Bisbee Side Trip: Chiricahua National Monument

 From February 2022

This is another place that I've wanted to visit for a long time but never had.  Chiricahua National Monument is about a 90 minute drive northeast from Bisbee.  We started with the trails at the bottom near the entrance.  Most people seemed to be crowded around the visitors' center; the crowd quickly thinned out on the trails.

Immigrants arrived here in the late 1870's establishing ranches in this dry, unforgiving landscape.

 

Faraway Ranch

After hiking up to the Visitor's Center, where hordes of tourists milled about, we hiked back to the car and drove up to the top of the mountain.  These views were what the tourists had come to see, and it was impressive.

 

Getting up to the top of the mountain during the 1800's would not have been a trivial thing.  I wonder how many times the original settlers made it there.

Roadrunner Dispersed Camping

After dropping Julia off at the Las Vegas airport, I hitched up and started driving south on Hwy 95 with Yuma as a potential destination.  I clipped the state of California long enough to buy some gas at $4.55/gallon and some figs for $8/package.  I preferred the figs. They were tasty but not overly sweet.  The figs were purchased from a roadside stand that also sold unfiltered honey.  The woman asked me to try a couple of samples.  The clover honey was similar to what I’ve had before, but the Desert Wildflower honey was very different–almost spicy and with a pleasant finish. A small container was $20, so I satisfied myself with just the figs.

Hwy 95 was very crooked and dippy.  By the time I reached Parker, I had reconsidered Yuma as my destination.  By the time I reached Quartzsite, I was ready to be done driving.  Just south of Quartzsite, I passed several Long Term Visitor areas that I recognized.  I kept driving until I passed what looked like another LTVA, but was nearly deserted.  The sign said Roadrunner–14 day camping limit.  I pulled in and  talked to the campground host (who waved off registration since I was only staying one night).  I found a quiet spot that would allow for an early morning quick getaway and parked without unhitching.

The time was about 2 pm., and the afternoon quickly heated up to the mid-80’s inside the Scamp.  There were no services or hookups here, but the price was right (free).   By early evening, the temperatures cooled off to the very pleasant lower 70’s. Elvis and I took a long walk out into the desert.  Roadrunner was practically empty; the camp host assured me that it would be packed by January. Clouds moved in to prevent a viewing of the sunset, but the colors in the clouds were amazing.

The night was cool, comfortable and quiet.  Elvis woke up at 5:45 a.m., shook and placed his paws impatiently on my bed, demanding to be fed.

Today, I needed to start making better time and mileage in order to get to my cousin’s place in Missouri  by Saturday.  I drove the interstate through Phoenix and then to Tucson. I’m camped tonight at the Prima County Fairgrounds RV Park, which has blazing WiFi, showers and hookups for $30/night.
Tomorrow, I’ll head for New Mexico.

Virgin River Recreation Area

From Pipe Springs National Monument, I drove west towards Hurricane, Utah. My plan was to disperse camp in the Hurricane, Utah area near Zion National Park. That didn’t work out. As I drove, I was checking out the access roads out to federal land. I didn’t see any roads that I wanted to drive out on, especially without knowing whether or not I could get turned around. Then I saw Sheep Bridge Road, a well-known boondocking spot that I had read about on Campendium and freecampsites.net.

I did a U-turn at the pull-off spot just past Sheep Bridge and pulled down into the road and past the bridge. So far, so good. The road was hard packed gravel. As I approached the first pull-off, I observed a van covered in red mud and deep tire ruts where they had pulled in. I wasn’t sure how they were going to get out again, but it didn’t look good. I passed several other better turn-outs, but those were already occupied by campers, and a few not-so-good turnoffs were also occupied, even though driving through mud and water was necessary to get to the spots.

I continued driving on the washboard roads at about 5 mph until I saw a left turn that didn’t look promising. I continued on, but didn’t see any more spots or places to turn around. I ended up backing up the Brew Hut several hundred yards to get turned around again. Then I drove back out with my tail between my legs (Elvis understood) and got back on the main road. Sheep Bridge Road wasn’t happening.

I had another dispersed camping spot on my possibles list, but it required driving to the Virgin Dam—about an hour away. There were only a few campsites reported at that location, and I just wasn’t in the mood to drive that far to find out that they were occupied too. More rain was forecast for that night, and conditions weren’t going to improve. I did a little more research in St. George, and found a couple of possible free sites towards Nevada.

Just as I crossed from Utah to a narrow strip of Arizona, I saw a brown sign proclaiming Virgin River Recreational area just off I-15. It seemed worth a stop and look. Sure enough, it was a BLM campground for only $8/night, beautiful mountains all around (despite the dark sky), flush toilets, running water, no hookups, but beautiful views. I pulled into a site overlooking the Virgin River and settled in.

I was more than a little surprised that this campground was over half-full when I arrived and completely filled by evening to the point that people were illegally camped in the picnic area below the next morning. Elvis and I hiked the campground loops several times, hung out at our picnic table overlooking the muddy river and mountains, hiked down to the river from the campground, and then tried to hike a trail leading from the picnic area below.

The trail was supposed to be 16 miles long, but we were stopped after less than a mile by a muddy river and fast-moving current. I don’t know if there are times of the year where the trail crosses a shallow or dry riverbed, but this wasn’t one of those times.

Elvis and I went back to the Brew Hut, where I cooked a thin sirloin steak to medium rare with mushrooms, onions, and toasted sourdough bread. I drank a bottle or two of Elysian Space Dust IPA (one of my new favorites), while Elvis ate dog food and licked my dinner plate as dessert (and pre-rinse before doing dishes). It rained for most of the evening and while I slept, but in the morning the sun was breaking apart the clouds. After granola with yogurt, I made coffee for the road. We were headed for Valley of Fire State Park.

Pipe Spring National Monument

I have never been so interested and depressed about a national monument.

I am camped at a nice rv park owned and operated by the Kaibob Band of Paiute Indians. I was running out of coffee, so it was time for electricity hookups to roast coffee, and to take the opportunity to do laundry, shower, etc.  I’ve discovered that rv parks in the west are parking lots, but some are better than others.

This one distinguishes itself by the lack of lights in the campground, which I appreciate greatly, making for better sleeping at night. Of course, the absence of lights did not help when someone activated their vehicle alarm at 1:30 a.m.

As at most national parks and monuments, dogs are not allowed on the trails at Pipe Spring National Monument. Elvis appreciated the nice footpath going out to the convenience store in one direction and  to the Head Start school building in the other direction.

After duly exercising Elvis, I let him nap in the Brew Hut while I checked out the National Monument, took a tour, and hiked the short trail.  Everything about Pipe Spring is about the water.  I talked to a local Paiute in the gift shop, and she told me that her people had lived in this area since the days of the mammoth.  They were a nomadic people, and moved from place to place, putting little strain on the natural resources.

Then the Mormons came in the 1800’s, and decided that the spring made a perfect place for a cattle operation.  The native rice grass produced flour and sustenance for Paiutes for hundreds of years. The Mormons and their cattle destroyed the native grasses in little more than ten years, according to our ranger guide.

The Mormons produced cheese and butter in great quantities and built a fort around the spring, preventing access to the Paiutes unless they converted to Mormonism or worked like slaves in support of the Mormon operation.

This did not go over well. The Paiutes resisted, driving off the Mormons livestock.  The Mormons formed a militia.  Lives were lost on both sides.  The Paiute’ population was decimated by starvation. After about forty years of overgrazing, the Mormons abandoned the property. Today, about 300 Kaibob Paiutes live in the area.  However, this isn’t the end of the story; the tragedy is still unfolding.  Agricultural and development interests continue to tap the aquifer.  A  hydrologist informed the Park Service that the spring will soon go dry.  The aquifer has maybe 20-30 years left before it’s gone.  Then the farmers, park service, developers, and Paiutes will all be up the dry aquifer without a paddle.

Elvis and I enjoyed a colorful sunrise before the rain clouds moved in.

It’s raining as I write, and more rain is predicted tomorrow when I leave this area and continue to head west.  I would like to disperse camp near Hurricane or Virgin, but we will see what the access roads look like.

Navajo National Monument

After leaving Monticello, Utah in the rain, I drove through Blanding and Bluff, two areas that looked worth exploring if the weather had cooperated.  I kept driving until I passed the Arizona border  I knew that I was in Arizona because the roads immediately turned to crap.  Hwy 191 in Utah had been very good, but the same highway in Arizona possessed holes, dips, and bumps.  Additionally, I sat for thirty minutes waiting for my turn to cross a one lane bridge on a two lane highway with traffic backed up for miles in both directions.


Oh well, what else was there to do in the rain?  I stopped in Medicine Hat for cheaper Arizona gas at higher octane.  Most of the “regular gas” in Wyoming and Utah was 85 octane, compared to Wisconsin’s 87.  I drove past all the fast food restaurants in Kayenta without stopping and continued another 20 miles to Navajo National Monument.

The weather was still dismal:  rainy and cold.  I put on my fleece sweater and cooked up some hot split pea soup, ham and a refried bean burrito.  Then I sat at my dinette with a glass of wine and watched a downloaded movie on Netflix.
On the next morning, the potential for solar power and topping off my battery did not look promising.

However, by ten a.m., things were looking better.

In fact, it warmed up enough that I ended up sitting in my folding chair in the sun and reading for most of the morning.  I also met a fellow camper “Joe” whose base is Harlan, Iowa.  Small world, as my mother grew up in the same small town.

In the afternoon, I hiked the 3 short trails at the Monument.  Although the views are spectacular, what i like best is the wonderful fragrances in the pinion and juniper forest. With a high of 65 degrees at 7200 feet in elevation, the wonderful smell of mountain air (without any smoke), and the promise of more sunshine, this was a place that I could stay for a few days.

It also didn't  hurt that camping is free here for up to 14 days:  paved Rv campsite, flush toilets, garbage services, and running water.  I didn’tt stay for two weeks, but a few days sounded nice.