Coconino National Forest (06-30-15)

Once we could, we took off for the Flagstaff area and Kaibab National Forest, looking for the road less traveled. After two hours meandering on federal lands, we were thwarted by low hanging branches and had to turn around and try a different route.











We found the perfect spot near Antelope Hill, which we hiked the following morning.









We had to  share the space with a herd of steer, which wasn’t an issue until about 5:00 when they really wanted to come over where we were.  This is them, staring at Paul.










Our next overnight spot was supposed to be near another hike we had planned. And while one of us did hike, the other of us (me) waited for the hiker to return.






As it turns out, I wasn’t in the mood to crawl underground for over half a mile.  This cave, Lava River Cave, was created hundreds of thousands of years ago, by molten rock, and was “discovered” in 1915.



  
Paul enjoyed his hike, and I enjoyed talking to all the people as they exited the cave.  Many families were hiking in the cave to escape the oppressive heat- the interior of the cave is a pleasant 33 degrees, as opposed to the not so pleasant 104 degrees in the city.


Our next stop in our loop around Flagstaff was to see, technically, more caves.  Old Caves Crater Trail was about a 4 mile hike, with lots of small caves along the way.  None of them were big, but Paul did poke his head in quite a few.



Although the caves weren’t spectacular, it felt good to be able to hike 4 miles and not be overwhelmed by the heat.



In my free time in Flagstaff, I found a new, awesome, App.  It’s called Avenza PDF Maps.

Once you download the app, you can download all kinds of maps.  Some are free, and some cost money. Most of the hiking maps cost money, but the ones I downloaded were of national forests, and showed the roads, and where the dispersed camping is.  Once it’s on your phone or tablet, your GPS will show where you are located, and you can save “spots”.  I made note of where we thought the good boondocking spots are, and even added pictures!

Time will tell how valuable it actually is, but one of the perks is that once the map is downloaded, you don’t need internet access to utilize it.  That’s pretty awesome!

Soon enough, it was time to head back, temporarily, to the heat of Lake Havasu City.

House Update

We have cement! When Wes said they were ready to pour cement, Paul was ready and waiting.

It didn’t take them very long to dump 5 trucks  full of cement in the foundation.

As we leave for the July 4th weekend, the foundation, except for the garage, is poured and ready to build.

A Couple of National Monuments (06-10-15)

Although we left Kaibab National Park, we didn’t go all that far.  We first stopped at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.





This is a very young volcano, having erupted just 900 years ago.  The cinder cone that was created stands 1200 feet high, but access to it has been eliminated, due to the severe damage that was being done. 
There are several cinder cones in the area however, and we hiked to the top of Lenox Crater.  It was only a 300 ft long trail, but it was straight up!

The eruption of Sunset Volcano created the Bonito Lava flow, which covers 5 square miles. There are short trails that meander through the lava.

Once we had had our fill of volcanoes, we headed to nearby Wupatki National Monument.

Wupatki is home to several ancient pueblos. This particular one is called Wukoki, which means Large House. People have lived here for over 10,000 years, with the most dense population occurring in the 1100s.

When we glanced over at the horizon, we were reminded that we are at a higher elevation.  Snow!  When we left Havasu, we couldn’t imagine needing a comforter for the bed, but the temperatures have dipped into the 30s!





We slowly started heading back towards Havasu, stopping briefly in the town of Jerome on the way.




.
Jerome is an old mining town set on a hillside.  Although the population is about 500 these days, back in it’s glory days, over 15,000 people called this town home.  It was also home to the second largest JC Penney in the store’s chain.


Our intent was to drive over the mountain and spend the night near the town of Prescott. We can’t tow the trailer over this mountain, so we were looking forward to driving it in the camper.




Along the way we stopped to explore whatever took our fancy, and found a campground with an amazing view and we went no further:




This mountain has such a steep drop off that it is a premier location for hang gliding.  We didn’t get to watch anyone jump, but it would have been cool.



Once we eventually made it down the other side, we hit up the local Costco before making our way back to Havasu.

House Update

Nope, no news here.

Scenes From Sedona (04-19-15)

Still hanging out with Mike and Julie, the four of us made our way to the Elks Club in Sedona- a comfortable central location for exploring the area.

Either Dozer is getting confused, or he wants to see what kind of treats Mike and Julie have, because this is not our rig- its theirs!















 

The view from our site was pretty spectacular, but then, most of Sedona is pretty spectacular.

There are several trails within walking distance, and we took advantage of that to walk part of the Airport Loop Trail, and got the you know what scared out of us when a huge plane seemed to come out of nowhere and flew right over our heads.







Spring time in the desert is beautiful and there was no shortage of gorgeous flowers along the trails.
















After a few days of hiking, we decided to give our legs a break and take a ROAD TRIP :


We packed a lunch and all piled in Mike’s truck for a drive up Oak Creek Canyon. Our first major stop was Slide Rock State Park, a place that Paul and I have never been to before.  The last time we came through here, there were wildfires in the area and we weren’t allowed to stop.



 











We enjoyed watching other people take their turn sliding down the natural water slide, but with the water probably being about 50 degrees, we were content to be spectators.






Continuing on our way, we reached the tip of the canyon where the view was pretty awesome and we stopped to enjoy our picnic lunch.

The next segment of our adventure took us off the road, as we explored the forest for future boon docking spots for the truck camper.  This is a great area to escape to in the heat of the summer, due to it’s high elevation.

It also allowed us the opportunity to get out and stretch our legs before returning to Sedona.

  Our last day in Sedona was spent hiking Courthouse Loop Trail- we thought it was going to be an 8 mile trail, so Mike and Julie opted out, but it turned out to be only about 4.5 miles long.

There are so many trails in the Sedona area, it would take months to hike them all.  Unfortunately they will all have to wait until our next visit, as it was time for us to scoot back to Havasu.

We are usually sad to say goodbye to Mike and Julie, but this time we know we will see them in a few days, when we all head to a ZZ Top Concert in Laughlin!