There’s a lot to be said for staying in campgrounds with interesting people, but waking up to complete stillness, quiet punctuated only by bird calls, is truly divine. During our Arizona winters Todd and I (along with our rescue pup Rosie) frequent wonderful state parks and meet campers from all over the country and the world. This winter we toted our Casita travel trailer to Lost Dutchman in the Superstition Mountains (less than an hour east of our Phoenix little house), Kartchner Caverns (east of Tucson), Patagonia Lake (down by the Mexican border), and Cattail Cove (on the Colorado River). No two are alike, and all offer the luxury of water and electricity “hook ups,” but by mid-April we were anxious to head out into the wild canyons of Utah where our solar panels were put to work boondocking (camping on public land where there are no campgrounds).
So far, our favorite place to boondock is Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Todd used Google Earth to scope out a place well off road to park the Casita. Getting to it entails a very slow and bumpy drive through a gravel pit to a sparsely wooded area near the rim of the canyon. We set up the solar panels where they’d capture sunlight most of the day, opened all the windows of the Casita to let the breeze in, and we were in heaven.
We enjoyed hikes along the Escalante River (including some challenging crossings and soggy boots) and explored magical slot canyons. If a picture is worth a thousand words, enough said. Gorgeous.
Next stop was Monument Valley on the Navaho Reservation straddling Utah and Arizona. The area is the setting for five John Wayne movies filmed between 1939 and 1956. Ever heard of Stagecoach? She Wore a Yellow Ribbon? The Searchers? The Duke sure knew how to sit a horse. The red rock “monuments” include, among many, the Mittens and the Three Sisters. I bet you can pick them out from the photo gallery. (Just one mitten, though.) To be honest, we didn’t boondock, but no complaints as the Gouldings campground is beautiful. (The photo above left is from the campground website; there were, of course, RVs and travel trailers while we camped there. Or is it “glamped”?)
Of course in the sprawling Western States there’s a lot of road to cover between sites. Good thing we have the Casita to pop into for lunch and Rosie’s a good traveler. (She enjoys her special head rest.) Lucky us!
Thanks for sharing the photos of your adventures – looks spectacular! Be careful – I have a friend here who fell down a slot canyon and she was bruised from head to toe – but nothing broken luckily. So glad you are enjoying your Casita – but John and I so wish we could do another cruise with you!!!