Just when we thought we couldn’t find a place we liked as much as our spot alongside the Colorado River, we discovered Lake Havasu City. While our free spot south of the city was one of the ATV areas, fortunately the noise and dust were mostly limited to daytime hours, so we were still able to settle in and call it home for a little over two weeks.

As I sit here reminiscing and looking at photos I realize we did so many fun things, I will need to do “Part 2” in two parts. Here’s the first installment…

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Lake Havasu City is a winter wonderland — of the escape-to-the-sunshine variety — for the wealthy. It also attracts college students looking for a respite from their cold climates during Spring Break. From SARA Park (Special Activities and Recreation Area) to the numerous ATV areas as well as the lake and canal under London Bridge, people are outside enjoying the fabulous “winter” weather.

The city may be most well known for London Bridge and the waterway below. We drove over the famous structure, danced under it, biked across it and explored the beaches of the canal it spans.

20160227_151534London Bridge was disassembled in England, shipped transatlantic and then re-assembled in its new home in Arizona.

20160227_142910Several vendors, shops and restaurants line the canal.

20160227_152743We danced (when no one else was dancing — I LOVE that about Jim!) to the serenading trumpeter under the bridge. People clapped and oohed and awwed and when we strolled back through later on, others were following suit.

20160227_154230Lake Havasu City has more lighthouses than any other city in the U.S. They are fully functional but built to 1/3 scale.

pizap.com14593954691211Biking across the bridge to the island district.

20160304_13143620160304_131439pizap.com14598907962461At the end of our ride, we treated ourselves to lunch on the balcony. I could get used to this!

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As you might have guessed, it wasn’t long before we hit the trails. For our first adventure, Jim chose the Crack in the Mountain Trail, a 5-mile trail that was designated for hiking *or* mountain biking so, since we hadn’t had the bikes out for a while, we chose to pedal. The trail started out in a wash as usual, but what we encountered further in was beyond amazing.

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20160229_132112Around a bend, we spotted a long horn sheep on the rocks above.20160229_132132Soon we noticed she was joined by a lamb.

20160229_132252We watched as mama soared through the air, landing far below and leaving her little one to figure out how to get down from the high ledge. It seemed impossible to us.

20160229_132302We turned our heads for just a moment and when we looked back, we were disappointed to see we had missed the little guy’s courageous leap and both were scampering away. What an amazing privilege to witness these animals in their natural habitat!

20160309_152811And then came the rocks on the trail…

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20160309_152758I guess we missed the sign for a cut-off that said “bikes this way”?

20160229_155245Abort! Abort! Finally, I’d had enough of carrying my bike so I suggested we lock them together and continue on foot.

20160229_133409And just in time! Notice the rope on the left? That’s how we get the bottom 8-10′ below. We found out later, this is the beginning of what the local’s call “Sara’s Crack”.

20160229_133448Jim went first and, of course, handled it like a pro. But, he warned me that the rocks
were *super* slippery.

20160229_154719Even though I have never done any repelling, I wasn’t afraid. I did, however, lose my footing on the extremely slick rock face and banged up my shoulder a bit. No worries though, I hung on, recovered and made it to the bottom AND back up easily on the way out.

20160229_140543Just another half mile or so of obstacles — including a lethargic rattle snake (yikes!) — and we hoped to find the lake at the end of the trail, as promised.

20160229_141514Our first glimpse of the water.

20160229_142015What a beautiful cove!20160229_142422Just after I caught this pose, Jim dove in…sunglasses and all. He then had to dive several times before finally recovering his favorite shades. (Sadly, none of the pictures of him during or after the diving turned out.)

pizap.com14598991999091Yes, the water was c-o-l-d! But I did it!
20160229_150032We ate our lunch on the shore and then headed back. (Believe it or not, that is water in the Bud Light bottle. We later bought *real* water bottles.)

20160229_152137We were happy to see we would have more shade — and hopefully no snakes — on the return portion of our hike. 20160229_15485320160229_15484620160229_154841Now he’s just showing off!20160229_155251Our bikes were just where we left them. We walked/carried them back the way we came.

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We finally found a portion of trail that took us up on the ridge where we could actually ride back to our BBT.

20160301_144626We were tired but it was an amazing day!

I’ll stop here for now. Stay tuned for more of Lake Havasu City…

sail4free
sail4free@zoho.com

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