November 26-27, 2022
We had a great spot at the Lake Mead RV Village campground overlooking Boulder Beach on Lake Mead. We could see from the "bathtub ring" on the lake that the water was low, and the boat ramp went for a long distance before it got to the water. Still, there were lots of boats and a healthy marina, though we learned that the one and only boat ramp on the lake could only support small motorboats like ours. The bigger boats at the marina were stuck in the lake.
There was less water than in other years, but there was still a lot of water to explore. We thought it wouldn't take long to get to the other side of the lake we could see from our site, and we were both surprised with how long it actually took. The lake was pretty big! We cruised across it to The Narrows, a skinny section that connected this large bay to the others. That was pretty cool.
We wandered around the other side for a bit, but we had a late start, and the sun was going down. So, we headed back. Margot was able to get out on the water again, and she would see more of it then.
There was a restaurant at the marina, the Boat House, and we would end up eating there twice. It was a nice place to eat, right on the water. There were fish there that were used to being fed chips and popcorn, but at least they didn't hold their mouths open like the ones at Navajo Lake did (gross!).
The first time we ate there was when we stopped for brunch before the long drive to the Grand Canyon West. Unlike the north rim and south rim of the Grand Canyon, GCW is on the Hualapai Reservation and not a part of the national park. It is also where you can find the Skywalk, a glass-bottomed path that sticks 70 feet away from the side of the canyon over the steep drop off. We bought tickets online and headed out after brunch.
It's a bit of a drive, as the GCW is a bit in the middle of nowhere. When we got there, we parked in a big lot and went into the main building and gift shop, which is really just a huge tent. There was no ventilation, really, and it smelled like the unwashed masses inside. We hurried through to the other doors to get back outside. Nasty.
There was a line, and then we boarded the shuttle that came with our Skywalk tickets. It was a city bus, basically. The shuttle took us a long way out to the canyon's edge where we would see it for the first time. It was impressive, but maybe not as big as the Grand Canyon you see in the national park.
We put booties on to protect the glass after putting all of our stuff in a locker -- phones and bags are not allowed. The Skywalk was cool, and we got in line to get our photos taken. We were hustled through the crowds on the glass by the photographer, and we'd wait our turn to take pictures next to the edges. It was cheesy, but the only way to get photos from the Skywalk.
Though it was cool, and we'd recommend it, we probably wouldn't do it again. It's a good way to make your stomach do flip flops, but it was a bit expensive.
We also bought food tickets and decided to go to Guano Point for an early dinner. There are remnants of an old mining operation there that were interesting, and the walk was nice. Unfortunately, they were out of almost all of their food, and what they still had was very overcooked and kind of gross. We would recommend buying chips and other snacks at all of the shuttle stops instead of buying restaurant meals. We threw most of it away.
We were glad we went, but if you have to pick either the national park or GCW, we recommend Grand Canyon National Park. It was something fun to do while near Las Vegas.
