Laughlin Nevada, Here We Come

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After Quartzsite, we had a week to kill before heading to Lake Havasu City for fireworks. We didn't want to go too far out of the way so we decided it might be nice to check off Nevada from our list of states we have camped in. Laughlin Nevada is at the southern tip of the state right next to California and Arizona. There is a state park campgrounds that doesn't take reservations and only has 24 sites. We hope that coming in on a Monday will allow us to get a spot. We have a couple alternative campgrounds nearby as plan B.

The drive was only 150 miles although one stretch of road just north of Needles California was extremely rough - worse than many of the desert roads in Quartzsite. As we pulled in to Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area, the attendant told us there were two spots left. We pick the one that is more level and get situated. There are both pull thru and back in spots. Our back in spot has the utilities on the wrong side of the site so we needed to pull in to it. The sites in the park are huge and those with just a small Class B motorhome, tiny travel trailer or worse a tent look like they could easily support two rigs.  I doubt we would be allowed to sublet some of our site to the many people that come in after us looking for room to stay. The park is nice with water access to the Colorado River and it's not very busy this time of year. Right across from us is Bullhead City Arizona. Technically we are back in the western time zone, but we decide to just keep our clocks on Arizona time. Of course our phones don't know that. They tend to switch back and forth between the two time zones making us question what time it is. The good news is that with our lifestyle, time of day isn't very important.

We really hadn't put much effort into what there is to see or do in this area. After a bit of research, we discover the town of Oatman Arizona. It's only about 30 miles away. An old mining town that should be a ghost town by now but has been turned into a fairly popular tourist destination mainly due to the burros. Yes, the town is overrun with donkeys. We park on the south side of town and headed back to Main St. The town is only a quarter mile long if that, but there are over 100 people wandering the street and the dozen stores lining the street.  The burros were already making their presence known. There were about 30 of them wandering around amidst all the visitors. While not domesticated, they do seem to be rather tame.

Burros in Oatman Arizona

Burro Water is Free

He Knows Where the Food Comes From

The Line for Burro Food

Chris Pets Burro

The burros come to town to get fed. Many of the stores sell what appear to be small compressed hay blocks that may be fed to the burros. In the past, visitors would bring carrots as well, and the burros really like them, but carrots are sort of like candy to them and they can get a bit aggressive when going for them so now there are signs asking to not use carrots. There were a few young burros that, unbeknownst to them, have a label smack in the middle of their forehead asking that they do not get fed! It sort of made me feel bad for them since they would come over for food, but nobody would give them any.

Please Remove My Sticker!

Constant Beggars

Traffic Jam

Oatman is Along Route 66

The shops along Main St sell your typical tourist stuff. We didn't see any "ass" themed items that we really needed although we did get ice cream and watch the people and burros passing by. In the center of town, twice a day, a gunfight is staged by a few cowboys. The crowd is asked to block the street for the ten minutes to prevent traffic from getting through. The drivers are willing to wait and watch the show, but the burros don't understand. All they see are the food sources congregated in one area, so they come over and interrupt the show looking to get fed. Our take on the town of Oatman: If you are in the area, it's a must see but we wouldn't drive the 200+ miles from Phoenix to see it.

Calling Everyone for a Gunfight

The Bank Robber

Mining Museum

Salt Lick for Burros

Looking Down Main Street Oatman

Being in Nevada, Laughlin has its fair share of casinos. We are not at all into gambling, so the draw for us is usually to just check out the interior and people watch. These casinos are along the Colorado River and there is a walkway that goes along the river from one casino to the next. A local geocacher has placed a dozen caches along the walkway so we have added incentive to check things out. None of the casinos are as elaborate as some in Las Vegas but it was fun and something different for us to do.

Sight Along Riverwalk in Laughlin

Just on the outskirts of town is Grapevine Canyon. It is a few miles of dirt road but it wasn't in too bad of shape. From the parking area, it is about a quarter mile walk out to a section of petroglyphs. There isn't much known about these petroglyphs but they were created 100 to 900 years ago. There are a large number of them and they seem to be scattered all over the place on both sides of the canyon. We spend well over an hour just wandering around and seeing what we can find. Given the area is not monitored, we were most impressed that there doesn't seem to be much damage from modern day man. Make sure to click on pictures to see detail of petroglyphs.

Heading Towards Petroglyphs

View from Petroglyphs

Just south of Bullhead City is the Colorado River Nature Center. It sounded interesting and had a good number of geocaches hidden there. What we found wasn't at all what we were expecting. It's a fairly desolate location with lots of "trails" that have good signage. But the trails are created by simply laying sticks along the sand. They do have a nice concrete path that looks a bit out of place. Possibly the park is just being created since it doesn't seem to show up as a park on most maps?

Yes, It's That Desolate

Looking Across Colorado River into Nevada

On our last full day in Laughlin, we drive up to the north side of town to check out the Davis Dam which creates Lake Mohave. We pick an extremely windy day to be there and the place is pretty empty. There is a nice park area on the south side of the dam - shelters, picnic tables, restrooms and a playground. There are a couple of RVs parked here that appear to be work campers or volunteers. It isn't perfectly clear what their job entails, but it does look like a nice place. It is possible to walk (or bicycle) up and over the dam but they have it barricaded so you cannot drive up to the visitor area which seems to only be accessible from the Arizona side. There is a massive tractor trailer combination sitting along the road. I suppose it it to be able to remove or deliver one of the turbines that make up the hydroelectric portion of the dam. The trailer itself has 8 axles, each with 8 tires. The axles appear to be steerable which probably is needed when maneuvering this behemoth. Not surprisingly, there were no people out boating on the lake side of the dam on such a windy day. They visitor area is fairly simple with just a handful of signs. They do not offer tours of the facility - bummer!

Hydroelectric Portion of Davis Dam

View of Dam and Park

Overlooking Five Turbines

Lake Mohave

Impressive 64 Wheel Trailer

We enjoyed our stay at this campground. There were enough things to do while spending a week there. I suppose if we were into boating or off road vehicles, there would be many more things to do. We did find it nice to be back to having full hookups. Especially since our next stop will be another weeklong boondocking stop in Lake Havasu City.