More Imperial Dam LTVA
Well, if you’ve had enough of Imperial Dam LTVA (long-term visitor’s area), prepare to suffer. You see, this huge area offers a commendable amount of options and visuals, and can hardly be covered in a single post attempting to sum it all up in one shot – or three. All I’ll do here is lay out a pile of photos, and explain them with captions.
You’ve seen vistas, and now, this is the pits – Gravel Pit Road. This lower area offers respite from the wind as well as a relatively miserable cellular signal.
This is just a reminder that if the scenery doesn’t do it for you one day, the sky might.
Clean-freaks need not apply. When the winds get much above 20 MPH, everything in your camper is going to get another sprinkle of dust.
if you don’t care to pack in with the other sardines, you can choose solitude, like this.
Not too many slots against the reservoir are available, but if you get one, oh my what a view!
According to the camp hosts, LTVA passholders get free day use of the reservoir, but only recreational fee receipt holders get to camp overnight for 14 days of every 28.
Two people fishing from kayaks in the reservoir while water levels are down.
A short walk around can produce some nice scenery. You’re free to wander anywhere you like.
Perhaps 100+ yards away from camp is a small fenced area that might be an Indian burial ground – the sign mentions Native American artifacts and a $250,000 fine for removing them.
Swinging the camera to the left a bit shows more options. This gorge gets much, much wider as it continues on.
This same gorge offers plenty of spots to camp with a nice overlook. This guy in the truck camper likes to sit in the shade of an awning and look out over the area.
I simply walked over to one of the many vacant overlooks and took this shot. A couple of weeks for $40 or 7 months for $180, and it’s yours.
If you prefer, you can bunk in with the same folks you see at this time every year.
The shallow reservoir is actively used for irrigation, so the water level can drop or rise quite a bit in just one day.
These critters are all over, and the youngest will tend to follow you until he figures out that the other two aren’t coming along.
Same group, I think, a little later in the day near my camp. The tele is aimed toward the main camp farther north, so those background trailers are actually far away.
Did I mention I have kind of a patio with a view, next to the trailer? A pipe, a drink and a sunset go well together.
And here’s the start of one sunset, with a cloud casting a shadow on the nearest mountain.
A few minutes later. I’m pulling the motorhome in closer with my telephoto lens while I’m still planted in my chair.
Let me digress. This guy has fitted complete Chevy V8 running gear in his little old Ford SUV. I heard it rumble by and asked. He had just stripped a spline off-roading with Detroit Lockers.
I just thought this made a nice magazine-style shot.
This sunset was unusual because of the roiling cloud. This red glow lasted just very few minutes. This image is too small to show much detail.
This is the sky just opposite that same sunset, as in “face the other way”. Weird, huh?
Strolling Amok 
Doug love the post…great information and photos.
I have a question, how close to the water can you park for the whole season?
Papa
Well, the LTVA here has a ridge that overlooks the water at I’d guess a 100′ height, perhaps 300-400 feet distant. It’s a really nice view. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you can just leave ‘er there for the whole time.
Nice pictures I always love to see
sun sets
Thank you, Linda. I tend to see so many sunset pics that they all blur together, but the real thing makes that hard to do!
Nice photos. Thanks for sharing them and the info.
Thanks, JR. There’s so little online info on this LTVA that I see it as some kind of bizarre civic duty to post what I find out about it. There’s more to go, and if I’d known what I’ve posted so far, I would have not been so lackadaisical about putting this on my visit list.
There are a lot of well kept secrets. Until last when it was closed there was a great place not too far from here. I don’t know why it was shut down. There were several secluded spots by a lovely river.
Well, that’s kinda sad!
I thought so too. It’s a cool place.
I may be down that way for dental work in Mexico about the 3rd week of Jan. May try to look you up. Hope to kayak a bit. Glad you are having fun, but wish you were at RTR. Wonderful site this year and marvelous group of people. Over 70 rigs there, mostly vans, lots of educational session. Next year I may camp with them the entire two weeks… I’m having such a good time. https://www.facebook.com/swankie.wheels/media_set?set=a.591315030939937.1073741881.100001843375288&type=3
Superb! As your plans gel, ask me for my GPS coordinates. You will likely go nuts kayaking here. Glad the turnout is so good this year at the RTR, and that you are having a good time. That is a huge bundle of photos, and lots are interesting. Looks like fun!
Do those who stay a long time have someone come pump out their tanks? Or do they have to hook up and go to a dumping station?
Well, so far as I’ve seen, everybody does their own, John. However, that often does not involve moving the RV. They often use auxiliary tanks on trailers, or blueboys towed behind a runabout. Unlike Quartzsite, not that many use tanks in the bed of a pickup. As mentioned in previous articles, there’s a dump station right here close by at this LTVA.
I’m planning to come down that way after RTR is over, though I’ll probably go to Winterhaven near Rachel Smith. She says the air is really good there, and after the traffic fumes in Quartzsite, I need it! Thanks for the shot and the info. Sounds lovely. Can’t wait to see some wild donkeys!
LaVonne, this whole area is loopy. The LTVA is actually just over the border in California, and the mailing address for the local service center is Winterhaven, CA. but it’s always referred to as Yuma because that’s where the shopping is. Winterhaven would be a suburb of sorts, if it weren’t just over the border. And the air is clean here, if you don’t snug up close to a pack of generator-equipped RVs.