943 April 6, 2023 Pearces At Pearce Ferry
We each began the day with walks through downtown Kingman.
We got packed up and we were on our way to Meadview. It was another picturesque ride.
The first 30 miles were through open range cattle country. There were lots of cattle guards and reminders to watch for cattle. There were none out on the road today. They were grazing on the hillsides. We did see two dead ones…
Once we reached 2,900 feet, we began to see Joshua trees. There was a dense forest of them as we crested the ridge.
Meadview is 60 miles north of Kingman in a pretty remote area. We were surprised to find that there was a nice community here and in addition a couple of restaurants. We settled in and had some lunch. We were excited to explore. We found the Meadview Chamber of Commerce where we were able to get some maps of the area. This town is the beginning of the Lake Meade National Recreation Area.
We stopped at a scenic overlook, the Colorado River far below and snowcapped mountains in the distance.
We took Pierce Ferry Road to Pearce Ferry. I’m not certain why the spelling is different…but it is!
Thanks to this grader for a nice smooth road today!
In 1877 Harrison Pearce set up a ferry for Mormons from Utah to cross the river into Arizona. The terrain on this side of the river proved to be too difficult for the wagons and eventually the ferry ceased operations. This area is now used for taking out rafts and other small craft.
We took a 4WD road and found this set of extreme rapids downriver.
We drove to South Cove.
This picture shows where Lake Meade used to be. All of the short scruffy brush and grass is where the water was. The levels in the lake have been on a downward trend for the past 22 years. Today, the water was at 1,045 feet. 15 feet lower than one year ago and 173 feet below full. If the lake levels reach 895 feet, the lake would be at dead pool status. This is the point at which the water can no longer flow downstream from the dam. Millions of people would be affected if this occurs.
If you look closely at these pictures, you can see the muddy water of the Colorado River entering the lake.
We took the gravel road to the Meadview Airstrip. We walked here and we think we might have found a great place to camp with the tent tomorrow evening.
It was 4:15 and we decided that we wanted to see Grapevine Canyon. This was a ride through a wash for about 10 miles. The canyon walls rose above us. We were grateful to find that the canyon road connected to Pierce Ferry Road so that our trip back was a lot easier!
It was another day of adventure and awe. We are so lucky to spend so many of our days immersed in natural beauty!
