After quite possibly the worst two nights of sleep I'd ever had (on a sad excuse for a mattress in Grants), I was hoping for much better in my next destination. But I also had no idea that I wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb when I arrived in Laughlin yesterday, but I melted into the crowd of senior citizens effortlessly.
I read on a informational sign this morning that stated that Laughlin is the third most visited gambling city in Nevada (after Vegas and Reno at 4 million visitors) and the fifth most popular destination of Rv'ers in America. That explains all the RV camps. (nearly 2500 sites according to the internet).
The median age here is 57 years and that's just among the residents. The average age in this casino, way higher than that. Even the servers are in their 40's and 50's. I didn't see anyone under 50 (my estimate) until I went to a different casino.
The only time I'd been here was back in the early 80's when I drove up from Phoenix on an off day from work. I'm pretty sure that there were only 4 or maybe 5 casinos (all down by the river) and I remember having a great day at the blackjack tables. I won a couple hundred bucks. The casinos only played with one deck in those days so it was easier to count cards.
A fairly easy 6 hour drive from Grants with a stop in Winslow, I got a hint of how things had changed when I turned off in Kingman. Just west of town you head up over a mountain range into the next valley which is called Golden Valley. My recognition from nearly 40 years ago is that this was nothing but desert. According to the census in 1980 55 thousand people lived in the county, in 2017 there were 207,000. Lots of retirement homes/trailers. The early going rate was 2.5 acres for $695 dollars with $10 down and $10 a month.
As it was supposed to be 95 today (and it was) I headed off on a nice walk early on the Riverwalk Park. 1.5 miles up to the dam and a few adjacent spur trails that led up into the hills. Lots of shelters along the way for the hot days. No camping but picnic spots all over.
The Davis Dam was built in the 1940's and finished in 1953 to further store the Colorado River runoff that had begun with Hoover Dam some 70 miles north of here. Lake Mojave sits behind it.
The building of the dam is what started the twin cities of Bullhead City and Laughlin. Construction camps on both sides of the river were the basis and then in the 50's developer Don Laughlin saw the potential for a riverside casinos and the rest is history.
Camp Davis, at the foot of the dam is one of those sites and now a camping area for both tents and RV's.
Davis Dam.
Some of the camping spots along the river. All have water access, but with the current, it's strictly fishing, kayaking and canoeing at this spot. Swimming areas are down stream a few miles in the Big Bend of the Colorado Park.
My next hike was in Grapevine Canyon which lies about 7 miles west of Laughlin. I chose it because it was suppose to contain lots of petroglyph sites as well as being on the road to Christmas Tree Pass.
A short 1/4 mile walk up to the canyon and voila TONS of petroglyphs.
The wash at the beginning of the hike. Grapevine Canyon is in the distance.
At the entrance to the canyon you can see petroglyphs on both sides of the narrowing entrance.
I hiked as far as I could back into the canyon and found the wild grapevines that gives it its name.
At the far end was a spring that ran for probably a hundred yards.
There must have been a wild bee colony around somewhere in the canyon. Lots of bees were enjoying the water source this morning.
More of the thousands of petroglyphs that you can see from the canyon floor.
I spent a good hour and a half climbing around on the rocks checking out all the art work. Very impressive site. Who knew?
The canyon is part of the Spirit Mountain Wilderness and is a sacred place to Indian tribes in Southern Nevada and has become the first Indian land in the state to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places
I drove off west on Christmas Tree Pass to see why it was so named. According to the internet folks had been taking their used Christmas decorations and decorating trees alongside the road.
Alas it wasn't too be today. I don't know if I was busy paying attention to the road, but I only saw one piece of icicle garland. I did however see two pieces of men's boxer briefs hanging from trees. A new name for the pass coming in the future?
The east side of the pass was much more interesting in terms of terrain. Here's on of the mountain ranges to the south of the road.
Looking north and east from the road.
At the junction of Christmas Tree Pass Road and US 95 sits a little "town" named Cal Nev Ari (you don't pronounce the final I as I was told). Really just a couple RV parks, a motel and some trailers. I stopped in to replenish my water supply, it was 92 at 1 PM (but a dry heat).
I chatted with the clerk at the "liquor" store for a few minutes. She'd move here from Alaska 4 years ago after 33 years in Alaska. Quite the change I said. "I just got tired of the cold". Why here? Well she actually lives in Searchlight which is much more of a town. I asked about the weather and whether or not it snowed. She said locals told here that it was about 6 years ago when it snowed last and closed 95 with about a inch of snow on the roads. We both got a chuckle out of that.
Off to California tomorrow. More then.
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