Tag Archives: Lake Powell

Alpines Leave & Hanging Garden (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/15 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

It’s been a great rally! It was sad to see all the Alpines leave this morning (Wednesday) 🙁 There were many, many hugs and ‘see-ya-laters’.

Some of the Alpines passed by as we finished taking down the EZ-Up Tents, and packed up the tables and chairs to take them back to the rental place in downtown Page.

This time we switched it up and put the round tables in my truck (above) and the chairs in Daves’ (below).

By-the-way, is anyone missing their lawn ornament? This one (below) was left in site 22. Yes – we know who you are (Mike & Donna). We were thinking about holding it for ransom. If you want it back, just contact the Guhsés’ who may deliver it to the next rally for a fee 🙂

After finishing up with the rally clean-up, Stilla and I took the Silverado to Hanging Garden. We’ve passed by the entrance sign many times on our travels between Page and the campground.

Some of the other Alpiners stopped by here during the Rally and told us it was worth seeing. We turned just after the Glen Canyon Bridge at the sign (above) and went down the gravel road to the parking area. When we saw that the road continued on down towards the lake after the parking area, we decided to see where it went. Here’s the view back to the Glen Canyon Bridge from the road.

The gravel road ended in another parking lot overlooking the lake. We parked the truck and walked down closer to the lake.

After checking out the cool rock formations, we drove back up to the Hanging Garden Trail parking area.

The informational placard says it’s a 1-mile round trip.

View (below) of the massive rock formation near the parking area that we had to walk around to get to the Hanging Garden.

We started down the trail with a full bottle of cold water.

And we kept walking…

and walking…

and walking.

When the trail wasn’t easy to see; we just followed all the rocks lined up along the sides.

Stilla posed for a picture in front of some neat looking sandstone formations.

And we just kept following the rock-lined trail.

We were completely alone so far on our hike and almost began wondering if should have waited for the 5 PM ranger-guided tour… what if we took a wrong turn?

We pressed on and kept following the trail over hard rock…

and through soft sand…

until we finally saw from a distance, what looked like it could be a Hanging Garden (below).

We hiked up the hill towards the shady alcove.

View of the lake behind us.

And finally! Here it is – the Hanging Garden.

We had it all to ourselves.

I’ll bet these flowers (below) look really nice when they bloom.

Another view back toward the lake from the Hanging Garden (below).

We took a few more pictures and started our hike back to the parking lot. Another couple finally showed up after we arrived, so we were no longer the only ones on the trail.

Our water bottle was empty by now and the sun was cooking us slowly.

One last picture of the Hanging Garden on our way out.

We were glad to be back at the truck where we had another bottle of water. The Hanging Garden was definitely worth the hike. Check it out if you’re in the area 🙂

After a stop at WalMart in Page for a few groceries, we made it back to the campground to relax for the rest of our last evening here at the Wahweap Campground.

We found David & Nicole back at their Coach – just relaxing after their tiresome tour-of-duty as wagon master(s).

We’ll say our farewells before we pack up and head out this morning (Thursday) after I get this post published. They are going to stay a couple more days to try and see some of the local sites that they didn’t have time for while performing all their wagonmaster duties.

We’re thinking about heading over to Kanab, UT today. We heard there’s some good attractions there. And it’s conveniently along our route to Las Vegas NV, where we want to be on the 22nd to meet our son William who’s coming in from Germany to visit for a couple/few weeks 🙂 Check back on us…

Arizona

Colorado River Float Trip & Alpine BBQ Dinner- Alpine SoCal Rally Day 7 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/14 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

Day 7 of the Alpine SoCal Rally in Lake Powell started like most others with nice weather and an even-nicer breakfast spread. I think it’s safe now to grade our wagon master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé on their performance – I’ll give them an A+ ! And I think everyone here would agree; they’ve set a high standard for future rally wagonmasters to attain 🙂

Stilla and Nicole setting up the table for breakfast.

Fruits…

Yogurts…

Bagels… which David toasted on the grill per each customers request.

Stilla even patted the hard-boiled eggs dry after David finished boiling them… now how’s that for attention to detail? 🙂

Our last breakfast together…

And here’s one last look at our week-long rally agenda for your viewing pleasure:

After breakfast, everyone that had signed up for the Colorado River Float Trip, headed over to the Colorado River Discovery (CRD) Rafting Headquarters office in downtown Page. Click link HERE for their website.

Thirty-one of us gathered in front of the CRD office for a quick briefing from a tour-guide before we boarded the bus.

We all boarded the Colorado River Discovery bus. Our box lunches were waiting for us on the bus.

Our tour-guide explained how we were going to get to the bottom of the dam through a 2-mile long tunnel.

There was security at the entrance to the 2-mile tunnel.

We drove into the 2-mile long 22″- 6″ tall tunnel.

The tunnel was dark except for an occasional side-shaft that opened to the side of the canyon to let in a little light every so-often. This is the part that Stilla didn’t want to experience, therefore she stayed back at the campground today to hang out with our little dog “Coach.”

And here we are coming out at the bottom of the Glen Canyon Dam (below).

View of the tunnel we had just came out of (below).

We all got off the bus, put on hard-hats and walked down the long ramp to our waiting boats.

Here we are at the bottom of the ramp. They split us up into two groups, each with our own boat.

Here’s the group on my raft…

and here’s the other group heading down the river in front of us.

Information on the rafts is available at the CRD website: “Colorado River Discovery utilizes inflatable, motorized pontoon rafts. Comfortably carrying a maximum of 22 passengers and piloted by an experienced guide, these rafts are ideal for navigating the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry, Arizona.”

Views of the dam and bridge from our vantage point in the raft:

That’s the Carl Hayden Visitors Center (below center) perched on the edge of the cliff. We visited that on Sunday when we took the dam tour. Click HERE for that post if you missed it.

The spillway (below). Hope no one opens that while we’re down here 😐

We headed down the river. Our destination for the day is supposed to be Horseshoe Bend. Then we’re going to turn around and motor back up to our waiting bus again. I wrote about our visit to the Horseshoe Bend overlook in a previous post. Click HERE if you missed that. We’re also going to stop along the way to check out some petroglyphs.

We rounded the first bend and could no longer see the dam and bridge behind us.

The cliffs were amazing to see from below.

We passed a little waterfall.

Some fishermen in a boat we passed had just hooked a fish. We floated past quickly and didn’t get to see him pull it in.

Alpiners – Orville & Mary Ann. Remember them from my first posting at the Page, AZ Elks Lodge when we first got here last week?

Beth Cannon taking a picture. One of many.

Reginald Bodeaux (on the left). One of our newest members.

We passed a couple of birds on our float, I think I heard someone say this a Great Blue Heron(?)

Yup… those are my feet…

Our boat-driver/tour-guide pointed out things along the way.

At times, you could see to the bottom of the river.

We eventually floated around a bend and saw other boats beached near the petroglyph site.

We pulled in next to the other boats and met up with the others in our Alpine group.

We hiked a few hundred yards up a path to view the petroglyphs.

Group photo of the SoCal Alpine group at the Petroglyph site near Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River.

The petroglyphs:

Informational placard on the petroglyphs:

When we returned to the boats after viewing the petroglyphs, we found Bill Figge had just taken a dip in the river.

Brrrr… I don’t think he’ll do it again soon.

Yup… those are my feet again 🙂 The water is reportedly a consistent 47° because it comes from the bottom of Lake Powell through the dam.

We boarded our respective boats again to head down the river a little farther to Horseshoe Bend:

And here we are coming around Horseshoe Bend…

If you look closely, you can see the people at the top looking down on us from the cliff edges…

We rounded Horseshoe Bend. This is the view to the west.

Shortly after rounding the Horseshoe Bend, we turned around and motored quickly back up river…

Here’s the north looking view of Horseshoe Bend after we turned around. The tourists are on the cliffs to the right side now.

We motored past the petroglyph site.

And finally we could see the dam again.

Both of our boats paused below the dam for a bit while our respective tour-guides gave us a little more information about the area and answered questions.

We thanked our tour-guides, disembarked from our boats, and walked back up the long ramp to the bus. The bus took us back out of the canyon through the 2-mile long tunnel again.

I highly recommend this raft trip to anyone visiting the area. The only thing I wish we could have done, is to float all the way down to Lee’s Ferry and then bus back from there. Remember my post about our drive to Lee’s Ferry? Oh well, we have to save something for next time, right? 🙂

View of the bridge from above. Our campground is on the horizon to the right in the picture below.

When we retuned to the campground, it wasn’t long before it was BBQ time! Everyone broke out their grills and set them up at our get-together site. Do you think we have enough grills? 🙂

The grills were all lined up dress-right-dress.

It wasn’t long before the table was filled with everyone’s favorite dishes:

And the grills were fired up:

I didn’t hear anyone complain… especially since we all cooked what we brought ourselves 🙂

Another beautiful sunset for our final day of the rally…

We continued socializing after dark with the help of Orville & Mary Ann’s ‘Bonfire in a Can’. Link HERE. Yes, we bought one too 🙂 Thanks Mary Ann!

And another fine Alpine Coach SoCal Rally is in the history books!

Now all we have to do is pack all this up again… uuggh 🙁 We decided to stay another day (Wednesday) to help Dave & Nicole clean up and return the tables and chairs… but I’ll save that for my next posting.

Stay tuned for our next adventure…

Arizona

Lake Powell Party Boat – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 6 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/13 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

The Alpine SoCal Rally continued on Monday with a “Free Day” – there were no scheduled events other than our usual 5 PM “Social Hour”.

Everyone did their own thing today. Our ‘thing’ was to rent a party boat and cruise around Lake Powell with 4 other couples. The couples were: David & Nicole Guhsé, Bill & Patti Figge, Norm & Beth Cannon , Bob & Connie Bowers, and of course, ourselves. Our wagon master for the Rally, David Guhsé arranged the rental.

We left for the Antelope Point Marina (←link here) at 7:15 AM.

Everyone packed lots of food, snacks, and drinks. The Marina staff piled our bags into the shuttle service vehicles that were waiting for us at the entrance.

(L to R) Nicole, Patti, Beth, and Connie.

The staff transported us down to the docks.

Here’s David securing the rental boat for us at the rental office / boat.

We walked down the dock between all the house boats and party boats to find our ride for the day.

And here it is.

We inspected the boat.

We got operating instructions…

and some location tips.

It even comes with a water slide 🙂

We maneuvered away from the marina…

past the other rentals and private house boats…

and out into the lake we go…

Norm made awesome Bloody Mary’s with all the fixin’s to get us started. Mine was a virgin 😉

Looking down from the upper deck.

Our route for the day would take us into Navajo Canyon.

Now take a deep-breath and follow along on our tour with this collection of photos:

Stilla on the upper deck.

Aaah… Life is Good!

We stopped a few times throughout the day to jump in the water. Here’s the first time I went in.

Bill on the water slide. I took my turn next. Bills wife Patti also took the challenge.

Bill and I in the water. It wasn’t cold at all – quite pleasant.

It wasn’t long before we had pre-lunchtime snacks spread out on the kitchen island.

David & Nicole Guhsé.

Rare photo of us.

David and Bill lounging on the upper deck.

Norm takes a turn at the helm.

And Bill takes his turn.

Stilla on the upper deck.

Stilla lounging on one of the bench seats.

We stopped again for another swim. A couple of the girls got into the water.

I swam over to a rock island (below).

Bill joined me on my rock island.

We carefully picked our way back off the island and into the water.

And then we fired up the BBQ and cooked hot dogs. We also reheated some fried chicken and wings.

(L to R) Stilla, Connie, Bob, and Patti.

Bill really dressed up his hot dog… it was worth a picture.

Norm & Beth Cannon.

There was lots of pointing going on all day by pretty much everyone… the scenery was magnificent.

Bill and I jumped in the water one last time and swam over to the cliff edge. Why, you ask? Because we could.

We headed back to the Marina to meet our 4 PM rental return deadline.

Check out this triple-decker with two water slides.

View back up to the Marina office from the docks.

We pulled into the fuel station to top off our diesel tank at exactly 4 PM. Our fun-time was over 🙁

What a great day! After tallying up the fuel costs and splitting the rent for the day, each couple paid ~$130. Not bad for a full day of fun, eh? 🙂

We got back to the campground just in time for “Happy Hour”.

Everyone we talked to had a great “free day”. Some couples went fishing, others went hiking, etc.,

When the sun went down, Orville & Mary Ann demonstrated their Bonfire in a Can. Don’t forget to check out the link.

And so ends another fine Alpine Coach Rally day! Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of our Colorado River Float Trip 🙂

Arizona

Glen Canyon Dam Tour – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 5 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/12 davidhobden@mac.com

Day 5 of our Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell consisted of a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam.

The tour of the Dam was not an organized “pay-in-advance” tour like the other activities during this rally. Anyone who wanted to go, simply went over to the Visitor Center at their convenience during the day and paid the $5 entrance fee. Although, most people found out that the earlier they went – the better chance they had of getting on a tour.

I left a little after 8 AM on the Harley and arrived by 8:15. This was still too late to get on the first tour of the day, so I had to hang-around inside the Visitor Center and wait for the 9:30 tour. Some of the other Alpiners at our Rally weren’t able to get on that tour, so they made plans to do it later, or on another day. Stilla decided not to go on the tour at all and stayed back at the Coach with our little dog “Coach”. She was afraid the elevator or small passageways would be too claustrophobic for her.

Here’s a picture of the Carl Hayden Visitor Center which is also the Glen Canyon Dam Tour entrance.

The Glen Canyon Bridge:

Inside the Visitor Center:

The lobby had an awesome terrain model of the Lake Powell area:

I watched one of films that was running in the auditorium until they announced the 9:30 tour.

Everyone had to go through airport-style screening and then we got on the elevator to take us to the top of the dam.

Once we got on the top of the dam, our tour-guide showed us one of the original concrete buckets used during construction.

Follow along on the rest of the tour:

Looking down at the spillway. Notice the tiny blue rafts in the picture below, we plan on taking one of those for a raft trip on Tuesday.

Going down inside the dam:

View of the Visitor Center from the bottom of the dam.

Back on top of the dam, heading back to the Visitor Center.

I saw this flotation ring cabinet on top of the dam… Good thing we didn’t have to use this, eh?

Little lizard running around on top of the dam.

I brought Stilla back later for a tour of the Visitor Center and then we rode around town on the Harley for a little while. Lots of fun,

Back at the campground, there was a gathering for Jim Archer’s birthday… ice cream and cake, yummy!

Happy Birthday Jim! Jim is in the center of the pic below, and on the left in the pic above.

Later on, we all gathered again at our get-together site for “Social Hour” which went long… I think we socialized for several hours…

Alpine ladies arrive together for “Social Hour”…

Another great day with the Alpine SoCal group… check back tomorrow to see what we get into 🙂

Arizona

Gearhead Session & Dinner Cruise – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 4 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/11 davidhobden@mac.com

Saturday started off with yet another great breakfast spread courtesy of our wagonmaster(s) David & Nicole Guhsé. They’re still on track to receive an A+ grade for their performance so far 🙂

Our rally schedule for the day called for “no organized day time activity” until our Dinner Cruise aboard the Canyon Princess at 5 PM. Agenda below:

However, before we did nothing for the day – we set up an impromptu “GearHead Session” after breakfast.

A “GearHead Session” is simply a forum for members to discuss anything related to our beloved Alpines – usually of a mechanical nature. There is a always a wealth of information to be gleaned from our members. Subjects discussed during the session included, but were not limited to; tow bars, tow bar breakaway switches, receiver hitches, dual-pane window fogging, lubricants and sprays for steps & slideouts, water tank dump valves, and more. It was a good session.

The rest of the day was pretty much a hang around do-nothing day that I used to finish up yesterday’s blog post.

At 4:30 PM all the Alpiners headed over to the Marina to get ready for our scheduled dinner cruise.

A couple of our members showed up in the exact same shirt which got a good laugh.

We hung around in the Lodge lobby until it was time to go down to the dock.

That’s our ship on the lower left in the picture below.

Some of us took the courtesy tram down to the ship…

while others walked down…

and here she is – the Canyon Princess: The website says the following about this tour: While relaxing aboard the Canyon Princess, you will enjoy the breathtaking sunset on Lake Powell. This dinner cruise combines spectacular Wahweap Bay scenery with a delicious dining experience. The Canyon Princess Dinner Cruise includes a delightful menu made up of salad, breads, a variety of entree options, and choice of dessert. Your favorite beverage is available for purchase at the bar. This two-hour dinner cruise aboard the Canyon Princess is sure to provide you with special memories of your trip to Lake Powell.

We boarded the ship for our two-hour tour… uh oh, did I say two-hour tour? Hmmmm… sounds familiar somehow 🙂

Lots of carp and some stripers were hanging out around the dock.

We were all seated in the dining area and pretty much had the entire boat to ourselves except for a few other couples.

Our menu:

The dinner was great!

Now – enjoy some pictures of our evening dinner cruise:

We returned to the dock all too soon. It was an awesome evening!

Back at the campground we walked around the campground loop with little dog “Coach” and stopped to admire Greg & Marcy Vaughan’s light show…

It was a warm and pleasant evening. Later, we hung out with a small gathering of our Alpine friends outside one of the Coaches until it was time to call it a night.

Check back tomorrow for a recap of Rally Day 5 which includes a tour of Glen Canyon Dam.

Arizona

Presidents; Horseshoe Bend; & Lee’s Ferry – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 3 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/10 davidhobden@mac.com

Thursday was Day 3 of the Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell and it started off with another awesome breakfast served by our Wagon master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé! Stilla and I got up early and went over to the get-together site to help set things up. Breakfast was a home-run and went off without a hitch thanks to the rally team.

After breakfast we had our Alpine SoCal Member meeting consisting of the usual stuff; old business, new business, future rally dates, etc., and then we voted on the nominations for our officers which was a no-brainer because all the leadership positions, except for the president, would be filled by incumbents that (as-always) have been doing an excellent job.

And now for the big news: Since our current SoCal Chapter President (Joe Darling) has been experiencing some health issues including a recent back surgery, 🙁 he is unable to continue in this role.

Joe and Micki Darling — Get well soon Joe!

Therefore the nominating committee contacted members recently to find someone to fill the position. Of course, no one can replace Joe – only follow in his footsteps. I kept it to myself until now, but I was nominated and it was voted on in this morning’s meeting. I will take over Joes’s duties beginning January 1st. I am humbled by the chapter members confidence in me and hope I can live up to expectations and Joe’s legacy.

After all the meeting fuss was over, 🙂 Stilla and I took little dog “Coach” in the SIlverado and we went for a day-trip since today was a “free day” until our scheduled “La Familia Spaghetti Dinner”.

We drove back out towards the South Entrance of the Lake Powell Resort & Marina and stopped at some of the scenic viewpoints:

We exited the Resort & Marina area and headed back through Page…

Sign as you exit the South Entrance to the Lake Powell Resort & Marina (we turned left)

to another viewpoint at Scenic View Road:

We parked and walked down to the view point:

After negotiating the many slippery steps, we got a good view of the Glen Canyon Dam and the bridge.

Wish we could be in that boat (below) 🙂

We walked back up the path / steps to the parking lot.

In the parking lot, we met this nice couple from Germany. They are traveling around the US and even plan on going down to Argentina! We talked for a bit, because as most of you know, Stilla is also from Germany. They shared their blog address with us (below) so if you’re interested, give it a look. Once again, I have to say – we get to meet the nicest people in the RV world 🙂

We moved on over to Horseshoe Bend. Here’s the view of the first part of the path from the parking lot.

And here’s the view after you get to the top of the first hill. See the little people heading down the trail to the cliff edge?

We put little “Coach” in his doggie back-pack.

Lots of tourists at the edge of the canyon.

Stilla on the edge 🙂

Horseshoe Bend.

See the little boat down there?

Wish we were in it.

Picture of us in front of famous Horseshoe Bend, courtesy of some nice asian tourists.

The sun beat down on little “Coach”, he didn’t like walking in the hot sand.

The view back down to the parking lot (below). A few buses had arrived full of Asian tourists that we shared the trail with.

We continued south on 89 to Lee’s Ferry which looks like its only a few miles straight line distance from the campground when you look at a map, but it’s 100 miles to drive. We took 89 south and then got on 89A north to get there. Here’s the view (below) coming down the mountain south of Page.

We stopped to check out the view at a turnout and Stilla browsed the Indian jewelry vendors.

At the bottom of the mountain we turned right towards Marble Canyon (sign below).

When we got close to the turn for Lee’s Ferry, we crossed Navajo Bridge.

We pulled into the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center. Normally, I would expound on this and other locations we stopped at, but I’m pressed for time to get this blog post published, so please don’t forget to click on the links embedded in the (green-colored) text to learn more.

After Navajo Bridge, we turned on Lees Ferry Road into Marble Canyon (←link here).

Here’s the entrance fees:

Information placards:

We drove down the scenic road to the Ferry site:

Alpines, Alpines, Everywhere! – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 1 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

2015/10/08 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

On Tuesday, David, Frank, and I went to Page, AZ to pick up tables and chairs for our Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell. The rest of the Alpines are due to arrive today and we have pizza & salad scheduled for 5:30.

Here’s Frank and David strapping down the large round tables on the back of David’s truck.

Hope we make it without losing any…

We fitted all the chairs in the back of our Silverado. I was sure not to lose anything 🙂

Frank and I followed David (at a safe distance) to keep an eye on the load.

We went through the South Entrance to get back to the Wahweap Campground.

And we made it! Not a single table was hurt during transportation or in the production of this blog post 🙂

All set up… let the Rally begin!

We put out the “Alpine SoCal” sign on the main road to our loop to make sure no one gets lost.

We have all 26 sites in Loop C reserved for the Rally.

We also put out the “Alpine Southern California” sign in front of our get-together site to mark our territory.

Coaches arrived throughout the day:

Everyone gathered at our get-together site for Happy Hour and by 5:30 David Guhsé arrived on time with the pizza and salad. Here’s a collection of pictures I took of our Alpine Coach Association SoCal group enjoying our first evening together:

Everything went great and a good time was had by all. We even had lots of leftover pizza, salad, and garlic bread. We’ll try to save the leftover salad and freeze the garlic bread to have with our Spaghetti dinner scheduled for Friday.

We did learn a couple lessons; 1) Everyone should probably bring a light jacket or sweater because when the sun goes down it gets a little cool, and 2) If we stay until the sun goes down, (which is highly likely), we should all bring along a flashlight next time.

Check back tomorrow to see how our tour of Antelope Slot Canyon goes.

Arizona

Prelude to the Alpine Rally (Elks Lodge 2498 – Page, AZ)

2015/10/05 davidhobden@mac.com

I started off our Sunday here at the Elks Lodge in Page, AZ with an early morning walk with our little dog “Coach” around the neighborhood.

Then I gave Stilla a ride over to the nearby Catholic church where she attended morning services while I spent the rest of the morning washing the Urban Escape Vehicle and the Silverado. Which means it will probably rain later, right?

At lunchtime, Mary Ann made some awesome chili, complete with garlic bread to share with us. Yumm! Thanks Mary Ann 🙂

Alpine owners and neighbors here at the Page Elks Lodge (Orville McGee & Mary Ann Ratliff)

After our awesome lunch, we took off in the Silverado to check out the town and stock up on groceries at the local WalMart. But first, we wanted to drive over to the Lake Powell Resort & Marina (about 10 miles) to check out the campground we’ll be moving to tomorrow for the Alpine Coach Rally. I knew from correspondence, that the hosts for the Rally, David & Nicole Guhse, were supposed to be arriving today.

Before driving into the campground, we pulled off at a scenic viewpoint and looked down on Lake Powell from above.

From the scenic viewpoint we could see our future campground in the distance at the edge of the lake (below).

We drove through the North Entrance to get to the campground. We passed by another entrance road earlier, (I assume it’s called the south entrance) just after going over the bridge by the dam. Both entrances have manned check-points to pay your fees. I was able to show my Disabled Veterans Access Pass for free entry.

We drove around the campground and checked out several of the loops. This place is huge, with 139 Full Hook Up sites and another 112 tent or self-contained RV spots. Click HERE and HERE for links.

Since we didn’t see our Alpine Coach Rally “hosts” anywhere in the campground, I gave Dave Guhse a call to see where they were at… it turned out David & Nicole were just a few miles away on their way in to the campground. So we waited at the registration office / general store and greeted them as they pulled in.

David & Nicole Guhse pulling in to the registration area at Lake Powell Resorts & Marina – Wahweap CG.

It started raining just as they pulled into the parking lot… I think David & Nicole brought the rain with them 🙂

After hugs and handshakes, and a quick stop inside the registration office, we went over to Loop C to help David & Nicole claim a spot.

David & Nicole unhooked their nice, new Ford pickup and parked their Alpine in site 26. Since Stilla and I are co-hosting this rally with David & Nicole; we discussed the layout for the upcoming Rally and decided to use site 25 for our get-togethers. Stilla and I will take site 24 when we come back with our Coach tomorrow. This way, we’ll have the empty spot between our two rigs so it will be more convenient to move breakfast items over in the mornings, cater meals, set up the EZ-up tents, tables, chairs, etc.,

With that done… we followed David & Nicole back into Page to the WalMart so we could stock up. We exited Lake Powell Resorts & Marina on the entrance road that I passed up earlier and came out near the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge.

David & Nicole Guhse in front of us in their Ford pickup going across the Glen Canyon Dam bridge.

We parted ways with David & Nicole at WalMart. Stilla and I returned to the Elks Lodge with our groceries. We brought back some Granny Apples for Mary Ann Ratliff (per her earlier request) and she made an apple pie. She delivered half the pie to our Coach just in time for dessert. It was awesome 🙂 I can’t remember a better apple pie… Thanks Mary Ann!

Today (Monday) we pack up to make the short trip over to the Wahweap Campground to get ready for the Alpine Coach Rally which officially starts on the 7th, but I’m sure we’ll have some other early arrivals. Stay tuned for Alpine fun…

PS It’s rained off and on last night… nothing too hard, just infrequent showers and now it’s raining lightly again this morning as I go to publication with this posting. We’re supposed to have nice weather again beginning Wednesday according to my iPhone weather app… just in time for the Rally 🙂

Arizona, New Mexico

Travel Day to Lake Powell & New Alpine Friends (Elks Lodge 2498 – Page, AZ)

2015/10/04 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

We left the Farmington, NM Elks Lodge by 11 AM to make our way to Page, AZ for the upcoming Lake Powell Alpine Coach Rally. We made it as far as Shiprock, NM and ended up spending the next two (2) hours in traffic 🙁 Our top speed through Shiprock was 3 mph.

Screen Shot 2015-10-03 at 10.02.51 PM — 229 mile travel day from Farmington NM to Page AZ.

It seems that today was the big parade for the Northern Navajo Nation Fair which is an annual event. According to their website; “The Shiprock Northern Navajo Nation Fair is the the Oldest and Most Traditional of the Navajo Fairs. It is held each fall (1-4 October) in the Navajo Land where the Navajo people of the Four Corners come to celebrate the year’s harvest with a community celebration.”

Now, all this wouldn’t be so bad, except the nice bartender at the Farmington Elks Lodge even warned us about this event when we shared our travel plans the day before, but I figured; “How bad could it be?” And we didn’t try an alternate route. One of these days I’ll learn to listen to people 😐 Oh well, I just kept reminding myself that I was retired and that seemed to make it better 🙂

The traffic moved so slowly, that Stilla was even able to walk the dog while we rolled down the street.

Some of the local kids sold drinks to the grid-locked motorists.

Mural on the wall claiming Shiprock to be the Capital of the World.

We finally made it to the other side of town around 2 PM and were able to clear the traffic and head northwest out of town.

View of Shiprock. (Wikipedia link HERE and more Google Images HERE).

The route we took was simply awesome, with stunning views and rock formations galore. Follow along:

Here’s the view as we got closer to Page, AZ:

Lake Powell in the background (below):

When we finally pulled into Elks Lodge 2498 in Page, AZ we saw another Alpine Coach in the parking lot! Meet Orville McGee & Mary Ann Ratliff 🙂

They’ll be attending the Alpine Coach Rally as well 🙂 I took a picture of them in front of our Coaches after Stilla parked. Yup, that’s what I said – Stilla backed the Urban Escape Vehicle (UEV) into the open spot next to their Coach while I ground-guided. She did a great job! We strategically parked nose to nose so we could maximize the available space with the tight RV sites here.

Orville snapped a (rare) picture of the two of us in front of the UEV.

We got set up in our spot, you know – the usual stuff; jacks down, slides out, satellite dish up, rolled out the throw rugs, unfolded the coffee table, put out a couple lawn chairs, etc.,

Then we went into the lodge with Orville and Mary Ann. The Grand Exalted Ruler (GER) “Bill” greeted us at the door and introduced us to all the lodge members. He also presented us with a lodge pin. Pretty cool.

The lodge was having an auction and raffle. Lots of activity going on! We had a couple adult beverages. When we went back to the bar for our second drink, we found out this lodge doesn’t offer a free second drink to visiting members as is customary in most other lodges we’ve visited.

Also, The Elks website says the sites are $15 per night, but when we went to pay, we were told it’s $20 per night. And, oh by-the-way; we’re on 30 Amp, not 50 as the website touted. Oh well, at least it’s good 30 Amp power unlike our last spot at the Farmington Lodge where we had low voltage and couldn’t run one of the air conditioners.

Auction time at the Page AZ Elks Lodge. The picture the auctioneer is holding up is of Antelope Canyon (a local attraction).

Orville & Mary Ann at the Page, AZ Elks Lodge.

Here’s an early morning view of the Elks Lodge I took while walking little “Coach”:

This view (below) shows the RV parking spots next to the lodge:

And here’s our morning view from the (currently) empty spots next to us:

We’ll spend a couple nights here at the Elks Lodge and then move over (Monday) to the Lake Powell Alpine Coach Rally to the Wahweap RV Park & Campground. The Rally officially starts on Wednesday (7 Oct), but we reserved a couple days early so we can help (hosts) David & Nicole Guhse get everything set up.

Stay tuned…

PS The dash air conditioner is still working great. Thanks again Mike! And also, no more squeaks and rattles… it seems I got them all worked out (for now). I blogged about fixing the squeaks and rattles in previous posts; (HERE) and (HERE).

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Tag Archives: Lake Powell

Alpines Leave & Hanging Garden (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Colorado River Float Trip & Alpine BBQ Dinner- Alpine SoCal Rally Day 7 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Lake Powell Party Boat – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 6 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Glen Canyon Dam Tour – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 5 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Gearhead Session & Dinner Cruise – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 4 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Presidents; Horseshoe Bend; & Lee’s Ferry – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 3 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Alpines, Alpines, Everywhere! – Alpine SoCal Rally Day 1 (Wahweap CG – Lake Powell Resort & Marina)

Prelude to the Alpine Rally (Elks Lodge 2498 – Page, AZ)

Travel Day to Lake Powell & New Alpine Friends (Elks Lodge 2498 – Page, AZ)

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