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| 4 wheeling in Sedona AZ. |
Heading out of Nevada on Federal Rd. 93 we traveled south-east toward Kingman AZ. We were in search of warmer temps and mild weather hoping Arizona was the ticket. Our first stop in Arizona was the small town of Chloride AZ., nearly a ghost town with a large RV park. That meant hot showers, which was extremely welcomed considering the cold front arriving. We camped in a dry site located in the back of this RV park away from all the large well appointed RV's. Sipping whiskey from the bottle we were determined to stay warm as we crawled into our RTT for the unforeseen cold temps that were sure to chill us by morning.
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| Route 66 Kingman to Seligman AZ. |
And cold it was as the morning came our restroom run was much more than a hop, skip and a jump away. Hot coffee, hard boiled eggs, avocado and cheese, breaky was sure inviting as we broke camp, grabbed a shower and headed back on Federal road 93 towards Kingman AZ. From Kingman we connected to Historic Route 66 east making our way over to the Flagstaff area. Spending the night in Williams AZ just west of Flagstaff we wakened to freezing temps and snow on the roads north towards Grand Canyon National Park.
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| Slide Rock State Park AZ. Bag O apples |
Lunch in
Flagstaff and we immediately turned south on state road ALT 89 to
Sedona. Passing through
Slide Rock State Park we stopped to purchase homegrown local apples, a large bag for 5 bucks, Crisp and De-licous!! Rolling into picturesque
Sedona we rubber-necked as we drove through the downtown streets lined with tourists and shops. We decided to check out
Coffeepot Rock for a little adventure and 4wheeling. The sharp contrast of red soil and rocks made for a wonderful 4wheel drive trail up to
Soldier pass trailhead. We parked our rig at the trail head and set out on foot for a great hike up to
Coffeepot Rock along a babbling brook and lush red desert landscape.
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| ALT 89 to Sedona AZ. |
Pressing on we continued south on state road ALT 89 and made camp at
Dead Horse Ranch State Park where temps warmed up in the sun's glorious rays. Lucky for us we got one of two sites available for the weekend. Collapsing the RTT we drove our rig to site-see the nearby historic mining towns of
Cottonwood, Clarkdale and Jerome. With the rich history of the ancient Southern Sinagua people the National Monuments are a must-see in the area.
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| Dead Horse Ranch State Park bike trail |
Back at Dead Horse Ranch, we started exploring the area on bikes and quickly decided we needed to stay here longer which we did. Plenty of bike trails and the big plus, an afternoon in the saddle with a paint horse named "Buckshot" for Trixie! In addition, a short bike trip down hill provided us with Happy Hour libations in the quaint town of
Cottonwood.
On the road again, we are driving on SR260 through towns named
Strawberry, Pine and finally into
Payson, AZ. Here we took a very scenic SR87 south to SR188 as we skirted the
Theodore Roosevelt Lake. Our junction was a gravel road SR88 where we turned right making our way around the
Roosevelt Dam and arriving on the
Apache Lake trail.
We dry camped at
Tortilla Flats and had ice cream at the only general store in the area which was 2 miles from camp. Trixie and I, both had ice cream on our mind. Up early after coffee we pushed on through the other side of this winding scenic pass over to
Apache Junction to visit the local gold mining ghost town, now that's fun!!
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| Apache Lake trail |
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| Montezuma Castle National Monument |
The Apache Trail was fantastic with twists and turns we drove through vistas where many indigenous people had traveled so long ago.
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| Superior Arizona |
Heading down federal highway 60 to
Superior AZ. and up to
Globe where we enjoyed the wild west scenery as it rolled by our windows. From
Globe we headed to
Bisbee via
Douglas but first we went through
Safford and Thatcher on federal highway 191 to
Bowie AZ. We were deep into
Apache country as we traveled through
Apache pass el 5110ft and made camp at the
Chiriachua National Monument.
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| Chiricahua,National Monument, Land of standing rocks |
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| Bonita Creek Trail, Chiricahua National Monument |
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| Cochise Head (looking up)Chiricahua National Monument |
Our luck holding out we secured a campsite and were invited to a night time sky presentation. Complete with a ferried ride to the top of
Sugar Loaf overlook by park rangers we viewed other solar systems and beyond through the telescopes provided by the local astronomy club. From Nebula's to distant galaxies, to the rings of Saturn we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves despite the very cold, night temps. This area was filled with so many spirits and the history of
Cochise himself, we made it a long lasting memory.
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| Pinery Canyon Rd. Chiricahua Mountains |
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| Praying Mantis at Kratchner Caverns State Park |
Moving on we continued 4-wheeling through
Jessie James Canyon on
Pinery Canyon Rd. and down to
Portal on the
AZ. NM. border. South on 80 we drove through
Douglas and entered
Bisbee. (
310 to Yuma, movie destination) This old mining town was very busy with tourists as we self guided ourselves through the narrow streets. We did make a quick stop at the abandoned open pit copper mine that was key support for
Bisbee back in the day. On our way again we traveled to the famous western cities of
Tombstone and
Benson, a tourist mecca. We made camp at
Kartchner Caverns State Park about 20 miles south of
Benson. This beautiful state-of-the-art park and world-famous Caverns was one of many jewels for the state of Arizona. (Noted: we saw a Tesla pulling an 18ft Airstream trailer.) A guided tour of the Cave only punctuated the commitment on the preservation of this site!
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| Guindani Trail, Kartchner Caverns State Park |
Keeping with
WeOverlander tradition we headed to the
Seguaro National Park West Tucson Mountain District, and fell in love... The plantings of cactus and wild vegetation were stunning, the rock formations haunting, as we drove through to find a multiple night campsite at
Gilbert Ray Campground.
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| Saguaro National Park |
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| Teddy Bear Cholla (aka Tag-a-Long) Saguaro National Park |
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| Water feature, Why AZ. |
We took bike rides and toured this vast desert with side trips to nearby
Tucson. There we joined the local All-Saints Parade, the closing ceremony of the
Day of the Dead, (Dias de Los Muertos) festivities. Driving across the
Coyote Mountains on SR 86 we drove through the
Tohono O'odham Reservation to
Why AZ. Stopping for gas and last minute provisions before we headed south to camp for a couple of nights at
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 5 miles north of the Mexican border.
Another stunning park with magnificent vistas unfolded as we toured in 4 wheel drive the 21 mile loop Ajo Mountain Drive road in the
Ajo Mountains.
Two epic 4x4 trails and solar showers made Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument memorable along with countless stars and coyotes yipping at night. Even the rapid gun-fire we heard from the nearby law enforcement firing range could not spoil
our evenings near
the Mexican border.
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| Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Ajo Mountain Dr |
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| Petroglyphs, Painted Rock |
Not ready to head south into Mexico, pointed north we dusted our tail feathers and took SR85 to
Gila Bend and west to
Yuma but first a short stop at
Painted Rock Petroglyphs site in the
Gila Bend Mountains. Heading to
Yuma we checked into a hotel to get some local culture before heading into
California. Historic Territorial State Prison, the very same prison that Ben Wade was transported to on the "310 to Yuma" movie, plus a local car show full of low riders, colorful characters, and people watching made up the Yuma old town experience
.
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| Toyota Pig road to Jerome AZ. |
Crossing the
California state border from
Arizona landed us on Pacific time and closer to the
Mojave Desert Trail....
Hope to see you on the Trail!!....
🚙..../\....../\..
