From Jackpot, we drove south to Caliente, to stay for two nights so we could visit Beaver Dam State Park, the last of the four state parks near Caliente. When we arrived in town, John took advantage of the 2 hot dogs and a soda for $1 deal, again. The next morning we saw a nice little deer with antlers browsing in the RV park.
On Friday we drove a few miles north of town, then east on 27 miles of good gravel road to Beaver Dam State Park. About a mile before getting to the park, we started a steep downhill, peaking at 14% grade. The park is just east of the Utah border. There is one long (2.2 mile) walk along Beaver Dam Wash, which had an advisory that there were many creek crossings. We found the creek to be about 1 to 2 feet deep with a good current. There was a warning at the beginning of the trail to wash and dry watercraft due to New Zealand mud snails, an invasive species. We also found the walking to be a bit tough, as there was a lot of soft sand to slog through.
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| Beaver Dam Wash |
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| a few oaks turning color |
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| looking down into the park |
On the way back from the park, we did an extra couple of miles detour to a Barclay. On the way, we came to a memorial at Skyler's Corner.
Skyler David Hafen, a 10 year old was riding a motorcycle on the road on the family farm when he collided with a bus carrying prisoners fighting a fire in the area.
Barclay is on the Union Pacific railway, which runs up a valley from Caliente across to Utah. There was a sign on the road above Barclay that it is private property, so we turned back.
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| Barclay church |
On Saturday, we headed south again. On highway 93 heading south toward I-15 west of Vegas, we saw an unusual line of
V-shaped power towers. They were designed to minimize the environmental impact with a small footprint. Ironically, one of the power sources that energizes the line is wind. Shortly after construction, the wind blew down several of the towers. The
solution to the problem was to wrap the metal poles in spiral cables, to change the vibration that the wind puts on them.
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| V-shaped power towers |
We stopped for lunch in the truck at the truck stop at I15. While Joan was making sandwiches, a semi parked in front of us, and wanted to know if we were leaving, since he wanted to park in our spot on the side road, just before the turn into the truck stop. We accommodated him as we were just there to make the sandwiches.
From there, we headed into Vegas, down the busy 515 south through the city, and on to Laughlin on the Colorado. There we paid for a week. Fortunately they had a site for us in one of the larger short term sites, rather than the narrow ones we usually get, where we don't even have enough room to put out our steps. It's a little quieter here in the fall than when we come through in the spring.
After staying for a couple of days, we decided to see if we could extend our stay. The weather this fall continues to be cooler than normal, so we aren't keen on boon-docking. There is good walking from here either along the riverwalk, or north to the dam, so it is a good spot to stay. We couldn't get any of the larger double-sized sites, since they are booked up to 2 years in advance but are able to stay in our site until Dec 5.
We have had a few days of high wind, so didn't get out for a decent walk until Thursday.
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