Boondocking at Lake Mead

When we are going between Arizona, and Utah we will sometimes stay in the Lake Mead National Recreation area. Boondocking at Lake Mead, is not something we have done very much of however, until this year.

There are several different places to boondock near Lake Mead, and we have checked out a few of them. On Monday, we left the Las Vegas Bay CG were we had spent the night, and headed for Government wash. We hear about this spot a lot, and thought it sounded like a good place to spend a few days. It’s not far from Las Vegas Bay, and the road going in is paved. But when we got to the area were camping is allowed, we found it way more crowded than we like. We could see a few RV’s on the other side of the wash-water inlet, and decided to go there instead. Google maps is an essential part of any boondockers resources, and we could see there was indeed a road going to that area. It was a bumpy, washboard road, but we ended up in a spot like this.

This is looking at government wash from the side we were on. See all the RV’s scattered around?

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the country, with 550 miles of shoreline. Hoover dam, that created Lake Mead, was built in the mid 1930’s. Lake Mead is sadly, very, very low. It hasn’t been full since 1983-84. Drought, and Lake Powell which is upstream, have prevented the lake from filling, or even getting an adequate amount of water. I read an article that says it would take all the water from Lake Powell to fill Lake Mead, which in my opinion should happen. Lake Powell is in an area of sand stone, so millions of gallons of water is lost every year due to evaporation, and seepage. This article, has all the facts.

So every year, it gets smaller, and smaller. Which is a huge shame, as this is a pretty nice area. And because the lake is so low, getting to the water can be interesting. There are dirt roads now, that clearly were under water at one time. There are fresh water clam shells all over, as much as a mile from the lake. Government wash, and Las Vegas Bay both have nice, large boat ramps that are about a mile away from the water now. But, once you get to the water, it’s cool and clear.

Torrey loved getting her feet wet, and drinking all the lake water.

We spent sometime the other day at the waters edge, and there were a couple blue herons flying around. As soon as we started walking back to the truck, this heron landed in the spot we had been sitting. Clearly, he was waiting for us to leave.

Evenings have been so pretty. The colors at sunset are so warm.

Friday, we decided to drive to a different boondock spot on the lake. We want to go to Valley of Fire, and needed someplace closer to there. The weather has been really windy, cloudy, and not very warm, so we figured Friday would be a good day to find a new location, and be closer to Valley of Fire when the weather clears up.

This end of the lake is prettier, and we are able to be much closer to the water.

Yesterday was still really windy, cloudy and cool, so we went for a drive to see what we could see. We stopped at a spot where there is a natural spring, Rogers Spring. There is a nice pond, and a little walkway there. That opening at the top of the pond, is were the water comes in.

The water smells like sulfur, so it’s not a fresh water spring.

I had to play with exposure, and shutter speed at this little waterfall.

We ended up hiking up a cool little canyon from here.

The best part was that it got us out of the wind.

Torrey had a blast, and Roxy enjoyed the ride from her backpack.

And I found a small beaver tail cactus that was shaped like a heart.

Hopefully Monday, and Tuesday we can go to Valley of Fire. The weather is suppose to improve, and it won’t be the weekend. That place is popular, and is jam packed on weekends. We have a couple of hikes planned, and I am hoping for great photo ops.