Mileage: 69,182

Rancho Sonora RV Resort Florence, Arizona

I am not going to lie. It was a little creepy and unsettling to go to bed last night after seeing the tarantula on our campsite. It didn’t help that Tim decided to play “Itsy Bitsy Spider” on my arm just as I was falling asleep! Honestly though, I loved seeing the big hairy spider and being close enough to get good pictures. I never felt threatened or scared…it was just too cool. I really enjoy seeing plants and birds and insect and animals where they really live.

Another beautiful day for a ride.

The Bluebird Copper Mine

We are not really on any schedule…but we have been using Sunday as a kind of respite day. We traveled a short distance south to the town of Florence. We found a really sweet RV resort, quiet and lovely.

Tim watched NASCAR and his driver, Denny Hamlin, won the race. I went to do laundry and while I was waiting to transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer, I sat by the pool.

We went for a ride this afternoon to check out the town. On a Sunday afternoon there was nothing open and no one around. We drove to the next town to the Safeway.

We took a different road back…through farmland. The cotton is almost ready to pick.

Tim found a new beer…Wet Snout Peanut Butter Stout. He and David are always trying to get me to taste beer. This beer did taste a little like peanut butter…which helped only a little…because it still tasted like BEER!!!

We ate our dinner outside and took a walk. It was a nice and relaxing day.

Day 2

Cholla Campground Tonto National Forest Roosevelt Lake, Arizona

We began our day on State Forest Road 647 or Game Loop Road. 

We saw several hawks as we made our way.  This guy didn’t fly away as we got closer.  He must have had his eye on some breakfast.

The trail was easy and we made our way up along the ridge.  The view of Roosevelt Lake was impressive.  We were 1500 feet above the water.  I love the mountains that look like rumpled fabric.

There were miles of 8-foot-high, chain-link fence.  It appeared to be a humongous enclosure of some sort.  There were breaks in the fence with open gates.  It was very curious.  We made all kinds of guesses for the fence.  Maybe it was a research/study area.  Maybe it was a protected habitat area.  We aren’t sure…but someone paid a lot of money to erect all of that fence.

Our second trail was State Forest Road 445 or 3 Bar Road.  This trail started in the belly of the gulch and then began a slow ascent.

The third trail we took was the Four Peaks Trail State Forest Road 143 to 422.  This was the lunch spot Tim found for us.

As we climbed to 6,000 feet, we could see more of the lake.  It was like looking out of an airplane at everything far below.

The mountains that looked like folded fabric, look like this when you get close.

We began our happy hour at 4:30. We enjoyed cowboy caviar and brie and blueberry jam and cucumber sandwiches for our dinner.

As we were eating, Tim caught movement in the bushes on our campsite. We initially thought it was a roadrunner but it was a group of quails. We watched them scuttle about. I glanced over and saw a tarantula in the gravel next to the RV. Tarantulas are the giants of the spider world. They will try to run away from you and rarely bite. The males creep around. The females mostly stay in their burrows and can live for two years without eating food as long as they have water. If they bite, it is similar to a wasp sting. Most bites cause more of an irritation. Some people can have an anaphylactic response. Sometimes puncture wounds become infected. Medical attention after a bite is recommended. It was both thrilling and creepy to see this guy!

We have also had the hood up in the Jeep since we arrived here. The camp host told me there has been some trouble with some packrats in the campground. We are pretty sure this is a packrat mound.

We love being out here!!!

Mileage:  69,080

Cholla Campground Tonto National Forest Roosevelt Lake, Arizona

Several people had told us that Roosevelt Lake was a great place to visit.  That was our destination as we set out this morning.

Our ride.

The view from our campsite.

We are now in the Lower Sonoran Desert.  How different it is here just 50 miles south…from our ride on the rim yesterday. 

Theodore Roosevelt Lake is the largest lake in Arizona and the Roosevelt Lake Bridge is the “longest two-lane single span steel-arch bridge in America.”  It is among the top twelve bridges in the country.  It is painted blue to blend with the lake and sky…in order that it not detract from the surroundings and to allow people to appreciate it’s form.

The Salt River is in the bottom of the Tonto Basin.  It enters the Theodore Roosevelt Dam from the East.  The dam was built in the early 1900’s to control the flow of water, preventing floods and mitigating drought conditions.  The original dam was made of stone carved directly from the canyon walls.  41 men lost their lives building the dam.  In 1995, the dam was rebuilt and raised 77 feet to conserve even more water. 

The Apache Trail is 40 miles long.  It is a dirt and gravel road not suitable for the RV.  It was a ride well worth taking.  This is a National Forest Scenic Byway. 

The road connects Roosevelt Lake to Apache Junction…well usually…

We believe the road was washed out.  We were disappointed that we only got to travel 12 miles before the road was closed.

We stood at the overlook at Apache Lake and enjoyed our picnic.  There was a music festival going on down at the lake and it was crazy busy!

The return ride…stunning!

We drove to Tonto National Monument but we didn’t get out of the Jeep.  We have seen a bunch of cliff dwellings and we would have had to take a ranger led tour. 

A stone from the original Roosevelt Dam.

The lake is just so pretty.

The sun reflected on the mountains granted us a beautiful view this evening.

We grilled chicken fajitas for our dinner.  The weather is so mild and pleasant.  We spent the entire day outside!  We have plans for a Jeep adventure tomorrow.

Day 2

Payson Campground Payson, Arizona

We had stopped at the Payson Ranger Station and the rangers there really discouraged us from traveling off-road and gave us no information (like Tim was going to accept that!)

We had our breakfast at a small picnic area at Christopher Creek. 

The Mogollon Rim Ranger Station was closed for the winter!

We just decided to use the basic map we had and give it a try.  I am so glad we did!

We spent the day traveling 40 miles on the Mogollon Rim.  This rocky rim forms the edge of the Colorado Plateau.  It extends for about 200 miles and across most of Arizona.  The most impressive section is here.  The steep limestone and sandstone cliffs rise 2,000 feet above the valley.  We were at 8,000 feet of elevation and it was 10 degrees cooler than down in the bottom…and really windy! The Rim Road or State Forest Road 300 mostly hugs the ledge, making for dramatic views.

We wandered down dirt roads and stopped at the first two lakes.

Woods Canyon Lake.

A steep hike down to Bear Canyon Lake.

Tim spotted these turkeys running into the cover of the trees.

We had lunch at a small campsite where someone had erected this teepee shelter.

By lunchtime we had only advanced about 12 miles and we had a long way to go.  So, although we wanted to stop at every pullout, we did not.  This forest is full of ponderosa pine trees.  It doesn’t look anything like the rest of Arizona.  It was nice to get another perspective.  All of the area north and south of the rim is national forest.  There are also regions of completely protected wilderness.  We saw signs everywhere warning of active bear in the area…but we saw none.  There were also lots of signs warning us about elk…we saw no elk either!

Did I mention the trail was ON THE EDGE?!?

More wonderful views.

Tomorrow we will move further south…continuing to chase that warmer weather!

Mileage:  69,039

Payson Campground Payson, Arizona

We had a little mouse friend for a day or 2 but we terminated his lease!

We drove today to Payson.   

Breakfast along the Verde River.

The ride was so pretty.  It was really hazy and it took us some time to realize that we were seeing smoke.

In Payson, Tim rested and I went to get a few groceries.  We spent the afternoon trying to get the flat on Tim’s bike repaired. 

This evening, we got dressed up and went to dinner at Fargo’s Steakhouse where we had a very fine Malbec from Washington and a great meal.

Day 2

Dead Horse Ranch State Park Cottonwood, Arizona

Our neighbors.

We rode our bicycles first thing this morning.  We went to the Riverside Park.  The Verde River is 180 miles long and is the longest uninterrupted river in Arizona. 

The cottonwood trees living along the river’s edge are old.  This is the oldest and largest stand of cottonwood trees left here.  The trees stabilize the banks of the river and provide habitat for lots of birds and other wildlife. 

We took the Jeep on the Mingus Mountain Trail.  This is about 19 miles of winding dirt and gravel road that too us up from about 3,000 feet to the mountaintops at about 7,000 feet.  The views of the Verde Valley were spectacular. 

Among the peaks…

Our lunch spot…in the shade…among trees.

A lunch companion.

We descended Mingus Mountain.

Tim taking a picture of me taking a picture!

We drove to the barbed wire gate at our second trail…the Woodchute Trail.  Don’t go there…it was a scratchy, brushy, scraggly trail.  The branches on the bushes and trees were scraping the sides of the Jeep when we decided to turn around. 

We did get to see this view from our turnaround point.

And back to the barbed wire gate.

The scenery from the highway.

We spent the evening reading and caching up with family and friends.  The Gambel’s quails were scurrying around the campsite and this was the one decent picture.

Mileage:  68,957

Dead Horse Ranch State Park Cottonwood, Arizona

We really had no plan this morning when we got up.  We thought we might like to stay in the area and wondered if we could get one more night at Rio Verde.  The office didn’t open until 9 and we didn’t want to hang around.  I called Dead Horse State Park just 4 miles away and they had a water and electric site available for two nights.  We left for the park.  It was too early to check in so we parked the RV and took the bikes to explore.  What a glorious autumn morning! 

There are 3 lagoons in the park.  It was awfully surprising to see water!  Of course, the lagoons are manmade but there are nice paths around the water and people were fishing!

Our campsite was ready and so we were moved in by 10:30. The remainder of the NASCAR race began at 11 so I got it streaming and went outside to enjoy a book in the beautiful sunshine.

Gambel ‘s quails near our site.

This afternoon, we drove into downtown Cottonwood. 

It’s a cute little town.  We walked the main street and did some shopping for the kids and grandkids.  It was too early for dinner. 

We returned to Cottonwood later in the evening and enjoyed a very good meal at Poquito Loco

Mileage: 68,951

Rio Verde RV Park Cottonwood, Arizona

Today was an ordinary day. No pictures. No fun trips. Just catching up on ordinary life. We came to this campground because they had cable…but they don’t! We were able to buy internet to stream the NASCAR race…but there was a rain delay and the race will go tomorrow. The football games were not able to be watched unless we were on our WiFi at home. We cleaned and did laundry and relaxed.

Day 3

State Forest Road 761B Sedona, Arizona

We realized that there were several opportunities for Jeep travel in the area where we were camped.  We took SF 525 to the Outlaw Trail.  The day was warm and sunny and the scenery was lovely…red rock. 

Breakfast spot.

The Outlaw Trail had several steep and rocky sections. 

It took us directly to the Honanki Heritage Site. 

The Pink Jeep Tour Company helps to sponsor this site.

People lived here in Red Rock Canyon from about AD 600 to AD 1300.  But, there is actually evidence of human activity in this area for the past 14,000 years!

The trail to the cliff dwellings.

The cliff dwellings.

We were not with a Pink Jeep Tour.  Because of this, we got personal attention from the ranger.  She led us through the site…pointing out the pictographs and petroglyphs and telling us the potential meanings for the various drawings. 

The large circles are thought to be clan symbols.

The longevity of the stonework and the ancient art is astounding.   And as with every other site we have toured…the wall of shame…

Tim talked with the ranger about the possibility of removing the graffiti.  Scientists are reluctant to do so.  The graffiti is usually in an area where the petroglyphs and pictographs also exist.  The fear is that in removing the offensive graffiti, ancient art might also be lost.

We drove next to the Palataki Heritage Site.  We were unable to tour here because we didn’t make an advance reservation.

We drove on the Diamondback Gulch Trail.  This was a bumpy ride. As dry and rocky as it was here, I thought I might see some interesting spiders and snakes…I looked and looked…but nothing!

Lunch spot.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon getting groceries and doing chores. 

Tomorrow we will need to move to a full-service campground to fill our tanks and get the laundry done.  I think that Tim might also be hoping to enjoy some Sunday NASCAR and football!

Day 2

State Forest Road 525 Sedona, Arizona

We began our day at the Sedona Visitor Center. 

The woman that we spoke with there had firsthand knowledge about the 4WD trails in the area.  She suggested a few and gave us some good maps. 

The first trail we chose was the Schnebly Hill Road Trail.  It was listed as one of the more scenic trails.  Pink Jeep Tours are well known in Sedona.  We saw several Pink Jeeps.  This was a rough and rocky road and we went bumping along for 5 miles to the vista. 

This is a 4WD day gone very bad.  We couldn’t even figure out how the car got down there…and it was going to be very hard and probably expensive to get it out!

The view from Schnebly Trail.

This trail dumped us onto Highway 17.  It was 37 miles back to town. 

Bell Rock.

Our second trail of the day was the Broken Arrow Trail.  This trail is rated a double diamond trail…extremely difficult – for experts. 

The features of the trail were slickrock, rock ledges, and “Devil’s Staircase.” This was a great ride.  It was exciting and not too scary and just plain fun! 

The views at “Chicken Point” were fabulous.  We were up on top with the pink parade. 

Lunch spot.

Can you see the two young boys on mountain bikes…yikes!!!

The really fun part was after lunch, driving down steep slickrock hills and then down the steps. 

We wanted to go out for dinner while we were here. I saw a place called Vino Di Sedona. It advertised tapas, craft beer, and fine wine. It sounded perfect…and it was!

Delicious malbec!

Enjoy the Ryde!