Ventures of Pluto: 2015 Road Trip: Part 22 (AZ-NV)

Arizona to Nevada
Hoover Dam
Day 37
5.20.15

It was with regret that I left Arizona to begin another phase of my road trip. I had a wonderful time with exploring bits of the Colorado Plateau with Noah. Those three weeks were dense with adventure, which is the way it is best. This new phase began with a drive west toward Hoover Dam, to meet up with Eliot on his way from California to Salt Lake City.

US-93 north in AZ

As I drove west, the desert got even more deserted, and trees were a mere concept, and I was left with valleys and barren mountains along the edges. I drove up US-93 on the east side of the Colorado River, and Eliot was driving up US-95 on the west side.

In the style of Top Gear, "I was the first to arrive." I first went to the Lake Overlook, since I figured that would provide a better view than the dam, otherwise the dam would have been called Lake Overlook. Here is Lake Mead, the largest manmade lake by volume in the US, capable of holding two years worth of Colorado River water.

You can see how low the water level is compared to what it used to be. The light rock was all underwater, and now it's exposed, and my estimate is that it is somewhere around 100-200 feet difference.

After driving across the dam, I drove up the opposite side a bit to find parking, and got a better view of how low the water really is. The water used to cover most of the four intake towers.

Soon, Eliot arrived, and we headed down to the main hub of things, looking to take a turbine tour inside the dam. This is one of the spillways used to divert water in the event that it rises higher than the top of the dam. I believe these have only been used twice in the history of the dam.

They take you down to nearly the base of the 700' dam, into one of the diversion tunnels used initially to change the course of the river for construction. From there, it was a short walk into one of the turbine rooms. There are 17 turbines, 8 on one side and 9 on the other. They are spun by the water forced into it, and this causes it to spin. They produce electricity via electromagnets on the turbines and also stationary (called the stator coils) in a ring around each turbine.

We sat in for an audio recording that explained the usage of the Colorado River and the 15 dams along it. It was enhanced by a cool light-up model of the area showing terrain and all the main dams. The perspective of the model was very confusing for anyone who has read a map before. South was basically in any direction on the edge of the model, and north was divergent along the horizon. But there didn't seem to be any cohesion of longitude lines on the map.

We walked back along the dam and got to look down it. It's pretty damn huge. Sorry, I had to. It's one of those things you want to roll a penny down and see how long it takes. They tell you not to because there are poor workers down there, and they might not be wearing safety helmets. Which would be a violation of OSHA, but that's okay. I wouldn't say anything.

The bridge that I crossed over to get to the dam is way more impressive from below. I'm almost glad I didn't see how spindly it was while I was on it.

From there, Eliot and I parted ways. He went into town to spend the night, and I muddled around in the back streets of Boulder City, NV to find a grocery store and some internet. Eventually, I was successful, and I had found a campsite north of Las Vegas by about 40 miles. It was near the Valley of Fire State Park.

I had an initial opinion of Las Vegas, and it was "ew". However, everything was different when I was coming from a desert with nothing living in it. With nearly clear skies, the glow of the sunset and the city was all very inviting as I neared the hubbub. I basically stayed on the highway for the whole time, but it was still very exciting to pass through a place so energized and filled with flashing lights and fast cars and places telling you why you should gamble here instead of there. In summary, I had a blast.

I arrived at my campsite along a dirt road (as usual) late at night. It really wasn't much, but I can't expect much for free. There were a few fire rings, and room to set up a tent. What was cool was the view of the Las Vegas glow. No lights directly, though I got those in my rear view mirror heading up I-15. That was pretty rad.

The worst part about this site was the amount of bugs that were really excited about my headlamp while trying to cook and eat dinner. They were some cross of an ant and a wasp in looks, and worse than blackflies in attitude. I resorted to eating by red light on my headlamp. With partly clear skies and no rain in the forecast, I left the fly off the tent for maximum stargazing ability. That was unsuccessful since I typically sleep with my eyes closed. Yahoo for a night without any snow though!

The Route Maps begin again, now that I am making some noticeable progress around the country. To date, the total is 6352 miles. Many more to come.