Desert Boondocking (04/04/22)

 Once January came around, Paul and I, and Liz and Randy had sort of made a pact that we would do some exploring, so we packed up the rigs.  Our main destination was Anza Borrego Desert State Park, in California.  Its only a few hours from the house, but surprisingly we have never been there.  We have tried, but something always got in the way. But this time, we made it!

Our first stop however, was the small town of Quartzsite. We have been here many times- its a haven for RVers in the winter, and much of the appeal is boondocking in the desert with friends.  It was a smallish group compared to years past, but we had an awesome time.  We met up with old friends Tom and Dianne, and re-connected with friends Tina and Jeff, who we haven’t seen much of the last few years.  And….we convinced our friends Al and Debbie to give boondocking a try for a few days.

We even resurrected our traditional quesadilla and margarita night- we used to do this in Q every year, and have served as many as 46 people.  Not this year though- it was a nice cozy small group.

After a few days, we peeled off and headed to Anza Borrego, the largest state park in California- 585,000 acres large. Although we stopped at the campground to dump the tanks and get information at the visitor center, our goal was to find a quiet spot to ourselves to boondock for a week.

Anza Borrego has tons of miles of off road Jeep trails, so we had brought our truck camper and towed the Jeep.  Liz and Randy had their bigger rig, of course.  We ended up parking in an old parking lot so we could explore without getting into a situation that was hard to get out of. After looking around, we could have moved to a little nicer spot, but we were content where we were, and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Parking in the desert doesn’t mean we eat jerky and nuts for dinner- Liz and I put our heads together and planned some pretty tasty meals for our stay in the park.

We started our exploring with a hike to Borrego Palm Canyon. This trail is just over 3 miles round trip and leads to an awesome grove of California Fan Palms, fed by a running stream. Fan Palms are the only palm tree native to California, and it was incredible to find a grove of them in the desert.

The following day we hiked a short but extremely fun trail called simply “the Slot”.  It’s a relatively short slot canyon that packed a lot of scrambling and climbing in a short distance.  We had a blast.

Since we were done with that early in the day, we trekked up the windy mountain road to the small town of Julian. Pioneers discovered that this area is rich farm land, and especially perfect for growing apples.  They are now known for their world class apple pie.  Paul says its the best he has ever had (he still talks about it).  

There are also wineries, breweries and shops that line the old fashioned Main Street.  Because Julian sits at almost 5000 ft, it was a bit chilly, and windy, so we didn’t stay too long.

One of the major Jeep trails we took was to Calcite Mine. The narrow, dirt road with steep cliffs was not for the faint of heart (although it really wasn’t too bad as long as there were no vehicles coming the other way).  

At the end of this two mile road, we were able to get out and explore on foot. 

 

You can see in this picture the remoteness by how small the Jeep looks. The calcite mining in this area was done during World War II, and the calcite was used for making gun sights for the Navy.

On the way home, we stopped to explore anything that caught our fancy, including the Carrizo Badlands Overlook. The views here were incredible and reminded me a lot of Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

In between all the exploring, we, of course, had to check out the metal sculptures.  The late David Avery, a landowner in the area, envisioned the town with lots of freestanding, life size metal art and set out to make it happen. 

There are now over 130 sculptures, all around the town of Borrego Springs and the outlying areas. We saw a lot of them, and we each had our favorites.

Our final day was a busy one. We drove the Fish Creek Wash trail with the Jeep, stopping to explore along the way.  

The Wind Cave Trail is a short hiking trail to some “caves” created by the wind.  They were fun to climb around on and reminded me of the Flintstones.

Towards the end of Fish Creek Wash is Sandstone Canyon.  This was a very cool slot canyon that is navigable by Jeep.

We didn’t immediately run home after our stay in Anza Borrego.  We all made a short stop in Yuma to see some friends (of course, I didn’t take any pictures), and then Liz and Randy went back to the house and Paul and I continued on to El Paso to spend a few days with his mom.

It's That Time of Year (03/28/22)

 

What time of year is it, you ask?   It’s that time when Paul and I start to do some summer planning, and I realize I have blog posts that need to be written. 

So, here we are. I was actually pleasantly surprised when I opened the program that I had actually already written most of a post about the holidays. And here it is:

The Holidays

It wouldn’t be Christmas in Havasu without the annual boat parade- it has now become a tradition for us to head down to the water, armed with hotdogs and potato salad, to await the boats.  

This year the parade is almost twice the size it usually is, and it seemed EVERYONE was talking about being there, so we got there early and played cards while we waited for dark.

The London Bridge is sporting new lights this year- and is absolutely gorgeous with its ever changing display.

We kept ourselves busy as we waited for Christmas. We had a designated date night, with all 4 of us heading out to dinner, dressed up just a little bit more than usual. 

 

We had happy hour at sunset...

...and watched the hummingbirds on the feeders, just inches from us. I will say though that this picture was made possible by the fact that I found out I can use my Apple watch as a remote for the camera on my Iphone.

We even learned how to make the official "Olive Garden Salad"!

We also did things like drain the pool, clean it, and fill it back up again.  That’s not the fun stuff though.

Paul and I hiked to Pilot Rock, a trail that leads to the lake, and found a great spot for boat camping.

Soon enough our holiday guests arrived. We haven’t seen our friends Brad and Marilyn in two years, because they are Canadian.  As a bonus, they brought a friend with them this year-always a great time!

It was still a little quieter for Christmas than it usually is, even though our daughter Jess made an appearance.  We changed it up a bit this year and made tamales on Christmas Eve. Jess was happy to help.

New Years was a bit livelier, with Paul’s fraternity brothers and their wives arriving from California.

 With Omicron alive and well, we had unusual party favors, but were definitely more relaxed with all negative results.

And then, it was 2022. 

What’s that joke?

“That moment when you realize that 2022 is pronounced 2020 too.”

Let’s hope not.

Our Camping Trip (12-15-21)

 I know most people equate RVing with camping, but when you live in an RV, its not really camping per se, more like having a house on wheels.  The camping trip we took was a tent camping trip.  We have two tent camping expeditions planned for 2022 and we wanted to do a test run to make sure we have everything we need.  One of those trips is a two day trip with our Jeep (in Moab) and the other is to Havasupai Falls (if it opens back up). The Havasupai Falls trip is different because we can’t bring the Jeep. We will send our tent etc down into a canyon on a mule.  Then we will hike the 12 miles down, and camp in the tent for 3 nights.  Why would we want to do that?  To see this:

and this:

and this:

Of course, those photos have been enhanced, but the color of the water is apparently that beautiful. In order to see these waterfalls you have to have reservations (they are on an Indian reservation). To get the reservation, you need to be up at the crack of dawn on February 1, and be one of the lucky ones that manages to secure a reservation before the entire year is sold out…in 10 minutes.  

We were lucky enough to win, way back in February of 2020.  We all know what happened next. Covid. The Supai tribe closed the area completely and rescheduled anyone who had tickets.  We have been rescheduled 3 times, and its still not looking good. We now have reservations for October of 2022. I doubt it will happen but we will see. For me to hike that far, at this point, I would really have to train for it- its 2400 feet of gain/loss and 12 miles each way.

Anyway, back to reality. We are also interested in taking the boat to one of the many “boat in” campsites on the lake and spending a night or two. 

There is a hike about 45 minutes from our house that we have wanted to hike for years, but we have never gotten around to it.  We are reminded every time we drive by the area, because the trail includes  a pedestrian bridge that crosses over the highway.

Buckskin Mountain Trail, as its called, starts in the nearby state park, so we booked a tent site there for two nights.

After packing the Jeep , we took the short trip down the highway, and started unpacking again. The weather forecast wasn’t great- it wasn’t going to be warm, and there was actually an 80% chance of rain. Usually that just means it will be cloudy, but naturally, this time it actually did mean rain. It never did downpour but it spit out rain several times.

We have lots of new equipment we are trying out, including our kickass cooler, tent, jet boil, coffee pot etc.  After the main tent was up, we set up the tent for the porta-potty.  Yep, we are that spoiled.

 

Once we were all set up, we got to enjoy the view from our site.

Dinner our first night was a fancy affair of ham and stir-fry veggies.

For breakfasts we used our new coffee pot to make the coffee, and on one morning we cooked one of the dehydrated breakfasts on the Jet Boil, to try them out.  It was ok, but we were happy to have real bacon and eggs the second morning.

Our one full day there turned out great for hiking and we enjoyed walking about 2 miles into the desert hills before turning around.

There are some old mining ruins around, which always makes Paul happy, and the views of the river on the way back were pretty nice too.

Back at camp we used our new solar light to play Rummikub. There isn’t much room in the tent, so we lit the propane firepit and played outside until it got so cold we had to go in.  Our biggest take away from the trip is that if we want to tent camp more often, we’ll need a bigger tent.  One that you can stand up in.

The day we headed home we decided to take the long way around the lake.  We have heard its possible to do but we have never attempted it, so off we went.

This side of the lake has very little in terms of population and amenities.  Not even much wildlife.  We saw one lonely burro. 

 

The scenery was pretty great, and at times, the view of Lake Havasu and the city were pretty cool.

We knew the road would be unpaved, and it turned out to be a great road for the Jeep- narrow for a dually.

A couple of hours later we were home, after a very fun two days.  I actually really enjoyed the tent “glamping" and would do it again.