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.
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.
Wandering Cindi 