#395 Meadview RV Park, Grand Canyon Skywalk

While we were at Big Bend of Colorado, we were thinking about what would be next and there was a place up the way called Katherine’s landing. We rode by to take a look and most of the sites were more of the 20 ft. max version. We saw a number of sites big enough to hold her and one or two that had a water spigot towards the rear. None had electricity. It didn’t seem all that appealing but it was okay. We had seen the Colorado River for about a week and a half close up and this place had like 100 sites but none of them had a water view. We begin to wonder do we need to be here? Do people come here because they just really need a place to be? We want to see something visual and decided this place wasn't for us. Maybe some folks just need a place to park the RV. Some folks have to be here because they’re on social security and didn't have a whole lot of other choices as it was affordable. The regular price is 20 and the senior price would be half. A mile or so away was an area with full hookups for 30 or so per night. We took a look and it was just a run-down-looking 30 site trailer park and we passed on that as well. We decided to go up towards the Sky Walk at West Grand Canyon. After that go towards the Hoover Dam and around Lake Mead clockwise. We looked at the weather forecast and it was going to be unusually hot for the next few days. They were predicting 98 degrees and this is like the first week of April. I had no real choice in the matter because I can't control the weather so we would just have to tough it out for 3 or 4 days. Then a light bulb went off and I said to myself is there anywhere around here that's not going to be quite so hot so I looked at the elevations that were nearby. The elevation of the town closest to the Skywalk was called Meadview.

The weather forecast for those guys was going to be around 85, 10 degrees cooler. I thought this is so cool we'll go there first. It was at 4000-foot elevation and where we are now is about 600 feet. It was such a good feeling to realize when we can't change the weather we can change us. From Laughlin up to Meadview was about an hour and a half and the last hour is pretty dang remote. It had a desert landscape.

It was noticeably cooler so we were so happy about that. We checked into the RV park at Meadview and settled in. I told the guy we wanted about 4 nights and he was so cool and offered me a better deal. He said the price of 4 nights is the same money as the weekly rate so heck yea give me 7 days. We stayed for five.

I tried to orient the driver side of the rig towards the west to catch the evening sun but it wasn't easy to do in the space provided. I showed Bert around so he could roll around in the dirt and mark his territory. He rolls on his back and we tell him how pretty he is. Each time you say to him what a pretty boy you are he rolls on his back and does it again. He will do this as long as you want to keep it up. On our first full day, there was just kind of doing a little laundry and I did some editing on my story. Soon it was the Saturday before Easter so we looked online and made some reservations for the Grand Canyon Skywalk for Sunday.

It plugged us in for 9 am. I would have made it 10 am I guess but they didn't have that option. I remember we came to the skywalk about 12 years ago with the children on a big excursion we get done out west. We were going from the Hoover Dam to Grand Canyon South Rim. On the way, we took a left to go to the Sky Walk. We got there around 3 o'clock and they closed at 5. It was a little pricey for that late in the day. I seem to remember it was about $40 per person then $20 per person for the shuttle. We're talking like 250.00 for 1 hour of enjoyment and we just had to let it go. I always wanted to get back there someday and now we were. This time we had all day to enjoy it all leisurely. When we were out on the Skywalk it was pretty incredible. You are walking on a 12-inch-thick piece of glass looking straight down into the floor of the canyon 1,000 or so feet straight down. You know it’s safe but it takes a lot of mental effort to walk on the glass alone as it seems so eerie and unnatural. Later we hiked around a bit and I saw parents with 3-year-olds dancing all about the rim of the canyon. You’re on your own there are no guardrails. It seemed wrong to me for them to risk their child’s life just so they could look good on Instagram or something.

There was a cool famous hidden figure. It was called Eagle Rock

We drove the truck down to the Colorado River one day which was quite a haul. It was down a wiggly kinda bumpy dirt road for 5 miles or so. We parked and went on a hike following the river bank for a while. Just as we started, we saw a

Picture

bull with large horns just laying in the middle of the path saying none shall pass.

I had no desire to challenge his rules so we walked way off to the left and way around his space. Later we saw him mosey away and do other things. I assume he was a free-range guy probably not wild but he seemed to have few rules. There was nothing green growing I could see so I couldn’t figure out what he was living on. Later we saw him trotting off at a good clip so he seemed healthy enough.

From a distance, I saw a cow across the river looking into the water almost like a vigil. I wondered if a cow friend was stuck in the mud. I couldn’t see it clearly and wondered if I should tell a ranger so if some rancher's cow was in trouble they could do a rescue or something. On our way back I saw the cow had moved on and I wondered if my imagination had just got the best of me and there never was a problem.

At the turnaround point of our hike, I saw the calm river washing over some rapids and through a gorge and was impressed by how much the river personality changed here. Where we parked the river was calm but at this stretch, it was like a class 5.

In town, I saw some cool yard sculptures

Down in central Meadview, we found the only restaurant. They had good BBQ but a little pricey. On the way out I got 3 more 4 pounds to go for future meals. I think this impulse buy was 40 bucks or something and later I felt like maybe I was a tourist for buying it. I guess I helped a small mom and pop make living so oh well.

28100 N Pierce Ferry Road Meadview, AZ 86444928-564-2662888-775-2662Official Website

GPS: 35.9411, -114.0862