Friday, December 31, 2010

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.

  CIMG3117

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.CIMG3122As 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.CIMG3141CIMG3140

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.

CIMG3123CIMG3124CIMG3128

It was a fairly bleak parking lot, but the day was nice and there was scenery all around – and the price was right.CIMG3126

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!

CIMG3134CIMG3135CIMG3136CIMG3137

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

CIMG3142CIMG3143CIMG3144There were lots of flowing water crossings, a radar dome watching over all, and a unique flood proof fence across the river.

CIMG3145CIMG3147CIMG3148CIMG3130CIMG3131Back in camp, we shared the comic section in front of the warm heater, and planned our next move (escape).

10 comments:

  1. We are sitting at 21F here this morning with a skiff of snow outside here & there. Not nice!! If I were traveling solo I'm sure I would have moved on by now, but....... Too bad about all those masses of humanoids in that Phoenix area but we did enjoy the Apache Trail last March though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yikes, looks to much like our place "down the road from Dogpound" to be comfortable. Nevertheless we are thinking about heading west from our 'relatively' warm spot here in Texas to the deserts of Arizona. Happy New Year and we are hoping to cross your trail somewhere out there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I guess I won't complain about my snow in Oregon any more, although I don't see you Arizona snow birds shoveling anything. Happy New Year to you and your adorable kitty!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ok, Ivan, I am new here. Can you point me to the story behind your gorgeous yellow cat and your gorgeous grey tabby. They both look just so wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your cat asleep on the dash is the funniest thing I have seen! I am looking forward to a trip to AZ as soon as they get my roof fixed!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Maricopa county parks in that area are nice too. Check out the Cave Creek park and Lake Pleasant. Now that we're back in AZ, we sure are hoping it warms up!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You have almost as much snow as we do... we're suppose to get rain today, so might be back to green grass!

    My sister etc... are in Cabo right now... guess it's cool there too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You have almost as much snow as we do... we're suppose to get rain today, so might be back to green grass!

    My sister etc... are in Cabo right now... guess it's cool there too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brrrrrrrr..... That's a beautiful campsite you have, but I think you need to go more south! If you want free boondocking, you can consider getting an Arizona state land permit. It's only $15
    http://www.land.state.az.us/programs/natural/recreation_permit.htm

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ivan you are missing the good skiing up here. Snow in Pheonix are wow. I think we will wait still spring. I am looking forward to your adventures in Texas direction

    ReplyDelete