Fun in Lake Havasu City!

After being stationary for so long, it felt good to be on the road again! We only traveled about 80 miles to a free camping area a few miles south of Lake Havasu City. We had chosen this spot for two reason; 1) it was free! 2) it was close to the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge. We had passed this refuge several times in the past two years and every time we passed it we would comment on we were going to stop one of these times. Well, this is the time!

After doing a little research on the Ultimate Campground app we discovered The Steps State Land Trust area. A free camping area only a couple miles north of Bill Williams on 95. Evidently this site was going to be a subdivision that went under so the state took it over. It is very easy to find and offers numerous sites on varying levels or "steps" of the proposed subdivision. During our stay there were probably about a dozen other rigs there with plenty of room between them.

Our home at "The Steps"

After arriving and getting set up we received a text from Kevin and Cathy who were still in Arizona for two more days before heading back to Wisconsin. They were in Yuma and were headed our way for the day! They arrived about 3:00, we grilled some salmon, had a bon fire and had a great night hearing about their adventures while here on vacation.

The next morning after a fantastic pancake breakfast (with some of our Canadian blueberries) Kevin and Cathy had to head to Phoenix and we had to hit the water!

It was great to be on the water, especially given the fact it was in the mid 80's! The scenery was great, the only mishap being when Daisy was walking along one of the tubes and lost her footing....plop, down goes Daisy!

 

That afternoon we jumped in the jeep to hit the trails and do some exploring! The first leg was to climb to the top of the steps to see the view of the camping area and the surrounding Lake Havasu. The view from the top was incredible.

View from the top, our rig is the dark one in the center

The cactus are starting to bloom

This is the biggest lizard we have seen, about 24" long!

Next up was to see if we could find a geocache which appeared to be in the middle of no where .63 miles to the south. We followed a wash trail in the general direction of the cache. Soon we started to climb a fairly steep grade towards this huge rock formation in the middle of the desert. Sure enough the trail ended at this formation. As we continued to climb on foot we were in awe at the honeycomb weathering within the walls of this formation. There were two holes in the middle, one of which allowed us to crawl through to the other side. Very very cool area out in the middle of no where. Beware, there are some pretty stinky spot where the bats have been using the area for years so watch your step!

Headed up to the rock formation!

Barb on the other side of the hole

Just getting ready to climb through

Honeycomb weathering was everywhere!

Daisy peeking through the crack

One the way back we followed a different wash which lead to some pretty rugged drop downs, some about 2 feet. We bottomed out a couple of times but made it through without getting hung up.

Next up? Headed to Lake Mead National Park!!!!!