story told by the park rangers, but still to hard to understand why. The Johnson's did not have heirs. The castle was built in the the early 1920's at a price around $2.5 million. There was a dispute on who owned the land so building was stopped. The swimming pool never got finished. The wall, bridge and even the looking glass from the house to the pool was completed. However, the tile bottom was not finished and is still filled with dirt. A clock tour stands in the back of the house that rings bells every 15 minutes and a top of the hour rings the number of times the time is (ie 5 bells 5:00 am/pm). The most amazing part is there was no power lines to the house, it ran off a generator that was powered by flowing spring water. Just a remarkable feet for the early 1920. Scotty is buried on top of the hill looking down on the Castle.

As we left the park the navigator took us up and over the Inyo Mountains. It was not one, but three mountains ranges we had to climb over 7,000 feet all 3 times with up to 8% declines/inclines with sharp turns and even a spot with one lane road and no place to pull over. Once we started there was no turning back. I don't recommend it to anyone in any type of motorhome to try this route, special if your towing and are a gas pusher. There were times I did not think we would not make it to the top, let alone make it down the other side safely. After coming down the last mountain we saw a sing for Scotty's Castle... why did the navigator not take us this way? (After look at the National Park map that road is sometimes closed) We stopped in the town of Bishop, CA at a Taco Bell for a well desired break.

Just as we thought we were clear of the mountains ... the road gave us more. This time the roads were a little better, but took us well over 8,000 feet. As we were ready to make our turn to US 120 the road was still closed for the winter season. So, on ward we went to the next pass through on US 108. When we turned the signed board recommended trucks and trailer not pass. Ahead a sign board looked to read 24% inclines. We were able to turn around an continue on US 395. We enter the town of Walker, CA we drove along small rapped streams. We did not take any pictures because the sun started to set and we only wanted to find a place to pull over for the night.

US 395 would be a nice scenic drive, but after US 120 we closed I was more upset then wanting to take in the views. Besides, with the RV it was to hard to pullover and take in the views on the small narrow two lane roads.

WALNUT CANYON NM to GRAND CANYON NP

WALNUT CANYON NM to GRAND CANYON NP

28 Apr
After a complete electric check of the RV, luckily for us only the chassis battier was bad and need replaced. Almost 23 hours later we packed our storage unit (aka tow car) and were ready to get back on the road to our next stop Grand Canyon NP.

After exiting I-40 there is still about an hour drive straight ahead until you reach the gates to the National Park. About half way in we made a pit stop at the small tourist area to take a look around. There were old cars and motorcycles sitting out front and the petrified wood store gave out fee pieces off petrified wood.

I hate to give sad news, but this was the first time when were somewhere that a fatal accident occurred. When we arrived there was rescue crew on the Mather Point lookout walkways. A person fell over the rails and they were working to find her body. A woman, 45 from Flagstaff, AZ fell 400 feet to the canyon bottom and was pronounced dead.

The park rangers keep people away, and told us everything was ok. I only found out that someone died when the wife saw it in someone else's blog. I did a quick search and found this article on the Grand Canyon National Park website.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/parknews/fatality-victim-at-grand-canyon-national-park-identified.htm

GRAND CANYON NP

http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm

One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Entrance fee $25 per vehicle. There are four gates to enter and they were long. It seamed that no one had a National Park Pass and time just stood still, until we were next. We drove up, showed our pass and the ranger waved us on. Just like that, done in a few seconds. With that many gates they should have one of the gates for pass holders. We arrived at the visitors center and looked for RV parking and we have never saw so many rental RV's in one place. It looked like a RV rental parking lot. After a look around the visitor center, park store and getting my stamp in my National Park Passport Book, we were off to see the first holes in the ground of The Grand Canyon.

One of the good features of The Grand Canyon is the park has free shuttle buses that drive around the park, and they are on 15 minutes cycles. There are three different loops, we followed the visitor guide map and we got to see a lot of the canyon in just a few hours. Not a lot of parking for RV's outside the visitor center. We took the bus to some more holes to see and the sunset in the Canyon.We also saw elks eating grass in the parking lot.

                                 

There are two campground in the park, unfortunately they were both full when we arrived. Sorry, I did not get the price per night. Since we were over in the camping areas we did empty our tanks before leaving the park. 

After seeing the sun set we were back on the road and found a place to stop for the night at a TA truck stop.

PETRIFIED FOREST NP to WALNUT CANYON NM

PETRIFIED FOREST NP to WALNUT CANYON NM

27 Apr

The snow was gone, but the winds remain. Just on the horizon from the casino parking lot we could see what the snow left behind from higher elevation on the San Francisco Peaks. As we got ready to depart Twin Arrows Casino the RV would not start. With my trusty Coach-Net road side assistance I was able to get our rig started. I was thinking they would send someone out to jump start us. However, like I said before I have to learn the hard way; today was no different, I learned about the emergency starter our rig has. It pulls the power from our house batteries and I was able to start the RV. I don't know if it's was because of the cold weather or the battery itself; anyways I'll have to make a stop to get these checked out too.

San Francisco Peaks

Walnut Canyon NM
http://www.nps.gov/waca/index.htm

Entrance fee is $5 a person. As you exit the back of the visitor center you can see the mountain and see the dwelling were the Sinagua people once called home. We took the path to the bottom as far as we could. The path at one time make a loop, but a few years ago there was a rock slide and has blocked the path. We walked down to were the path stopped and returned to the way we came. The path was narrow, I could just image how parents was cautious for there young not to get to close and fall off the edge. I stood there looking across the canyon and could see dwelling on the other side. They must have had to communicated by smoke, because I could not see no other way to get to the other side without a long up and over or down and around. This area was also know for having little water in the summer months, but they still became great dry framers. The rivers would be flowing during flood season and dried up in the summer. They must have had to store water from rain fall and during flood season enough for every person living in the dwelling. Some of the building along the mountain edge must have been used for storage and other for cooking. The Sinagua people must have been really small people. I'm not a tall person in any means, but when I stood by one door ways I would have had to duck to enter.  In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Walnut Canyon a National Monument to preserve the ancient cliff dwellings.

 

While walking back to the RV I noticed the TV antenna looked to be bent.  I cranked the antenna to it's full and upright position. Unfortunately, I was right the TV antenna was bent and the rod was in two. I was able to get the antenna down with no problem. All the wind pounding the roof last night I did hear a lot slamming, that's must have been when the antenna bend. After I stop and get the bikes off the ladder I will have to get on the roof and check the damage. Bad luck comes in threes ... WHAT'S NEXT...?

As we tried to start the RV to drive to our next destination, the RV would not start. After using the emergency starter once again, we decided that we would stop at the next Camping World we pass to get the RV checked and fixed. With it being Sunday the garage was closed, so we left our RV and went to a motel for the night.