Tonopau to Lake Mead, Temple Bar Marina, Oct. 2
Chris selected Temple Bar Marina in Arizona to launch the boat in Lake Mead. His research indicated this was beautiful site with lots of canyons, impressive geology, and amazing buttes. It also was a quieter part of the lake with little use by speed boaters, water skiers and personal water craft users…perfect for sailors.
The trip from Tonopau took us through old mining towns with brothels off the side of the road. I managed to keep Chris focused on Lake Mead, thankfully. Chris was intrigued with the geology. He kept talking about old mine tailings, areas that looked like current mines, pointed out the geological uplifting, faulting and erosion. Most of the trip was barren beige and light brown earth with an occasional creosote bush, Joshua tree, and cactus. I was thankful that much of the previous day’s trip was done at night and I didn’t have to look at endless brown, though somehow found it entertaining.
We made a quick stop in Las Vegas for provisions, and continued on to Lake Mead. Crossing downriver from the Hoover dam, we made our way on an older two lane highway and turned off on roads 93 and 143 to the National Park Marina. The road was old, one of those that they didn’t level the ground, so it was somewhat a roller coaster. It was easy to see the washes where water flows when it rains, and in several places the road was damaged and had some sand on it from a rain earlier in the month.
The trip from Tonopau took us through old mining towns with brothels off the side of the road. I managed to keep Chris focused on Lake Mead, thankfully. Chris was intrigued with the geology. He kept talking about old mine tailings, areas that looked like current mines, pointed out the geological uplifting, faulting and erosion. Most of the trip was barren beige and light brown earth with an occasional creosote bush, Joshua tree, and cactus. I was thankful that much of the previous day’s trip was done at night and I didn’t have to look at endless brown, though somehow found it entertaining.
We made a quick stop in Las Vegas for provisions, and continued on to Lake Mead. Crossing downriver from the Hoover dam, we made our way on an older two lane highway and turned off on roads 93 and 143 to the National Park Marina. The road was old, one of those that they didn’t level the ground, so it was somewhat a roller coaster. It was easy to see the washes where water flows when it rains, and in several places the road was damaged and had some sand on it from a rain earlier in the month.
Approaching the marina, it became apparent why it was named Temple Bar Marina. Overlooking the water at this site were two large rock structures that looked exactly like man-made Grecian Temples.
The marine itself is part of the National Park system and is very well maintained. Lots of cabins for rental, RV spaces, covered boat slips, a restaurant, and boat store. It was a little eerie however. Everything was spread out and was so far from the water. When we checked in, we found out that the water level of Lake Mead is 140 feet below its high water mark which explains why the complex seemed so divorced from the lake. The good news was since it was a National Park, there were no launching or storage fees. Yahoo. Proceeding to the actual launch site we could see where each extension to the ramp was added on. So sad. The mighty Colorado River with its bounty of water is rapidly disappearing due to man’s efforts to control it, and the overuse of its water resource.
The marine itself is part of the National Park system and is very well maintained. Lots of cabins for rental, RV spaces, covered boat slips, a restaurant, and boat store. It was a little eerie however. Everything was spread out and was so far from the water. When we checked in, we found out that the water level of Lake Mead is 140 feet below its high water mark which explains why the complex seemed so divorced from the lake. The good news was since it was a National Park, there were no launching or storage fees. Yahoo. Proceeding to the actual launch site we could see where each extension to the ramp was added on. So sad. The mighty Colorado River with its bounty of water is rapidly disappearing due to man’s efforts to control it, and the overuse of its water resource.
Man has an uncanny ability to remember the good things and to make light of the mundane and difficulties. As we are wont to do, we underestimated the time it took to rig the boat for sailing and by the time it was ready to sail, it was dark. Since it is unsafe to venture into unknown waters at dark, we tied up to the launch ramp and spent the night there. This is really an inappropriate thing to do, and indeed the sign said no-overnighting, but in the four hours we had been there, we had seen no boats. We were prepared to move if need be. It was a very pleasant night and we were anxious to explore the lake the next morning