Yesterday, Donna started her day with what turned out to be about a 6-mile hike. She followed the dirt road down from the bluff to the water. The road wrapped around to the boat launch behind the point of the bluff where we are dry camped. She saw a dirt road leading up from the water on the other side of the boat launch ramp and decided to bushwack her way across a rocky slope to get to it.

This trail ended after about a quarter of a mile at the water’s edge of a cove. She saw a small building at the end of a peninsula and figured she would set her sights on getting there to check it out, which meant more scrambling along the shore. She remembered seeing what she thought was a dirt road along the peninsula and looking up from the water’s edge, thought she saw what could be that road. More bushwacking took her up to what was not a dirt road, but a wide trail that she followed. It was a marked trail, well-used by hikers and horseback riders, which she later learned is called the Honeymoon Cove Trail. This trail meandered along the peninsula with sweeping vistas of the lake and the occasional informational placard. It looped around the peninsula and on the return trip, she noticed several large buildings up in the hills. She followed the trail toward the buildings and found its origin. It was the Maricopa County Outdoor Desert Center. A man and a woman were sitting on bench outside the building. When Donna approached, the woman asked, “Can I help you?”

She told Donna the center was open for use by reservation only. This is due to the fact that it’s mostly used for school field trips. Children are bussed from schools in the greater Phoenix area to learn about the desert they live in. The woman added that many children don’t even realize they live in a desert! Adults have to make a reservation to enter the center. This is for the protection of the children. It’s sad, but true. Donna was basically trespassing.

She had been out for about an hour and a half at that point. She called to tell me she had wandered farther than she expected and it would take another 30 minutes to return. She had tired legs and quite a story when she got back. She took a lot of photographs with her cell phone, but unfortunately, can’t get them to download because she doesn’t have a good cell signal.

We ate lunch outside at the covered picnic table. Our chipmunk friend didn’t join us this time. After lunch, I was feeling a little restless and suggested a scooter ride to look around the area outside of Pleasant Harbor.

As we were leaving, Donna suggested that we follow the road she hiked down to the edge of the water. As soon as I started down the road, I knew it wasn’t the best idea. This is a scooter made for pavement – not a motocross bike. We went down a steep, rocky hill to the lake. I stopped and took a picture, looking west to Scorpion Bay on the other side of the lake. If you look closely, you can see the marina just to the left of center in the photograph. As always, clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

Getting back onto the road from the edge of the lake was challenging. We had to climb a steep hill which was a mixture of hard packed rocky surfaces and soft sand. The back wheel was spinning as we fishtailed our way up. We made it without incident, but I have to admit there were a few dicey moments on the way up.

We went out the gate, onto the road. I wanted to find a way to cross the dam and see the Lake Pleasant Regional Park on the other side. The dam isn’t accessible though. The road is closed and it’s fenced off. We took the long way around, riding down to the Carefree Highway, then headed west for a few miles before turning on to the road to the park.

There are wild burros in the area, but the only signs we saw of them were on the side of the road.

The road to the park winds along for five miles or so before you find the actual park entrance. Day use of the park costs six dollars for entry. We sweet talked our way in, telling the gate attendant we just wanted to take a ride through and see if it was suitable for a big rig motorhome. She gave us a 30-minute guest pass.

We pulled over to take in the view and shoot a photo or two on the way in to the Scorpion Bay Marina.

The park has a 10-lane boat ramp on the south side and a smaller four-lane ramp to the north. The marina sits below a bluff with a parking area. You have to climb down a stairway to access the marina. There’s a restaurant called Dillon’s there that we heard was good. There’s also a convenience store.

We didn’t walk down to the marina. We only had 30 minutes and wanted to check out the campgrounds. We looked around and took a few pictures.

We rode through the Desert Tortoise camp sites. I didn’t see any sites that were appealing for our 40-foot rig and trailer. The area is nice, but the sites are too small for us. Many of the sites weren’t level. We didn’t go out to the Roadrunner Campground. If there were big enough sites, this would be a great place to visit and hike around the area. We were told that most weekends are booked six months in advance though.

When we returned, I dropped Donna off at the pool. She had her bathing suit on under her shirt and shorts. I came back to our motorhome and picked up our toiletry bags, towels and clean clothes. We showered down at the resort. While I was enjoying a hot shower, a thought occurred to me. I was wondering why our house battery bank goes down so quickly when we use the inverter. I have to run the generator twice a day to recharge the battery bank.

The hot shower had me thinking, what if the hot water heater is running off of the inverter? It didn’t make sense to me to have it wired that way, but what if? When we came home, I checked the hot water. Sure enough, it was heated by 120V AC power off of the inverter. Heating elements can draw a lot of current. I tripped the breaker for the hot water heater so it wouldn’t be drawing from the inverter. It didn’t make sense to me to wire it this way. I checked the wiring schematic to see if something was wrong, but the schematic shows it is wired correctly with a feed from the inverter.

From now on, when we dry camp, I’ll trip the circuit breaker for the water heater. If we need hot water, we can turn on the propane switch and have hot water in about ten minutes.

Donna fixed blackened tilapia Baja fish tacos for dinner. She said it’s a simple recipe. I said it was delicious!

Today, we’ll rent a kayak and continue to explore.