11-17-2020 Valley of Fire

There remains but one last day here to explore the sights.  Valley of Fire was on Sunday’s agenda but we got delayed by the requisite Sunday “9-1-1 Special breakfast.”  At 2PM, with the sun beginning its descent and creating shadows, it became impossible to get a true appreciation of this incredible wonder.  So with an extra day to spare, the Valley of Fire was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Arch Rock

Balancing Rock - Who wants
to put money on when this thing
will fall?

Poodle Rock - See him?

Mother Nature began work on this creation millions of years ago.  Volcanos, shifting plates, ice ages, ancient seas and flooding followed by a desert climate continue to take turns changing the landscape of the earth.  Valley of Fire is no exception.  The colors derive from sandstone, silica, gypsum, iron, manganese and a host of additional elements that create the reds, whites, tans and blacks that we now see.  Much later, at the time of the dinosaurs, the area was covered by as much as 3,000 feet of sand that held everything in place.  As the winds blew the sands about, the rock formations stayed behind in the spectacular formations that we see today.  (That’s the Reader’s Digest version.)

18 feet deep sealed chasm
called "Mouse's Tank"

Humans have left their prints, of course.  One story tells of a Paiute named, “Little Mouse,” who in the late 1800s sort of went loony toons and started shooting up the Indians’ village.  He went on the lam and holed up in Valley of Fire near a natural deep well filled with clear clean water, a scarcity in this land.  He thrived for several months but when he decided to move along he was spotted by a posse.  He refused to surrender so they shot him.  As in, “dead.”  The natural 18-feet deep well is now called Mouse’s Tank and can be visited by taking a hike along the canyons covered with petroglyphs.  The petroglyphs were not painted on the rocks as we have seen elsewhere but they are scratched through the black surface of the rocks (created by deposits of iron and manganese reacting with other elements) to the lighter colored layer below it.

Hiking on Mouse's Tank trail

Wuhan Virus petroglyph

Rob and the Higher Glyphs

Some of the many petroglyphs on
Mouse's Tank trail

Sergeant John J. Clark's memorial

Another story involves a cavalry man, Sergeant John J. Clark.  After serving with honor in the Civil War and being discharged from service, he was traveling by horse-drawn buckboard through the valley on his way to Salt Lake City.  He stopped to rest and presumably to find a bit of water, to no avail.  He lie down in the shadow of his buckboard and died.  His horse died beside him.  A memorial monument out on a lonely hill honors Sergeant Clark’s life and heroic deeds but it isn’t clear if he is actually buried there.

Rob and the 1930s version
of the Holiday Inn Express

In more recent decades (1930s), the Civilian Conservation Corps built a few small cabins along the pathways to shelter weary travelers.  The cabins were not furnished with much, just a dirt floor and a fireplace but they provided respite from the unforgiving desert elements.  And they did offer free wi-fi.
 

White Dome - comprised
of gypsum, mostly

It is easy to spend several days in the Valley of Fire, hiking to the more famous of the rock formations and stopping for a sip of water and a sandwich at one of the picnic areas overlooking the spectacular vistas.  It was a wonderful place to spend peaceful hours soaking in Mother Nature’s tireless creativity.

That’s all for this time.  Time to pack up Noobee and head back to the insanity.  Thanks to all of you, my dear t-loggers, for coming along on this little getaway.  I send you hugs and kisses, even if they are illegal and of course lots of love!  Have a wonderful holiday season!

 

11-16-2020 St. Thomas, NV

Echo Bay International Airport

 On our way to today’s explorations, we couldn’t resist jumping off the road to have a quick look at Echo Bay International Airport, accessible by a rough, gravel road.  Not much activity going on at the airport, though.  I’m not sure what a round-trip ticket might cost since we didn’t find a terminal where we could make inquiries.

The runway

 St. Thomas was settled by the Mormons in 1865 on the banks of the confluence of the Muddy and Virgin Rivers where the soil was very fertile for farming.  When the government came along (It’s always somethin,’ Jane.  Usually, the government.), they finalized the state boundary line between Utah and Nevada, moving it east just enough to situate St. Thomas in Nevada instead of Utah.  As a consequence of this, the damned government told the people that they owed Nevada six years of back taxes.  The Mormons asked Brigham Young what they should do.  He advised the citizens to take a vote and all but two people  (out of 45 families) voted to say, “Fuck you,” and abandon St. Thomas for parts further into Utah.  As a parting shot, they engaged the “scorched earth policy” and destroyed the town with fire.

The white part is what NV
looked like then.  The blue
part is what they called
the new boundary.

Rob and a deep cistern

  

A pioneer woman drawing water
from the cistern

Other settlers moved into St. Thomas later and developed a fairly prosperous settlement.  Trains came along and delivered supplies and ice to the folks and they were thriving quite well.  They had cisterns for water that they dipped by the barrelful out of the river.  Ashes, charcoal and sand were thrown into the water and acted as a natural filter.  “Refrigerators” consisted of wooden boxes wrapped in burlap.  The burlap was soaked in water and the wind kept the boxes cool.  They were raised up on stilts and the stilts were sitting in glasses of water to keep the ants out.

This is what is left of St. Thomas, NV

Lindy and the foundations of a home
in St. Thomas

 In 1928, along came President Coolidge and the concept of Hoover Dam.  By 1935, the dam was a reality, it was dedicated by FDR, gates were closed by 1936 and the water began to rise.  St. Thomas was a distant memory and flooded under 70 feet of Lake Mead by 1938.  In recent decades, receding water has revealed what is left of St. Thomas:  just the foundations of a ghost town.  We found the trail head of a 2.5 mile hike to the ruins of the settlement.  Being as old as we are, it took an afternoon for us to make the hike, stopping along the way to catch our breath, take a chug of water and examine placards and foundations. 

 Along our way, we encountered sheep, wild horses, burros and one lone coyote howling up on a ridge.  A very interesting, fun day!

11-14-20 Callville, NV and Driving Around

 What beautiful country this is!  The rocks look like they are smoldering:  bright red, orange and yellow.  They are set off in contrast with blue and gray mountains and a royal blue sky.  Millions of years ago, volcanos and earthquakes created rifts, sand dunes and deep, sharp canyons that we shall see today.  Each time we came around a bend in the road, there was a more amazing sight.  “Wow!  Slow down!  Look at this!”  Over and over we were treated by Mother Nature’s artistry.  We arrived at our campground late in the afternoon but in time to quickly set up camp, pour a toonie and watch the sun slip behind the mountains.

 

Noobee at Lake Mead
RV Village

It was a slow start this morning because the clocks had been reset to island time.  No rush.  Coffee,  jammies and puzzles in the sunshine.  What shall we do today?

 

Lake Mead is enormous and unbelievably blue.  Mathematically, it looks to cover about 100 miles as the crow flies (on the map), three arms create a three point star shape kind of like a Mercedes ornament.  It is fed mostly by snowmelt off the Rockies so when they get snow, Lake Mead gets water.  When the Rockies have a less snowy winter, Lake Mead recedes.  The clean, clear blue water is explained by the snowmelt that feeds the lake.

 

Echo Bay marina

Echo Bay is located on the western bay of the Overton Arm.  The water has receded to its lowest depth since 2016 and the marina is accessible by a new, lower ramp.   There are many fishermen, ducks and other seabirds and campers along the water.  Humans evolved from the water, humans gravitate back to the water.  The fishermen are in fish paradise.  The lake is the home of several brands of bass, bluegill, trout, catfish, shad and razorback shuckers.  Oh My God, take me to your chef!  We drove along the shore of Echo Bay, a rough, rocky drive where there were rugged tent campers pitched and fishermen casting lines.  It would have been dreamy to be seaside here but we did not envision Noobee navigating the steep irregular trail. 

 

The water was up to the 
white arrow in 2010

We wanted to investigate Callville Bay but we passed it on the way to our campground.  So today, we decided to backtrack about 30 miles to see what Callville was all about.  Callville was a port established by the Mormons in 1869 (named for Anson Call under orders from Brigham Young) and it was meant to be a port to ship supplies to Salt Lake City.  Callville was flooded when Lake Mead was created.  The marina still exists and avid fishermen still launch here.  While poking around, we saw pictures of what Callville Bay marina looked like as late as 2010.  The water has receded so much since then that they have had to rebuild the ramps and the marina here, also, to accommodate the lower water levels.

 

Lindy in the Red Rock Apartments

As we drove along the byways, we had to stop here and there because the red rock vistas in the sunset were not to be passed by.  The story of planet Earth cannot be spelled out in brief.  Billions of years ago, it was a fiery ball.  Then it cooled.  There were volcanos and ice ages.  Then winds and deserts.  The red rocks that stand before us now were buried at one time beneath 2,000 feet of sand.  As the winds blew the sands away (To where, I wonder?), the beautiful red rock formations were left behind.  Some are called the Redrock Apartments, where snakes and coyotes now live.

Rob holding up the rocks

 

The Callville Marina Bar and Grill welcomed us at sunset for a catfish and fries dinner.  What a nice way to end the day of exploration!

11-13-2020 Introduction to a Short Fall Trip

 Maybe the authorities will scold us, “OK, don’t say you weren’t warned!”  Our governor, Emperor Sisolak, has “strongly suggested” that we Nevada citizens all lock down for 14 days.  He decrees that if we do not abide, he will… well… I supposed haul millions of us away in handcuffs or something.  (We’ve also been threatened if we get together with family and friends for Thanksgiving.)  All that said, Noobee is all packed up, aired up, watered up, gassed up, dieseled up and boozed up and we are on the road.  We had no choice.  How long can you sit at home?  How much TV can you watch?  So we are headed east to visit Valley of Fire,  not too far from the shore of Lake Mead, that marvelous enormous, blue, inland sea created by one of the wonders of the world, Boulder Dam.  Our effort to explore this beautiful state and learn about its history and geography continues.

 

One casual observation:  It takes just as long to outfit and rig up Noobee for a six-day trip as it does for a 3-month trip.  Just sayin.’

 

So, The DeLaMare Outlaws have joined the others who defy the authorities as we sit in rush hour traffic traveling through Las Vegas to our destiny:  Lake Mead RV Village at Echo Bay.  Look for us on Tucker Carlson.  Or in jail.  Maybe we’ll open a “gofundme” page!  Send bail money!

 

Four days of adventures and stories forthcoming!