Things you don’t want to see–in Arizona!

It was cool in the morning at 3C on the Castle Hot Springs road near Wickenburg.  But the sun was warm as we headed across on the north side of Phoenix.  I wanted to check out the area north and east of the city near Cave Creek and Carefree.

 

I had already checked out the available camping options online, and it did not look that good as most of the listings said ‘no trailers’ or had a restricted length.  So I stopped in at the Cave Creek Ranger station to get the details.As luck would have it, about the only place that I could fit the 5th wheel into, was also the only place that was free!  That was a deal I could not turn down.  I planned to park there for a few days while checking out the other locations on day trips.

Bronco trailhead even had corrals for horse users.

These ones decided to forego the twisting, narrow, washboard road to the trailhead and unloaded where it was still paved.

It was a fairly bleak parking lot, but the day was nice and there was scenery all around – and the price was right.

That night, the rain started, and I thought I had imagined a few snow flakes in the downpour.

And even though we were a lot closer to Phoenix than the previous night, it was pretty remote with no cell service, and no off-air television channels.

The ‘weather’ continued the next day, but I got caught up on paperwork and mail, and captured about 15 gallons of fresh rainwater to add to my tank.  I stowed the awning at dusk, which was a good thing, as the winds that night did their best to blow us away, and added in thunder, lightning, and SNOW for good measure!  This was the view in the morning.  Not exactly what you want to see, when you are only here to avoid the same thing in Alberta!

But between the snow squalls, we made the best of it and made a day trip further up-valley to see what was there.

There were lots of flowing water crossings, a radar dome watching over all, and a unique flood proof fence across the river.

Back in camp, we shared the comic section in front of the warm heater, and planned our next move (escape).