Boondocking Areas, Arizona

 

I have been boondocking in National Forests a few times in Arizona.  Around the Sedona/Cottonwood area, I found two sites that were nice and easy to get into.  One is the Route 179 exit off I-17. Just take a left into Forest road 618 and keep going until you see a sign that says "trailer parking".  It really means horse trailers, but the Ranger assured me that it was fine to camp there.

 

Near Cottonwood, I found a spot off Route 260 - turn on Thousand Trails Road and take the first left dirt road.  This is a large area and several times I saw the hot air balloons overhead about 6 AM.  It has great scenery and is easy to get into.

 

 

 

The next site I found was Forest Road 303 just outside of Walnut Canyon National Monument.  It's convenient to Flagstaff and quiet. 

 

I'll be looking for more sites in the future as I travel to different areas.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Flagstaff, Arizona

 

There are more than one volcanos in this area, and were active sometime around 1050.  The main volcano is now 1000' tall and closed to hiking, although people were allowed to climb it in the past.  Unfortunately, there is no way to see the crater at the top since there are no overlooks higher than the volcano.   As such, it was a bit disappointing that the photo below is about the only photo I could get.  And it does look much like other hills in the area.

 

 

There was a smaller volcano that was open to exploring, so I climbed the very steep side of it to the top.  At 7000' altitude, it was a strenuous climb for someone used to sea level.  The views were great - lots of tall pine trees and views of mountains in the distance as well as views of the lava flows.  The photo below shows the lava flow to the right between the trees.

 

 

When I finally reached the top, I was rewarded with the view of the San Francisco peaks, still with snow on the tops.  It made it worth the trip - and going downhill was easier than climbing up!

 

As I was coming back down the hill, I saw this view of the lava flow area.  Trees and bushes seem to be able to grow in this, as well as a few wildflowers.  The scenery in this area is beautiful, certainly a welcome change from the desert.

 

Since I'd had my workout for the day, I decided to take it easy for the afternoon.

 

 

 

Walnut Canyon National Monument, Arizona

 

Walnut Canyon is located just a few miles south of Interstate 40 just east of Flagstaff.  Walnut Canyon has both a desert environment and a pine/oak forest and was inhabited during the years 800 through 1200 by the Sinagua people.

 

The canyon walls have many large rock overhangs, making it easy for the early settlers to erect thick walls held together with mud to form an enclosure for their homes.  Some of these walls and rooms are still evident today, on both sides of the canyon.

Since this canyon is located at over 6500', there was snowfall in the area.  They built fires in their homes, and the smoke stains still remain on the ceilings of the overhangs.  It is assumed that they covered the door openings with an animal skin to keep out the old.  We can still see the small opening near the ceiling to allow the smoke to escape from the home.

 

The trail to the dwellings winds down from the visitor center, partly path and partly steps, 240 steps throughout the path.  Doesn't seem like much going down, but it certainly does once you start climbing those 240 steps up!

 

As well as living inside the canyon walls, these people built pueblos on the flatlands on the rim, where they farmed crops.  These rooms seem to be much bigger and there are still some that have not been excavated.  In the late 1800s, the area became a popular destination for souvenir hunters scavenging for pottery and other items.   Unfortunately some history was lost until the government declared it a National Monument in 1915.

 

 

Off in the distance, you can still see the snow covered peaks of the San Francisco mountains.

 

And down at the rim of the canyon, wildflowers are blooming.

 

 

 

Jerome, Arizona

 

I took a trip up a winding road to the old mining town of Jerome, which is perched on a steep hillside outside of Cottonwood.   The photo above shows the remains of the Copper Cloud Saloon.

 

I walked the streets of the town that date back to the late 1800s, the first mining claim was filed in 1876.  Mining was lucrative there since copper and silver were the main products, but some gold was also mined there.  A sign in town declares that it was the "wildest, wickedest" and most celebrated mining town in Arizona.  There were two dozen saloons and a red light district in town. 
 
When the mines closed in 1962, it became a ghost town, but in 1967 it was declared a National Historical Landmark.  Subsequently, artists were drawn to the area, which is over 5000' elevation and has dramatic views of the valley below and red rocks off in the distance.  Unfortunately, the day was hazy and I didn't get any good photos of the view.

 

There were numerous old hotels in town, some of them have been refurbished and are presently in use.

 

 

The old auto mechanic shop has been turned into a sales area for various artists, while still keeping some of the antique vehicle signs and photos on display, as well as an old Plymouth.

One of the brothels was turned into an artist's residence and shop.

Ruins of one of the old buildings has been turned into a glass blowing studio.

 

The old movie house is still in use, and has one of the ancient projectors on the sidewalk outside.

 

 

 

I had a great day wandering around town and soaking up the history.

 

 

 

Tuzigoot - Clarksdale, Arizona

 

This National Monument is the excavated ruins of the homes of the Sinagua Indians built somewhere between 1000 and 1400.  The name is Apache for "crooked water" and is pronounced Too-zee-goot.  These people also inhabited Montezuma Well and Montezuma Castle in this area, I did a blog earlier this month on those two areas.

 

Logs were used for support posts of the rooms, as shown in this photo, just one area that had been refurbished to show the construction methods.   Smaller logs were then used for the ceiling and then covered with grasses, branches or other woven material.   Mud was finally placed on top to seal it.

 

This area was built on a hill, with rooms averaging 200 square feet per family.  There were few exterior doors, similar to other pueblos.  Most of the entrances were accessed through the roof reached by ladders.  If there was any danger, they could just pull up the ladders.

This photo shows one of the rooms.  The dark stone in the middle was used for food preparation.   A smaller stone would be used to crush grains against this stone to prepare food.  Some of the stones were built into the floors.

This little guy was hanging around while I was walking on the trail.  For a while, it seemed like he was leading me.

 

 

Verde Canyon Railroad, Arizona

Clarkdale, Arizona is not a very big town, but it's a destination many people visit because of the Verde Canyon Railroad.  I was with two other solo women RVers who took the trip yesterday to a ghost ranch called Perkinsville.  There are closed cars to ride in, but I spent the most of the trip in the open car.  This is where you see the best views, and where I spent my time.  The enclosed cars are nice, with a small snack bar and comfy seats.

 

The terrain included desert valley, a small river and towering red rock formations, some of which had to be cut in order to build the track years ago.  A 680 foot tunnel was constructed through the highest rock formation, totally blocking any light when the train passed through.  In some areas, the rock walls towered over the train only a few feet from the tracks.

 

The Verde River follows the tracks, sometimes close and other times hidden from view.  Sometimes the river has large banks with huge trees and grassy areas, other times it meanders through a canyon area with vertical rock walls.

 

 

In one area, there were remains of a few cliff dwellings left from the Sinagua Indians, some dating back to 600 BC.

 

It took us about 2 hours to reach Perkinsville, where they took the two locomotives from the front of the train and attached them to the caboose, so they didn't have to turn the train around.  After a short time, the train started back to the station. 

 

During the entire trip, there was a narrative with some of the history of the train as well as music, songs about trains and travel.  Since the train is based in Clarkdale, they played "Last Train to Clarksville" as we started heading back to the depot. 

 

The scenery was spectacular and varied, as shown in the photos below.  It is really hard to capture the magnificence of the area.  In order to see the tops of some of the rock formations, you had to look almost straight up.  The photos below show some of the varied landscape.  It was a great afternoon of traveling.

Between Boondocking

 

I have been doing a lot of boondocking lately.  It seems that there's always a problem trying to find a place to fill up with fresh water and dump the tanks between boondocking spots.    There have been suggestions of finding a truck stop or sometimes fuel stations have facilities.  However, some of them are a bit difficult to maneuver in, especially when busy. 

 

Recently I stayed about 10 days in a National Forest and wanted to camp in a different National Forest nearby.  Since there were no truck stops or other facilities between the spots, I checked into an RV Park on the way.   Passport America gives a 50% discount on camping at certain member campground, and there was one halfway between the two destinations.  A perfect solution - overnight stay, do my laundry there and have a nice long hot shower.  I just pulled in and set up, didn't disconnect the truck, just took the weight off the bed.  A perfect solution, and reasonable.  Passport America is probably the number one membership to have, it's very reasonable and you make up the cost in a couple stays.  BUT, this is not meant to be an advertisement.

 

Next morning, I took off for the next boondocking spot and was able to park with a great view out my back window.  The ridge in the distance has multi-color rock layers through it, mostly shades of red.  On clear days, I can see the peaks of mountains peeking over the top of the ridge, still all covered in snow.

 



 

The view on the other side is the sunset, which happened to be beautiful the other night.

 

 

When I decide to move to my next boondocking area, I'll probably be staying at Dead Horse State Park.  Yeah, I know - weird name, but apparently there was a dead horse there one time before they decided what to name the park.  Below is a photo of one of their lagoons, which, unfortunately is not where the campground is.

 

 

 

 



Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well, Arizona

 

It amazes me how people from centuries ago built their homes.  Recently I visited an area known as Montezuma Castle, which is a misnomer since Montezuma wasn't involved and it's not a castle.  The dwellings shown above were built into the wall of a cliff high above a canyon wall.  Since this area was abandoned in the 1400s, we don't know how these were accessed, but other cliff dwellers had used ladders.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed inside these dwellings, since they were closed to tourists in the early 1950s for preservation.  In another area of this cliff, there was an area that had dwellings that were 5 stories high.  Some time in the past, these dwellings fell away from the cliff and all that is left are a few walls and ruins some are shown below.

 

 

This area was a beautifully shaded area by the Arizona Sycamore trees, which are shown below.  Going along the property edge was a nice little creek, which had probably been bigger back when the area was inhabited.

 

 

 

 

A few miles away is Montezuma Well, which looks like a swimming hole in a sinkhole.  It looks like it would be a fun place to swim.  Except for the sign nearby that tells us about the exotic creatures living in the well - like leeches, water scorpions and amphipods that look like small shrimp.  The water continually wells up from the bottom of the pond and at one end of the pond, there is an underwater drain where the water flows into a nearby creek.  It is estimated that 10% of the water is replenished each day.

 

 

 

 High up on the cliff facing the well is one of the dwellings that were inhabited in this area before the 1400s.

 

 

This was a nice area to explore, with paved trails near the well and down to the creek area.  I was pleased to note that they have apparently trained the snakes to stay off the trail, so that we would not encounter them unless we strayed off the path.