Peach 🍑 Springs day 2

We drove into town to get our permit to drive into the Grand Canyon on the Diamond Creek road and we found out 12 miles of the road is gone. The creek bed is the road apparently. So, that's strike 2 on that adventure. I got on my bike when we returned to the MP and during my exploring I saw a disc golf basket. #5. Very interesting! Disc golf is not advertised or promoted in any way by this campground. After some searching I found #1 and I rode the entire course. Jenny was up for some exercise and I haven't thrown a disc on this entire trip so, you guessed it. I think I have mentioned that I suk at Disc golf. Nothings changed. We finally did the Cave tour. It was beginning to rain and there was a very, very dark cloud approaching. We just ended the tour and we are witnessing what I am sure is a biblical flood. Update: it wasn't a biblical flood. There was a break in the rain and we made it to the car and to the MP. The cave is the largest dry cave in the US. It was outfitted as a bomb shelter during the Cuban missile crisis and all the supplies that were stashed in the cave are still there. Kinda strange but not much surprises me anymore. We move tomorrow but we will still be in Az.

Grand Canyon Caverns RV Park

We are just east of Peach Springs Az. That town is on the Hualapi Indian reservation. We are here to drive on Diamond Creek road. It's a 22 mile dirt road that leads to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. We were going to do the drive last year but an unfortunate series of events precluded that happening. In order to get on that road we need a permit from the Indian tribe. The only problem we have now is the Monsoon has started and the road washed out yesterday. It turns out that river rafters use that road so it's important for the tribe to keep it open. They are working on it as I speak or, as I post. Another problem that has just cropped up is that it's raining right now. That can't be good. The campground has no connectivity so I am posting from the restaurant. Jenny had a fry bread taco. She only ate half of it. We don't do leftovers in the MP. I'm leaving a plate full of fries. Is that TMI? Oh, I almost forgot, Peach Springs is on the old route 66. I'm trying to finish my fries but I just can't. We are here for 2 nights.

last day at Cathedral Gorge

We feel like we have seen this park so we decided to drive a few miles down the road and visit a couple of other parks. The first one we visited had a lake that was so low it was depressing. We kept at it and ended up at Spring Valley State Park outside of Pioche. This park had a lake also but it was nearly full. Turns out the valley has an abundance of springs that drain into the valley and keep the lake full. Since the valley is well watered there is a long history of Agriculture and there are a couple of historic ranch houses that are part of the park. We did a short hike behind one of the ranch houses to visit their spring. That rock is called tuff. It's a type of volcanic ash. It's hard to tell from the pictures but it is pink. We move tomorrow and should be in Arizona.

The Gorge day 2

The reason these weird formations are here is as follows: Many years ago, some time before Trump was born, this area was underwater. A large deep lake. Some long lasting volcanic activity deposited ash 1400 feet deep in the lake. The lake drained or dried up or something and left the thick layer of dried ash. It eroded over time into what we have now. This place has been a park since the '30s. The CCC was involved in making it a park. The campground has 22 sites and only 4 of them are occupied. This place is out there, way off the beaten path. We did a long hike this morning. Jenny thought me climbing that pinnacle would make a good pic. We are here one more day.

Cathedral Gorge State Park

Once you get out of Las Vegas and off the interstate the Nevada roads become pretty lonely. 85% of the land in Nevada is owned by the Federal government and as far as I could tell their doing nothing with it. We did have a scare right before we got here. The Sprinter lost power and I had a hard time getting up hills. The turbos quit. At least that's what I think happened. It's called limp home mode. We had several very long up hills and down hills and I was trying not to brake too much on the down hills so I used the engine brake to control my speed. I'm not sure that was the issue but I had a nice chat with the Google AI and she suggested a reboot. I think it worked. If the Turbos are fried so are we. This park has a number of trails, all of them are bikable. I will bike and we will hike some of them tomorrow.

Yermo California

On our way in we stayed here for one night. I think I mentioned we have to somehow get around Death Valley. We could have gone around it on the North side but there are a few things we want to see along the southern route. We are in the Desert and will be for awhile. It was 110° here today. We have to drive through Las Vegas tomorrow on our way to Cathedral George State Park. We have reservations for 3 nights there. When I made the reservation the park looked interesting but I'm not sure now, that it's going to hold our interest for 3 hot days. Cell and wifi might be a problem. There are 3 small towns near the park: Panaca, Pioche, and Caliente. Neither one of those places gives me any confidence that a Cell company would invest  money to insure the residents can make a phone call. I didn't take a single pic today. I'll see what I can find. More tomorrow-- maybe.

Lemon Cove day 5

Jenny and I both decided we didn't want to do either one of those drives again, so we didn't. We found a park in a small town near us that had a trail around a lake. That was today's hike. Of course it was 105° so we had the trail to ourselves. Our return trip home starts tomorrow. If we were to drive straight there it would be something like 2600 miles. We have planned several stops that make the drive something other than straight. We are probably 3 weeks from Habersham. I took not one picture today. It was just one of those days. Oh, I did get a haircut today in Vasalia. I am in the database of "Sport Clips" I just used the app and they knew what I wanted and I checked in and moved to the head of the line. It was sweet for me but sucked for the poor fools who weren't in their database. We are back in Barstow tomorrow. A couple of days ago we hiked the Congress Trail in Sequoia. There were two groups of trees along the trail that were named. These are pics of those groups of trees.