937 March 30, 2023 Alamo Lake State Park

More laps in the campground.   I don’t know why it’s so much harder to walk when I’m walking in circles!

We were packed and ready to roll early this morning.  Tim thought we might be able to stop in a small town on the way and pass a couple of hours but each town; Vicksburg, Hope, Harcuvar, Salome, and Wenden; was just a blink! 

We turned onto Alamo Road and the scenery started to be really spectacular.  This was such an amazing ride.

Though we arrived before 2pm, we were allowed to check-in. 

Tim heard braying and climbed the ridge across from our site to look.  A chocolate-colored burro was walking in the wash below.

We grabbed some lunch and then took the Jeep for a ride.  We went to the Bill Williams Overlook at Alamo Dam.

Bill Williams was a guy who did a lot of beaver trapping.  He didn’t like people too much and preferred remote places and solitude.  This river was part of his territory and is aptly named for him.

The dam is an earth filled dam.  It is used to control flooding.  With all the recent rain and wind, Alamo Lake is very high and muddy.  The flooding lake waters can rise as much as 3 feet per hour and 20 feet in 24 hours.  The water is released into the Bill Williams River and it flows out to the Colorado River just above Parker. 

We explored the park and saw this herd of burros.  The burros here are descendants of the burros used by miners and railroad workers in the early 1900’s.  The burros are protected by Federal law.  The herd here becomes quite large.  There is water and ample food supply here.  When the numbers become too high to sustain a healthy herd and environment for other wildlife, the burros are moved placed in a Federal Adopt-A-Burro program.

We took a 4WD trail out of Campground C.  We passed a bunch of OHV’s .  We got to this particularly steep slope and Tim went to check.  It was doable.  It gave him an opportunity to engage the locking hubs, a feature of the new Rubicon. 

The wildflowers are plentiful and stunning!

We had short bursts of rain in late afternoon.

This evening while I was grilling, I could hear burros in the wash.  There was a herd of 7 gathered.

I went after dinner to find the dumpster and heard thunder.  As I returned to the RV, I saw these storm clouds.

All at once a rainbow covered the entire sky.  I had trouble taking a picture of the whole thing because I was on a ridge and couldn’t back up at all.

The rainbow brightened though no longer full.  Then there was a double rainbow for a few minutes.

I dragged Tim outside in the chilly, raw rain to look at the pretty rainbow before it disappeared.