Boat Ride, Birthday and Hiking the Mountain Crack…

We traveled just three miles south into Lake Havasu City to yet another Passport America Park, Campbell Cove Resort. It is a nice little park with great views overlooking Lake Havasu. After setting up and cranking up the A/C, the temperatures were in the low 90’s, so we decided to head over to London Bridge to catch the ferry over to the Indian Casino across the lake into California.

We had no intention of gambling but simply wanted to enjoy the best deal in town… the $2.00 per person round trip ferry boat ride across Lake Havasu. Leaving Lake Havasu City we saw RV’s camped all along the banks of the lake on both sides. The boat ride took about 15 minutes and docked near the casino. We walked in to check out the little casino which does have great views from the bar but we weren’t intrigued enough to stay. We re-boarded the ferry and took the return leg back across to Lake Havasu City. We decided to walk along the lakefront and go across the London Bridge and back.  We felt it was a nice way to kill a few hours and we really enjoyed the ferry ride.…

The next day was Sharon’s birthday so I made her breakfast of choice – Whole Grain Huckleberry Pancakes from the frozen Huckleberries we picked in Montana. After breakfast we relaxed at home and then made her a birthday lunch of another favorite, Kale, Sausage and Chick Peas with the last of our Texas Slovacek sausage. Yummy!

After lunch we headed over to near Sara Park on the south side of town as I found the perfect birthday hike for Sharon. This just under 5 mile hike included some mild canyoneering through what is called the Crack in the Mountiain. We parked in Sara Park close to the gate near the Special Activities Recreation Area .  We started on the trail which basically followed the dry wash down the canyon. We occasionally switched over to the red trail which seemed to help us stay out of the harder to walk in sandy and loose gravel in the wash more than the yellow trail did.

After about a mile walking or slogging through the dry wash we started to notice the canyon walls becoming closer together and taller. The rocks in this part of the trail were very interesting and the geology was as well. Next as the canyon walls got closer and closer, we ambled down and over boulders into a series of dry falls through the crack in the mountain. Then we encountered the “seven-foot dry fall” which is more like 10 feet. I slid down it as the surface is much like a slide. The only caution was to make sure my footing landed on a couple of rocks below in such a way as not turn an ankle.

Sharon being more apprehensive required some assistance from me to ensure a much softer landing. Some basic canyoneering skills were taught to her and then she was able to handle everything else the crack had to offer. At the 1.4 mile marker we exited the crack and continued on down the trail to the 2.3 mile marker. Not knowing how far the lake was we opted to turn around at this point only to find out later we were just a tenth of a mile from the shoreline!

Near the 1.6 mile marker we ventured out of the wash to climb to what I was sure to be the blue trail (and it was). The blue trail bypasses going back up the canyon  so we took this trail as I was unsure if we could easily get back up the ten foot slide. This trail climbed in elevation as we scrambled along the hillside.  We were glad we decided to return on this trail since it offered some great views of the lake as well as the canyon from above.  We reconnected to the dry wash some 6/10’s of a mile from the parking lot at the trailhead.

Getting back to the car it was nearly 5:00 pm so we headed off to College Street Brewery for some nice crafted beers to fully celebrate Sharon’s birthday. We went back to the RV where I made her requested birthday dinner of Chicken Fajitas. While cooking we were treated to one of the best sunsets we have seen since full timing… a perfect ending to a perfect day!!!