Tired of bright lights and city sights around Las Vegas? Head to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Starting with the first stop off the one-way drive, people scamper down as many as 26 hiking trails to see desert plants, wildlife, and geology... You can hike from 2 to 6 miles among these amazing Calico … Continue reading Red Rock and roll: must-hike trails in the National Conservation Area nearest Las Vegas
Tens of thousands of years ago. Way way back in the BCE. High atop a mountain like, say, Mount Charleston near current day Las Vegas, snow falls. Flash forward today. Those same fossils-old snow molecules glisten in the meadow before you... Our drive through the dry Mojave desert led into Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, … Continue reading Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge: Juxtaposition of life adjacent Death Valley
Desert = Hot, Dry, Sand. We canceled plans to see the Grand Canyon because the weather turned cold and rainy there. Instead we head to Death Valley National Park and find it's not hot or dry... This was our second trip to the park but the first was short and we didn't explore much. With … Continue reading Been to the Desert in RV with a name, felt good to get out in the rain? Death Valley National Park surprises
In our travels to the Western U.S. we began to recognize a common thread weaving together abandoned sites. The occupation of sites ended close to or within one particular century... the 1300s. Gone. As if -- POOF -- people vanished, leaving only traces of their civilizations in the ruins of structures we visited... ...Where did … Continue reading Introducing the 1300s: a mystery on which we obsess again while touring Casa Grande Ruins
You probably picture bad guys with six guns riding horses in the dusty heat. Yet, one huge scenery staple for macho Western movies, the iconic Saguaro, surprised us with its feminine side... Thanks to Westerns, I used to think a drab monochrome of tumbleweeds, rocks, and bare dirt dominated the desert landscape. So the colorful … Continue reading Drink in a Tequila Sunrise shade of sunset in Saguaro National Park
The temperature on the dashboard reads 88 degrees. You shake your head because you can't wrap your mind around what your eyes tell you. You are driving in a blizzard and drifts cover the lane ahead... Welcome to the White Sands of New Mexico. When we arrived in Delta Flyer, it was merely a national … Continue reading Desert snowstorm mirage at White Sands National Park
Out West there are countless spots with Devil in the name, and maybe the devil makes us do it, but we just can't resist the temptation. But the trek to Devil's Hall nearly caused us to meet our maker... We are not morning people. Hiking party after hiking party from the crack of dawn made … Continue reading Devil of a hike, day two Guadalupe MNP
Here you can experience three zones of climate in one park, from desert, to lush forest to mountain tops. Just beware that if you are suddenly transported back in time, you will swim with the fishes... We journeyed south through the desert from Carlsbad Caverns region into the Guadalupe National Park. We parked our RV … Continue reading The sea in the desert: Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Imagine a quarter million or more bats swirling tornado-like from a gaping maw, out of the earth... Bats only. Mexican free-tailed hanging back there. Meanwhile.... RVoyager dry docked at White City RV Park. $24 to dry dock PriceyDirt and grass parking with ruts.Broken glass in placesSites with Full hook-up are nice You will have to … Continue reading We went batsh*t crazy over Carlsbad Caverns
Might a volcanic caldera form this Arkansas attraction? Do tectonic plates rub together, building toward a catastrophe of earthquakes? What, pray tell, causes the soothing heat of the spring water? What magic mixes this elixer of healing minerals?
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