Escape to Rabbit Valley

Needing to get my mail forwarded to me from the excellent Escapee Mail Forwarding service I needed to hang out near Grand Junction, CO for four or five days until the General Delivery packet got forwarded from Livingston, TX to a Grand Junction Post Office.  Initially, I planned on staying on the BLM land just north of the city where I had camped previously but after one day there I wanted to relocate.  Unfortunately, the locals have absolutely trashed this once excellent camping spot, littering it with everything from broken washing machines to what appears to be the remains of a demolished house, let alone the tens of thousands of spent shotgun shells that litter almost everywhere.  I couldn't help but think of the great camping in Rabbit Valley twenty miles to the west in the McGinnis Canyons National Conservation Area I had enjoyed a couple years back so I returned to the Jouflas Campground which I previously reviewed here: Rabbit Valley Review .

Like seeing an old friend!

I lucked out and got my old camp site when I got there.

The only site at Jouflas with some vegetation.

The difference between the condition of the pristine land within the McGinnis Canyons Conservation Area and the now pathetic BLM land near Grand Junction couldn't be more stark, I'd made the right move to relocate.

One of the tons of rock formations along hiking trails.

There's an excellent series of hiking trails near Jouflas Campground and I did my daily hikes along them.

Trail 2, one of the main trails in the Jouflas system.

A service road that connects Jouflas to a campground about 5 miles south.

Heartbreak Hill:  the climb back up to Jouflas from the trails.

I usually carry a Walmart shopping bag in my pocket in case I see litter while on my walks.  There was virtually no litter in Rabbit Valley so I left the bags back at the Mini.

Thanks for reading!

100,000

Tech-nically Homeless hit it's 100,000th page view today.  Wow, that's a lot of views!  When I started the blog five years ago I thought it would be a way to assure my daughter, who was very worried a newb like me would drive off a mountain road in the dark, that I was still alive and kicking, or at least I was whenever my last post occurred,  I honestly never thought I'd get more than one or two family views a day, given that my writing isn't the most scintillating.  Then I decided to include reviews of all the cool places I was finding to camp in with the hope that it would help other newbies like me starting out and I think that's what got the page views going.

I hope I've helped readers find destinations and learn good camping skills as much as the blogs I read have helped me through these last five years!  I'll keep after it!

The Happy Camper!

Thanks for reading!

Campground Review: Disbursed Camping in the Moapa Valley, NV Along Sand Mine Road

Temperatures in Arizona continued to rise so I headed northwest up into Nevada's Moapa Valley to BLM land along Sand Mine Road seeking cooler climate.  Moapa Valley runs northwest to southeast and is situated in Clark County about 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas.  The valley was originally settled by the Anasazi people around 350 BC.  In the late-1860's the first white people, Mormon pioneers, immigrated into the valley. 

You don't need 4 wheel drive if you stay close to the road.

I did my now practiced routine of finding the first place along the road, parking the rig there and then proceeding on foot to find the best available site in the area.  I found a pretty good one about a half mile further along Sand Mine Road.

The Mini's desert site about 50 yards off Sand Mine Road.

Here's the Sand Mine Road data sheet:

Hookups:                                             None (Dry camping)                                                  

Fire ring:                                              Yes                                                                 

Water Access:                                     No                                                                  

Fresh Water:                                        No                                                      

Trash Service:                                      No (Pack in/Pack out)                                                

Toilets:                                                 No                                                                  

Showers:                                             No                                                                              

Dump station:                                      No                                                      

WiFi:                                                    No                                                      

Level sites:                                          Yes                                         

Laundry:                                              No                                                      

Store:                                                   No                                                                              

Pool:                                                    No                                                      

Shade:                                                 No                                                      

Verizon reception:                               4G, 4 bars                                                       

Internet reception:                               4 bars

Cost:                                                    Free for up to 15 days

Initially, temperatures during the cloudless days were in the low to mid-80's and nights were in the mid-50's, pretty ideal!  I did my daily walking along Sand Mine Road which is mostly hard packed dirt and gravel.

Sand Mine "Road".

My site was pretty secluded even though it was out in the open desert, my nearest neighbor was a half mile away, then he left two days in and my next nearest was about a mile away.

This canyon separated my camp area from another further north.

Some of the cacti in the area were flowering.

One of the things I really appreciate about desert camping is the virtual absence of flying insects of any kind.  Often while camping in forests you have to hurry in and out of the trailer to avoid flys, or worse, mosquitoes flying in the open door, not so in the desert!

I called this area along my walk "The Badlands".

I got to Sand Mine Road around the middle of April and as I mentioned for the first week the weather was just ideal with the bonus of cloud-free days providing great sun for the Mini's solar setup.  I intended to stay the whole 15 day limit but unfortunately the second week the temperatures spiked into the mid to high 90's after extremely high winds blew in a warm front.

High winds blew over the solar suitcase so I had to lay it almost flat.

With Lin's Grocery, a full service grocery store, only seven miles away in Overton, NV it's very possible to complete the whole 15 day stay along Sand Mine Road without running out of supplies.  Next year I might come a couple weeks earlier in the season and avoid the heat and make the full 15 days, the peaceful uncrowded nature of the campsites coupled with the excellent cellular coverage make it worth it!

Thanks for reading!