Want to help ensure our trails are there for many generations to come? Leave No Trace is a universal philosophy that could and should be part of any outdoor experience.
There are Seven Principles to remember.

The idea is simple – leave the places you enjoy as good or better than you found them. The Leave No Trace organization believes that if people do something, even something simple, to help take care of the recreational resources they cherish, we will all benefit. Cleaner water, fewer wildfires, fewer negative encounters with wildlife, less damage/loss of cultural and historic artifacts are just a few of the benefits of adhering to Leave No Trace.

It’s impossible to leave absolutely no trace of your visit to the outdoors. However, the primary goal of Leave No Trace is to prevent the avoidable impacts and minimize the unavoidable impacts. By doing so we can protect and preserve both natural resources and the quality of recreational experiences. This can also minimize the need for restrictive management activities by land managers.

“Areas like Lake Havasu City attract many visitors that the economy relies on. With that, comes increased lake activities such as water sports, camping, and trail usage, to name a few,” says Tucson-based Cindy de Leon Reilly, Arizona Leave No Trace Advocate and Master Educator.

“These increases create negative impacts such as trash, erosion, wildlife (in the water and on land), and vegetation impacts. Educating both visitors and residents in Leave No Trace ethics is a start to caring for the region and its resources.

“As a hiker, gear up with your essential gear and pack out your trash. Packing out others’ trash would also help. Additionally, know where you are going and respect the wildlife at a distance. Leash your pet, as to not disturb others. Enjoy the beauty of nature and leave only your footprints. And know the rules and regulations in the area, as it will be beneficial to the region,” Cindy advises.

“Ultimately, the bird species, insects, fish, and other wildlife will increase in numbers. Visitors will become more considerate, and residents would be more appreciative of the results.”

The Leave No Trace Seven Principles are:

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
4. Leave What You Find
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
6. Respect Wildlife
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

Learn more at: www.lnt.org
For more information on hiking trails in the Lake Havasu City region, visit the hiking section of GoLakeHavasu.com.

The post Hiking Near Lake Havasu City? Please Leave No Trace appeared first on Lake Havasu City Tourism and Community Blog.

Image courtesy of Joshua Tree National Park

Hikers in the Lake Havasu region love wildflowers. Let’s face it, who doesn’t? The desert, at first glance, can seem like a barren, sandy wasteland of cacti and rocks. However, with a little rain and a little sunshine, Arizona’s desert flowers come to life. Desert wildflowers, tiny little miracles of nature that remain hidden much of the year, will come alive and burst with color and aroma in the springtime (and sometimes after the monsoon season in the summer). But beware: there’s one pretty flower you’ll never want to pick.

This spring is likely to be a very good blooming season, following an El Nino weather pattern that delivered fall and winter rains to much of the region. Some are calling it a “super bloom,” especially in Death Valley, perhaps the best wildflower year since 2005, a banner season deemed the best in 50 years.

This is the year to plan a series of outings during the next few months in search of wildflowers as they progress from low to high elevations. It might also be a good time to invest in a field guide to western wildflowers so you will know what you are viewing.

That’s especially important when it comes to the scorpion weed. More on that in a moment.

Margo Bartlett Pesek of the Las Vegas Review-Journal advises, “Look for early wildflowers along the highways toward the Colorado River, such as the scenic roads from U.S. Highway 95 through Nelson and Eldorado Canyon, through Searchlight to Cottonwood Cove and through the mountains down to Laughlin. Roadside flowers on highways paralleling the river south of Laughlin and Bullhead City, and the highway to Lake Havasu City, should also get an early start.”

She adds, “Desert wildflowers should keep blooming until the onset of hot days.”

That brings us to the scorpion weed, also known as Blue Phacelia or Wild Heliotrope. It’s a pretty purple flower that grows in abundance in the Lake Havasu area and has a vivid purple color. But don’t be tempted to pick this desert blossom, not that you should pick any wildflower. Coming in contact with scorpion weed can have a similar reaction as touching poison ivy or oak.

Scorpion weed flowers, stems and seed pods are covered in dozens, or even hundreds of “hairs,” each containing an oil that can cause rashes and itching comparable to the effects of poison oak or poison ivy. Scratching the itch does little more than to spread the oil on a person’s skin and making the problem worse.

Scorpion weed oil can also be transferred indirectly from clothing, furniture, rugs and family pets that have been exposed to the weed.

It’s best to look, but don’t touch.

The Desert Botanical Garden’s Wildflower Info Site, based in Phoenix, provides up-to-date reports on desert wildflower blooms. The site, a collaborative effort by 21 parks and gardens, is live during the months of March and April.

In western Arizona, participating parks and gardens include: Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and BLM – Colorado River District (Lake Havasu).

For a list of wildflowers commonly found in the Lake Havasu region, visit the Lake Havasu City CVB website at GoLakeHavasu.com.

The post Flower Power appeared first on Lake Havasu City Tourism and Community Blog.

What Ansel Adams is to Yosemite National Park, and John Muir is to the Sierra Nevada of California, Steve Eskenazi is to Lake Havasu City. It’s not a bad legacy for a Brooklynite.

Steve Eskenazi, 67, has an enviable nomadic life. A lifelong bachelor, he lives out of a 24-ft. motorhome and has been hiking in the western national parks for the past 30 years. In the summer he moves his RV to Oregon. That way, as he put it over some breakfast bagels recently, he can “get my ocean fix.” Hiking? Not so much in the summer. “There are too many trees hiding the bears in Oregon.”

Originally from Brooklyn, he couldn’t be any more of a New Yorker. He grew up two blocks from the Coney Island Cyclone in famous Luna Park, right near Nathan’s Famous hot dogs stand. He started working at a Carvel ice cream store at age 16.

“I never had to pay for ice cream as a kid,” he boasts.

Steve first discovered Lake Havasu City in November 2000 when he came to visit a friend. He has been coming back to Crazy Horse Campgrounds on the Island to enjoy the mild winters from November to March ever since

Quick to admit his lifestyle is “not for everybody,” the retired Florida high school physics teacher with a degree in chemical engineering started off leading hikes for groups of his friends at the campground.

One day while visiting the Lake Havasu City Visitor Information Center, he met Visitor Services Director Jan Kassies. Jan immediately recruited him to update an old hiking brochure. The rest is hiking history. He turned it into a 32-page book with text and photos.

He also volunteered his time and energy to develop the vast majority of the editorial content and maps and provided many photographs contained in the Hiking section of www.golakehavasu.com. Much of the information is periodically updated to account for changing environmental conditions, such as natural erosion.

Today he leads hikes around the region. Dead Burro Canyon is his favorite. It travels through a deep scenic canyon in Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, a wilderness setting where very few trails exist. Wild burro and bighorn sheep are often sighted. Steve calls it a real adventure with drop-offs and two-foot ledges.

“It’s not a walk in the park,” he says, adding, “Hiking in the Lake Havasu area is growing. People are using the trails more and more and there’s a wealth of hiking information on the CVB’s website and at the Visitor Information Center.”

Steve also has a list of “secret” hikes he doesn’t like to publicize because of limited trailhead parking. You’ll just have to get to know him better to pry those locations out of him.

The post Brooklyn’s Loss is Lake Havasu City’s Gain – Hiking Lake Havasu City with Steve Eskenazi appeared first on Lake Havasu City Tourism and Community Blog.