Cibola NWR, Gargoyle Canyon, and Julian

 Maybe a better title would have been Birds, Bees and Beer. Lol. Keep reading, you'll see. On Tuesday, 2/15, we had a blustery drive to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. There are three dry camping options near the refuge and we ended up with a good spot on Oxbow Lake at the BLM campground. The Oxbow Recreation and Wildlife Area has several camping areas spread out around the lake. The camp host was super helpful and took Rog around to show him what was available. We picked a spot facing the lake with easy water access for Riley.

 

Our spot on Oxbow Lake.

Then we spent the remainder of the day hunkered down exclaiming over the crazy winds and the dust! There was so much dust in the air, you could barely see across the water and the mountains totally disappeared. The impact on visibility is so bad it gets its own weather advisory. Think blizzard white-out, only in beige. Ugh.  We were glad the winds only lasted one day and then we had clear skies and a lovely full moon.

 

Dust....No dust.
What a difference a little wind can make.

Moonrise over Oxbow Lake.

The primary reason we’re here is to visit the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was established in 1964 as mitigation after dam construction on the Colorado River. It spans both sides of the river with units in Arizona and California and provides important habitat for migratory and resident birds, especially the vast flocks of snow geese and Sandhill cranes. Although we visited late in the season, there were still several flocks hanging around.

 

Flocks of snow geese at Cibola NWR.

The geese take flight.

Sandhill cranes.

We walked the nature trail and drove the Goose Loop auto tour several times both in the day and evening. We saw plenty of the more common birds: ducks, quail, kestrels, wrens, and a friendly hummingbird. I was super bummed that we had no luck sighting the resident burrowing owls. They have habitats built all along the auto tour, but none deigned to come out and make our acquaintance.

 

Hummingbird posing near the visitors center.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Plenty of habitats, but no burrowing owls in sight.

In addition to the 288 species of birds recorded at Cibola NWR, mule deer, coyote and bobcats are common. Hoping for some wildlife sightings, we drove at dusk past the Hart Mine Marsh to the Cibola Lake Overlook. No love from the furry critters, but the scenery was stunning and we saw a line up of cormorants doing their best Cirque du Soleil impression above the Colorado River.  

 

Birds on a wire.

View from Cibola Lake Overlook.

Hart Mine Marsh.

Evening light on the hills.

While we were at Oxbow, Rog found another short slot canyon hike on Google maps. Gargoyle Canyon. That sounded like fun and it was dog friendly so Riley got to go too! We drove down a sandy wash and parked near the entrance to the canyon. Riley was a trooper and scrambled up and over several boulders and along granite ledges. Then we came to a pour-over that was about 5 feet tall. Nope. He waited while Rog and I took turns exploring a little further. The canyon ended just a few hundred yards past the pour-over, so he didn’t miss much. 😊  The best part, we had it all to ourselves. We didn't see another soul the whole time we were in the canyon.

We drove down the sandy wash and parked.
Yay 4WD.

 

Riley isn't too sure about Gargoyle Canyon. 

Trail dog mode.

Raptor nest, faces and feathers.
Interesting finds along the way.

Just love slot canyons!

Dad can climb, Riley says this is the end of the trail.

I'll guard the snacks. 😏

Pictures of the hike on Google showed a weird fin shaped rock formation, or so we thought. We kept a lookout and spotted several. I took pictures and when I zoomed in, realized they were beehives high in the cliff walls! How cool is that! We saw the bees flying in and out and you could clearly see the honeycombs.

 

Bee hives in the cliff wall. Too cool. 

We left Oxbow on Friday, 2/18, and headed west. Along Hwy 78 we passed a virtual parade of RV’s and trucks towing a wide variety of Off-Road Vehicles all converging on the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. There were miles of dunes and dozens of ORV’s scurrying like tiny ants this way and that. Lots of boondocking opportunities too, it looked like fun!

 

Fun on the dunes.

Imperial Sand Dunes along Hwy 78.

Our destination, however, was Stagecoach Trails, a private RV park near Julian, CA. Julian is a fun tourist town known for its pies. There are four, count ‘em FOUR, highly rated bakeries in a town with a population of 1,019. Lol. It’s definitely a destination for carbaholics! It didn’t hurt our feelings either to find that it had a very good brewery with excellent pizza and BBQ.  We happily contributed to the local economy, enjoying the shops, lunch at the Julian Beer Company and brought home some amazing apple dumplings and a whole Bumbleberry pie. That ought to keep us in carbs for a while. 😊

Fun shopping, and...

...excellent pies, and...

...a couple of pints, pizza, and smoked wings. 
A very good day.

 Stagecoach Trails was interesting too. It’s addressed off the Great Southern Overland Stage Route of 1849. The route is part of the historic Butterfield Overland Mail Route that, from 1857 to 1861, carried passengers and mail from Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. The RV park had a whole section dedicated to the horse crowd, with corrals and lots of western themed buildings, art, and landscaping.  Riley loved the big dog park. They even had tunnels large enough for him to go through, but he was having no part of that. Lol.

Relaxing at Stagecoach Trails.

 

Fun western themed artifacts.

The namesake stagecoach.

A Riley sized dog run.

Riley says, "Nope, nope, nope."

I’ve mentioned the Escapees RV Club that we joined last year a couple of times and our next stop is related to that. Jojoba Hills SKP RV Resort is an Escapees (abbreviated SKPs) co-op. Members can also visit if space is available. The amenities look fantastic and we’re really excited to check it out. Hope we like it, because we’ve booked a week there!

 

Lake Havasu City and Up SARA’s Crack

What a change of pace. On Tuesday, 2/8, we moved from our spacious, solitary desert boondocking spot in Kofa to a tight waterfront spot at La Paz County Park near Parker, AZ. That’s not all bad news, since this place is certainly more to Riley’s liking.

 

Oh yes. Riley much prefers this to the dry, rocky desert.

We had a choice of a site right on the Colorado River with no electric or a spot with electric in the overflow section next to a storage area far from the river. Guess which one we chose? After boondocking, this feels a bit like Sardine City. We have about 2 feet between our coach and the neighbor’s ramada. The ramadas are large though and provide welcome shade. With temps getting well into the 80’s, we are enjoying the cool breeze that comes off the water. It gets a little gusty at times, sending anything not nailed down flying. We’ve watched neighbors chase items and had to make a grab for Riley’s bed when it went sailing too. Note, not with Riley on it. Lol.

Since most of the activities we wanted to do are in or near Lake Havasu City (LHC), we’re a little farther away than we’d like, about 25 miles. But other than some very desolate boondocking spots, everything closer was booked, so we are very happy with our spot on the river.

We're may be close together, but...

...we are just steps from the river.

We spent Wednesday doing errands. The Acadia got fueled, washed, and an oil change. We hit a grocery store, the bank, and a Home Depot. My laptop battery just isn’t holding a charge for long and without hookups it was getting to be a daily hassle trying to keep it up and running. Rog decided to add a 300-watt inverter and a new 40v/6Ah battery to his Ryobi collection. That set up should keep all our electronics running for quite a while.

Thursday, 1/11, was a hiking day. If you’ve followed the blog for long, you know we love slot canyon hikes and there was one right outside LHC. SARA (Special Activities and Recreation Area) Park is a 1,100-acre recreational area that boasts a large network of hiking and mountain biking trails, a rodeo complex, ball fields, skating rink, motocross park and speedway, a shooting range and fields for remote controlled planes and cars. SARA’s Crack is a five-star hike through a slot canyon, continue a few miles (which we did) and you’ll come to Lake Havasu at Balanced Rock Cove.   

 

Balanced Rock Cove was worth the extra miles.

We found the trailhead and started off down a sandy wash. The area is a crazed network of hiking, biking, and social trails. The Crack hike was well marked though, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The directions say to just stay in the wash and you won’t get lost. We did a little scrambling, including one spot where we went all Indiana Jones and descended a pour over on a rope. Woohoo, a new challenge which I was able to do, no problem. (Props to our personal trainer, Robyn, who has been sending us workouts while we’re on the road. Lol.) We made it all the way to Balanced Rock Cove and stopped for a snack in a shady spot.

 

Slogging through the sandy wash on the way to SARA's Crack.

We took a brief detour to check out this giant cannonball boulder
 perched on a hill above the trail. Cool, eh?

As the canyon narrows things get more interesting.

Rog uses the rope to descend a pour over.

Check out Momma going all Indiana Jones. Lol. 

Things are getting tight, we're definitely in the Crack now. 

Love those slot canyon hikes!

We found a shady spot for lunch along Lake Havasu.

The area is utterly desolate and on the way back we were trying to use the trails adjacent to the wash. Walking through deep loose sand and gravel is not fun. However, we ended up accidentally taking a wrong turn (or maybe several) and found ourselves on a spiderweb (if the spider was high on LSD) of mountain biking trails. With no cell reception to check the trail app, we wandered around for a bit, backtracked some, and finally realized we’d actually been within sight of the parking lot but thought it was the wrong one. Chalk it up as another adventure. Lol.

Desolate and without many landmarks it's easy to get lost.
Not that we were or for very long anyway! Lol.

Since Riley had spent the better part of two days in the coach, we decided to make Friday a Riley day. He was long overdue for a bath and nail trim. (He might have preferred we just left him alone to nap in peace. Lol). Don’t feel too sorry for him though, every day he’s gotten multiple dips in the river, ball play on a large grassy field, and (his favorite) playtime in the sprinklers!

 

Riley in the water (again). 

Before his bath, we took him on a car ride over the Parker Dam. The dam, completed in 1938, spans the Colorado River creating Lake Havasu. Only a quarter of its 320-foot height is above grade. It extends 235 feet below the riverbed, making it the deepest dam in the world. We drove along the California side of the river to check out a BLM campground (Crossroads) that was well reviewed. It was also completely full. Waterfront spots for $15 a night aren’t going to be empty for long.

 

Parker Dam, 75% of it is below grade.

Saturday, 2/12, was the opening day of Winterfest Street fair in LHC. We got an early start and arrived by 9:30am. The city closes about a mile or so of a major retail street, McCulloch Boulevard, where hundreds of vendors set up tents. There are food trucks, music, and a big play area for the kids too, including pony rides. Although the poor ponies didn’t look much bigger than Riley. Lol. Rog and I found a few items that followed us home and we left to see the London Bridge around 12:30pm. (Not kidding! It’s the real deal.)

 

Winterfest Street Fair.

One of the major tourist attractions in LHC is the famous London Bridge. Huh?? That’s what I said. The city’s founder, Robert McCulloch of chainsaw fame, bought the bridge from the City of London in 1968 for $2.4 million dollars. He then spent three years and another $7 million to move the bridge to Arizona. The 10,276 pieces of the bridge were numbered and disassembled and then reassembled in LHC. The bridge is the only access to the Island with its parks, hotels and restaurants. We crossed the bridge and enjoyed walking along the Bridgewater Channel and stopped for a bit to watch some radio-controlled boat races. Another fun feature along the channel are the lighthouse replicas. Members of the Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club have erected 28 of these navigational beacons along the lake shoreline on both the Arizona and California sides. The lighthouses are smaller replicas (about ¼ size) of famous lighthouses from across the country.

The London Bridge.
What's it doing here????

The RC boat races drew quite a crowd.

 

Replicas of famous lighthouses along Lake Havasu.

Remember when we were at Silly Al’s in Quartzite and were sad that they’d run out of our favorite beer - Big Blue Van? Well, we decided to go right to the source – College Street Brewery in LHC! We knew we loved Big Blue Van, so we were interested in what else they had on tap. The menu offered a 3- or 6-beer flight, so after carefully surveying the options, I chose my six favorites. Then the server informed me you could only choose your own for the flight of 3 and the 6-beer flight was set lightest to darkest. Well dang. Then give me two 3-beer flights! I got an eye-roll, but she did laugh and say she thought that might happen. Lol. They had some excellent sours and a decent stout too, along with a large and varied menu. Definitely a worthwhile stop if you’re in town.

A stop at College Street Brewery is highly recommended.
Can't pick six? Give me two threes. I can do math. Lol. 

Sunday was another lazy camp day. Well, sort of anyhow. We have been struggling daily with internet access. Sometimes our cell reception is pretty decent and we can get slow, but adequate internet. Most of the time however, it’s been an exercise in futility. And exercise is what we wanted to do. We get a workout posted on an app from our trainer, Robyn, but had been unable to access it. I finally got in and quickly wrote down all the exercises, reps, etc. Then hiked to the “wifi shack” to watch the instructional videos to learn what a “Hollow Rock” and “Russian Twist” were. (A way to torture my nonexistent ab muscles, that’s what!) We then spent 45 minutes sweating, grunting, and entertaining the neighbors. 😊 And no, you don’t get pictures. Lol.

Monday, 2/14, was our last full day at La Paz County Park and Rog headed back to that crazed spiderweb of trails at SARA park to mountain bike. He rode just shy of 12 miles across some beautiful, but barren desert terrain. Then he did exactly what we’d done while hiking – got within a mile of his end point and took a wrong turn. Lol. I’m blaming it on the massive number of actual trails, spurs, and illegitimate social trails that are within a mile of the parking lot. He, of course, soon found his way back and returned home happy and tired.

Desolate, but beautiful in its own way.

Rog gives the trail system a thumbs up.
He was amused by the marker for Beer Bottle Trail.

Good ride, great scenery.

Meanwhile, Riley and I held down the fort, although Riley insisted on frequent trips to the river to make sure it was still wet and to the ballfield to ensure the grass was still green. Both boxes were checked. Lol. He likes to chase the ball a bit, but he’s more interested in just hanging out on the green, kicking his feet in the air in pure puppy exuberance. So much for my dignified mastiff. 😊

 

Who's a happy pupper??

Dignified? Not so much. Lol.

Our plan is to leave tomorrow as early as we can manage. High winds are forecast and we want to be off the road as soon as possible. The good news, our objective, Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, is only about 80 miles away. It’s another boondocking area, so here’s hoping we can find a good spot and get tucked in before the winds get too crazy.