She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain, They’ll be Climbing ‘Round the Mountain

Friday, Mar. 3^rd at BLM land north of Lake Havasu City we woke up to the promise of yet another beautiful day. There were a few low lying clouds in the east filtering out from behind the mountain. We rose at 7 and at 8 I was snapping these pictures and it reminded me of the song in my title.

Bill moved the portable panel out the 5’ into the sun, it wouldn’t be safe to leave it out there overnight in the dark. A passing vehicle after dusk wouldn’t see it. We read blog posts with our morning cuppa and decided what we’d do today.

I messed around with my Canon EOS 30D this morning, reading the manual that I had printed off the internet a while back. There are so many things I don’t know and others that I don’t understand. I’m interested in how to take evening/night shots so we’ll see if I find that information in the booklet.

The path is not too defined yet

We made breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal, and then we got dressed to take a hike. The mountain to the east of us (the one that blocks our 7 am sun) looks tempting but the closer we got to it, the mere steepness of it is formidable. Well, especially for newbies. Hmm. With walking sticks, cameras and water in hand we weren’t to be held back.

Bill poking through the trail
Up on the hill behind him is where we started, the rv from Oregon

It was about 10:15 when we set out and chatted with a fellow from Oregon who was parked right on the edge, facing south. He has a beautiful view and told us of 18 mountain sheep that he has watched come down the mountain. With the green grass covering even the highest peaks, he hasn’t seen them this year. They don’t need to come so far down to find a good meal.

We need to remember as we near mid-mountain that this is the desert

Bill and I left his site and went down the hill to follow a rocky trail. Because of overgrown Palo Verde trees along the trail, we found ourselves veering off quite a bit. It was a beautiful day to do this, not too hot at 61F yet with the sun on us to keep us warm.

Green desert with cacti

More buttercups and Shadow Lady taking the same picture as me!

I must admit, once you start, it is really hard to stop. We knew when to take a breather, snap some photos and grab a swig or two of the water I carried in my backpack. There was no rush and we travel well together, even on the hiking trails. Proven fact.

We met up with a fellow rv’er coming from the opposite direction and was surprised to find she was an Albertan. This makes the conversation even more interesting because plans of ‘going home’ find themselves in the discussion. We love meeting our U.S. neighbours too but they have a different agenda after 180 days on the road than we do.

This was the easy walking part and we had many choices of direction

Beaver tail cactus

It won't be long before these flowers bloom

It was noon when Bill and I found ourselves approaching home. It was a great walk. Bill admits, I think I’ve said this in the past, that he doesn’t enjoy a walk. He means the type of walk where you are doing it for exercise, hoofing it, I think he calls it.

Uncovering some green rock

He did enjoy this type of walk with me, where we were venturing off into uncharted territory (of the Richards’ kind) and seeing where it will take us.

Interesting rock down there

For some reason, this hike reminded us of  our friends, Kathy and Derrick
We think you guys would love this!

 Beautiful ocotillo but those leaves have a thorn in the middle

We don’t have a 4-wheeler so our 4-feeters are what we can count on to get us out and about. It was a great hike and we’ll go again in the opposite direction before we leave.

Approaching home base after almost 2 miles

and I was there too!

When we got back, we had some banana bread and I pulled the leftover chicken out of the fridge. I’m going to attempt to make George’s chicken noodle soup, check under George's recipes on his blog here. I usually don't have luck with soup, the flavor is never ‘just right’ but then I’ve never tried it starting with the bones. Today is the day!

As hot as it was, Clemson took some time for sunbathing

  With the soup broth made and in the fridge overnight, the rest of the day was outside reading and enjoying this gorgeous weather. Bill and I settle quite nicely into the routine and you’d think I would be more addicted to my books than he is, but no, no, no, you would be wrong. Try dragging him away!

Before we started dinner on the Weber we had someone pull in with a white pickup and a Bambi Airstream. The neighbor, Cindy, in the painted trailer in front of us has two dogs who immediately made themselves the greeters. The new arrivals, Shannon and Indy, struck up a conversation and before long there were 4 dogs and 5 adults out there talking.

Quite the 4-wheeler neighbourhood, lots of trails to explore

Alaska, California, Montana and Ontario were represented in our group. Indy and her master, Shannon, reminded me of Doug and Yuma of Miss Adventure Travels. Indy never left Shannon for any length of time before she returned to his side. So cute! I don’t have a good picture of her but in the background of one of my photos you can see her.

Clemson and new friends
Manchu and Dusty
You can see Indy in the background with his dad's Airstream

It was almost 6 when we split up and it was time to get the meat on. Bill had a pork chop and I had a chicken thigh with our salads. The sun set and it got dark very quickly. I took my tripod outside to get pictures of ‘night’ but no luck, I’m doing something wrong for sure.

With the evening ahead of us we decided to go through our pictures and read. Bill is almost finished another book so there is no disturbing him until he is done. Friday night is not a good night for television and we’re not into a movie tonight.

And the Hand Mountain says goodnight

I hope you have had a great day. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings since today was another good one with the temperature reaching 78F.

Thank you for reading. I love to read your comments in return.