Lake Havasu City, Arizona

This year on our migration north we stopped over in Lake Havasu.  We have never been there before, but we have known that it is a very popular place.  Most RVers we meet have been there... more than once.  We knew there is a big reservoir on the Colorado River there, and it is also the new home of the "New" London Bridge.  Robert McCulloch the American entrepreneur from Missouri, best known for McCulloch chainsaws purchased the London Bridge at auction in 1968.  He disassembled the bridge, numbering every single part, and moved it to Lake Havasu City, Arizona.  It was shipped through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, California.  From there it was trucked to Lake Havasu City then reassembled, where it remains in service to this day.

We parked on BLM land and stayed for about a week.  The wind finally blew us out of there and we continued north trying to escape the wind storm.  The area where we parked Penelope was Lone Tree, known for the lone tree atop a surrounding hill.  You can just see the lone tree at frame left on that little shelf.

An isolated backlit view for a better look at Lone Tree.

We went to see the lake.  It is big!

Gari found a half scale replica of the Vermillion Lighthouse.  Who would have thought we would find that so far from Lake Erie?!

The popularity of Lake Havasu is demonstrated by the large residential area in the background of the shot below.  We usually prefer smaller places, but we had to see this.

Of course we had to go and see the London Bridge, you know, just to be certain it was in fact true.  Yep, there it was, we drove right across.

They had the wire rail with all the pad locks attached, just like over there.

Side view of London Bridge; we were surprised by the excellent condition of the bridge given it was originally built in 1861.

Lots of big flashy boats around the London Bridge harbor area.  No shortage of money here.

The amazing condition of the bridge granite.

We met Dave at the local Sara Park.  He was a local who loved to hike.  We were looking for the slip canyon hike there called The Crack.   Dave knew it very well and said, "come on I'll take you there".  What a great deal, we got a guided tour the whole way.  Dave and Steve head into the canyon below.

Gari spotted some local Mountain Goats up above us on the canyon walls.

The canyon started to close in.  Gari follows Dave down a scramble area.  We learned there are three classes of hiking; Class I is just walking along, Class II is when you have to touch the ground or surrounding area with your hands for balance, Class III is when you have to bear some of your weight with your hands and arms.  This is getting close to Class III below.

Below is a spot called The Slide.  The local hiking group installed a rope to help in getting down The Slide.  Once you go down, there's no turning back.

The slip canyon trail gets hairier the farther we go...

Is Gari looking to see if she can go back?

Below, Gari pops out the end of The Crack!  Wait, that didn't sound quite right....

A view below from the end of The Crack looking out onto Lake Havasu.

Lake Havasu is a nice place, but just not our cup of tea because of the significant population there.  We did love the hiking and may return one day to see more of the local geology.