May 09, 2012

A Free Piece of Heaven on Lake Mead

After Las Vegas, we couldn't decide whether to go straight to Los Angeles (CALIFORNIA!!!) or to visit the Hoover Dam. We flipped a coin and decided on Hoover Dam. On a whim, we also decided to visit Lake Mead, since its a National Recreational Area, and we've got the America the Beautiful Pass.

Speaking of which! The America the Beautiful Pass has now paid for itself. The initial cost of $80 was finally recovered with our visit to Zion National Park! From now, its all awesomely free access to the some of the prettiest places in America! Thank you, National Pass!

We got several maps at the Lake Mead visitor's center, and they recommended that we visit Kingman's Wash, a free camping area on Lake Mead, on the Arizona side.

Driving from Boulder City to Lake Mead
We drove back into Arizona (we just can't get enough apparently, this is the third time we've driven into Arizona on this trip!), and turned down the 3.4 mile unpaved road to get to the campground. This was our first long stretch of unpaved road on this trip, the two other roads we'd been on for dispersed camping were close to the paved section and not bad. This stretch though...hrmph. Lets just say its not for the light hearted, and I'm a light hearted. Thankfully Skyler is such a good driver!

The gravel road to the beach
BUT...it was so worth it! When we drove down to the beach, the view was glorious! We had the cove to ourselves, several choices of level parking spots, and lots of crystal clear, blue water. It was as if we'd found a piece of heaven, and all this for free!!

Kingman's Wash at Lake Mead
That nigh we lit a fire on the beach and watched a dry lightning storm pass over the lake and Las Vegas. It was awesome.

Dinner with a view
Our campfire on the beach
Las Vegas lights in the distance
In the morning we decided to stay another day. Why not? Its free! So spent the day swimming (the dogs had a blast, Sammy even learned to fetch in the shallow water), reading, tanning, relaxing and doing absolutely nothing.

Here is Chloe, biting those mean waves:


In the evening, we packed up Sky's fishing pole, walked down the shore to another cove and fished for a bit. We didn't catch anything, but an amazing sunset. :o)

Gone fishin'
Our beach at sunset
Lake Mead at sunset
We mostly had the place to ourselves, although several folks did show up to fish the waters. The water is super clean, and you can see clear to the bottom at well over 10 feet of depth. I bet spear fishing would be super around here. And there are long horned sheep running around! They stay clear of the campsite, but were near enough take take plenty of pictures!

Getting a drink of water

What an amazing time we had at this little place. I would highly recommend it if you're in the area.

To see more pictures of our beach on Lake Mead, click here.

Happy laying on a beach,

M.

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