Month: July 2024

Into Utah

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 1 Comment

We continued north after leaving the Grand Canyon. We stopped in Kanab, Utah for gas and lunch, and this car just caught my eye. We had an overnight stay planned at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, and after filling the truck and ourselves we headed there.

This was a great campground, and an overnight stay was probably not enough. They offer ATV and UTV guided tours of the dunes. The scenery was outstanding. My pictures of the dunes do not do the size of them justice.

In the following picture, you can judge the size a little bit by looking at the tiny dots that are people walking on the dunes.

The colors were beautiful, we enjoyed our stay, but we needed to keep moving north. Aaron had a flight out of Salt Lake City coming up, so we need to get closer to the city. Our next stop was Soldier Creek Campground on the Strawberry Reservoir.

About ten minutes after we got on the highway, we were stopped due to a head-on collision on a curve on the mountain road. It was a stark reminder to be cautious and careful as we pull our home behind us. We saw two Life Flight helicopters land, load the crash victims, and take off again. Those pilots were incredible.

After the people were taken care of and the crash scene was cleared, we mindfully continued to Soldier Creek Campground. It was still a desert environment, but with a large body of water. I think all three of us were happy to see a body of water again.

There were boats out fishing every day. Murphy got to swim every day. Every day there were prairie dogs running all over the place. Murphy really wanted to catch one, but those guys were just to fast and had too many hiding places for him to succeed. For that, I am grateful, even if the dog is not. I was really thrilled to catch these two pictures!

Murphy and I held down the fort (Airstream) while Aaron had to go out of town for work for a few days. We spent the time walking down to Murphy’s swimming spot and just enjoying the water and the boat watching. The water was cool and so clear, until the dog got in and it clouded it up.

I saw some beautiful flowers, and even a thistle bloom with a bee, a ladybug, and two other bugs that I do not know what they are. One of my favorite things I love to spot is the moon in the sky during the day. I got to see that as well. The skies looked like rain quite a few times, but we never did get any rain while we were there.

On Friday, the dog and I headed to the airport to pick up Aaron. When we got back, it was time for me to pack my bags. I had a flight out of Salt Lake City to go visit my family in Iowa again. Aaron had a solo moving day coming up, and I had family time. I packed my bags, got the Airstream as ready as I could to make Aaron’s moving day easier on him.

Aaron and I said another “see you later” at the airport. He headed towards Utah Lake State Park in Provo, Utah; I headed east to Iowa.

Lola, Kaibab National Forest, and The Grand Canyon

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We said goodbye to Lost Dutchman State Park and headed closer to Phoenix. Gage was flying out to Florida to spend the week of the 4th of July with our other two kids, Mason and Jenna, and I was going to dog sit Lola and house sit for Gage. Aaron dropped me off, and he headed back to Pinal Park to battle the desert heat with Murphy while enjoyed the air-condition and sweet Lola. She was very excited to see me again so soon. Lola and I had a nice quiet week. Aaron and Murphy enjoyed having the entire campground to themselves, except for the bees. Aaron learned that bees in the desert are highly attracted to water. Every time he ran the AC, the bees would flock to the condensation run-off. He battled them, battled keeping them out of the camper, and trying his best to not harm them at the same time.

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He bought some mesh material (like mosquito netting) and covered the AC unit to keep them from getting inside the camper. This is a screen shot from the video he sent me of them swarming the AC unit trying to get in.

Besides the bees, we had a quiet week. Gage came home, we had a quick visit, and then it was time for us to head north. We had one more stop in Arizona, the Grand Canyon. We found a great spot about five miles from the south rim entrance in the Kaibab National Forest. It was at a nice elevation, the temperatures were cooler, relatively anyway.

We were ;lucky to have the area to ourselves. We could tell that it was used quite often for camping and hunting. Murphy kept jumping at a tree trunk, and I could not figure out why until I looked up. There was the bottom part of an elk’s leg up in the branches. After exploring, we found more elk leg pieces, but no other part of the elk. Our best guess is that hunters dressed the kills, and left the legs. We also found a memorial bird house in one of the trees.

We were hoping to see some deer, elk, and other wild life while we spent the week here, but we only had one wild animal visit us, and it was most unexpected. I took Aaron to Flagstaff so he could catch a flight for an overnight trip to California. As soon as we left, our security cameras went off. There was motion all around the camper. It was a wild horse. We figured it would be gone by the time I got back, but nope, it was waiting for me and Murphy.

She was beautiful. Murphy was not happy about her invading his space, but she seemed not to care about his barking. I got him in the camper, and then took some pictures from the safety of just inside the door. I did not want to go one on one with a wild horse. She hung around the camper for another half an hour before she wandered off.

I picked Aaron up the next day, and we spent a few more quiet days before it was time to head north into Utah. Our route took us directly through the Grand Canyon National Park. Once again our National Park Pass (this year’s pass was the perfect Christmas gift from my mom) paid for itself.

Here are some photos of our stops around the south rim of the Grand Canyon. There was a smokey haze, so the views were partially obstructed. But is was breath taking and majestic regardless.

On the picture above, you can see just a bit of the Colorado River, which is what formed this beautiful place over millions and millions of years.

After a few hours spent admiring this natural wonder, we started into southern Utah. The Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park was our next destination, and hopefully our last desert camp site for a while. I am sure we will be revisiting Arizona in the cooler weather months. So, it is not a good bye to Arizona, but a fond farewell and a promise to return.

Down Into the Desert Valley

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It was time to say goodbye to the cool mountain weather and head to Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, just outside of Arizona. The landscape on the drive down into the desert valley was dramatic and stunning.

Less than a mile from Lost Dutchman State Park when we had to stop. A wild fire had just started and it was going from the park, across the road, and growing. The highway was closed, fire trucks were racing to the fire, and all we could do was watch. After about 20 minutes, we had to turn around. Unsure where we were going, or if we needed to find another place to park our home for the night, we headed down to a tourist mining camp type place to see if the fire was going to spread, and if the highway was going to open back up.

We were sitting in the camper looking for options to camp for the night when a fireman knocked on the door and told us they were evacuating the area. So, we closed it up, jumped in the truck and found a safer area to regroup and figure out our next steps. Last year we had stayed at a campground about an hour south, we looked and there were plenty of spots available, so we booked a site and headed south. Aaron had plans to stay there in about a week’s time anyway, so we figured one more night there would not hurt. On the way, we stopped and grabbed a pizza and had a dinner pizza picnic in the truck before we settled in for the night. It way to hot to eat in the closed camper, or outside.

On our way to Pinal Park, we got a call from Lost Dutchman. The park was not badly damaged and would reopen to campers the next day. That was great news! We got ourselves parked, cooled off the camper, and prepared ourselves for moving day two.

We finally made it to Lost Dutchman! This park sits at the base of the Superstition Mountains where it is said that a very rich gold mine, The Lost Dutchman, is supposed to be. According to legend, Jakob Waltz, a German immigrant found the mine in the 19th century and kept the location a secret. No one has found the gold mine, and according to legend, it has been searched for since at least 1892. Aaron and I had no plans to search for the mine in the desert, in the summer. We were just happy to have water and electric hookups, and a place to park our camper. It is a beautiful park with tons of hiking available, and we would love to go back and explore when the temps are below 100+ degrees.

We celebrated Aaron’s birthday while we were there with dinner out with our oldest son, Gage. He lives about 30 minutes from the park, and drove over to Apache Junction to meet us to celebrate another year of Aaron. They both hate having their picture taken, so this was the best I could get.

After five days at the park, it was time to pack it up again. Aaron was going back to Pinal Park for a week, and I was headed to Gage’s place to take care of Lola and house-sit so he could spend the 4th of July week in Florida with our other two kids, Mason and Jenna.

We both hope that we will return to Lost Dutchman again.

White Mountains, Father’s Day, and a Visit From Gage

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It was time for us to find a cool location for a while. The Carnero Lake area in the White Mountains of Arizona seemed to be just the place. It sits in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and had some really promising boondocking areas. The weather was forecast to be in the 70’s and 80’s during the day and the 40’s at night. Sounded perfect to us!

Coming into the national forest was quite dusty. It may be a forest, but the sand was real. I don’t think we have ever gotten our camper so dirty! But, it was totally worth it.

After some driving and exploring on foot, we settled for a great spot surrounded by trees and a meadow. There was a natural spring just a short hike away, and there was solitude.

We were at about 8,000 feet in altitude, and for the first few days, we really felt it. We took it easy, drank lots of water, and let our bodies acclimate to the altitude. I’m not sure why it effected us both so much this time, but it really did. After a few days, it was time to explore our surroundings. Aaron, Murphy, and myself took a hike to the natural spring. It was a short, pretty hike with some surprise findings along the way. Murphy came across what we named “the bone yard.” He even brough back a souvenir.

It was a beautiful walk, a bit of an incline, but worth it. The water at the spring was crystal clear until Murphy started running through it. He muddied it up quite a bit before I could even get one picture.

Father’s Day was coming up, and we were about 4 hours north of our oldest son. He decided to drive up and spend that Saturday and Sunday with us to celebrate the day. It was great seeing him and Lola! Murphy was super excited to have Lola to harass and play with. Lola enjoyed Murphy, but not quite as much as he enjoyed having her there. We cooked steaks, had great conversation, a few brews, and just a really nice time together.

Aaron also pulled out his drone and got some fantastic arial pictures of the area.

It was great to find a cool spot in the mountains to recharge, relax, and just enjoy the nature. Murphy chased squirrels, they would taunt him from the trees, and he stayed super dirty the whole time. He loved it.

WE soaked up the good temperatures as much as we could, because we were heading south of Phoenix in a few days, Aaron to camp, and me to house and Lola sit for Gage so he could go to Florida to celebrate the 4th of July with our other two kids and his friends. We really liked the White Mountains and enjoyed our time there.

We hit the road, next stop-Lost Dutchman State Park at the base of Superstition Mountain.