March 21st thru March 25th Dead Horse Ranch Campground (near Cottonwood AZ) to Canyon De Chelly

March 21st thru March 23rd   
This morning we were heading off to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, after driving thru Sedona  and to Oak Creek Canyon, it started to snow heavy so we  decided it would be better off to turn around and go back to the Campground that we had left 35 miles ago.

March 23rd  Today we went thru Senoda up Oak Creek Canyon and on to a Campground called Root 66 a few miles east of  Holbrook. 
After driving up Oak Creek Canyon I was really pleased that we had not attempted to drive up here during the snow storm the other day as it was quite a step climb with a lot of hair pin bends. Today we drove about 150 miles skirting Flagstaff on our way to Holbrook. 
Oak Creek Canyon Road 


March 24th  it was 10 mile drive to the entrance of the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. We spent a large part of the day enjoying looking at the remains of the Petrified Forest. This is an area of large trees that had been fossilized thousands of years ago. There are also many beautiful Mesa to enjoy when you drive thru here. We then drove the 120 miles to Chinle where we stayed at a lovely National Park Service campground, that was recently upgraded and paid for with funds from the Recover Act.

Construction of Historic Road House Route 66

Road House today

Route 66 

Painted Desert

Painted Desert

Painted Desert

 Petrified Forest

March 25th  After looking thru the visitors center this morning and finding out all we could about Canyon de Chelly National Monument. We drove both the north rim and south rim of the canyon visiting all the overlooks and enjoying the views.  One of the many interesting things about  is there is still farming on the canyon floor. White house trail starts at one of the overlooks and is about an hour walk to the canyon floor. It is fairly easy trail and leads to an ancient cliff dwelling called the white house.

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

 

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

March 21st thru March 25th Dead Horse Ranch Campground (near Cottonwood AZ) to Canyon De Chelly

March 21st thru March 23rd
This morning we were heading off to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, after driving thru Sedona and to Oak Creek Canyon, it started to snow heavy so we decided it would be better off to turn around and go back to the Campground that we had left 35 miles ago.

March 23rd Today we went thru Senoda up Oak Creek Canyon and on to a Campground called Root 66 a few miles east of Holbrook.
After driving up Oak Creek Canyon I was really pleased that we had not attempted to drive up here during the snow storm the other day as it was quite a step climb with a lot of hair pin bends. Today we drove about 150 miles skirting Flagstaff on our way to Holbrook.

March 24th it was 10 mile drive to the entrance of the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. We spent a large part of the day enjoying looking at the remains of the Petrified Forest. This is an area of large trees that had been fossilized thousands of years ago. There are also many beautiful Mesa to enjoy when you drive thru here. We then drove the 120 miles to Chinle where we stayed at a lovely National Park Service campground, that was recently upgraded and paid for with funds from the Recover Act.

March 25th After looking thru the visitors center this morning and finding out all we could about Canyon de Chelly National Monument. We drove both the north rim and south rim of the canyon visiting all the overlooks and enjoying the views. One of the many interesting things about Canyon de Chelly is there is still farming on the canyon floor. White house trail starts at one of the overlooks and is about an hour walk to the canyon floor. It is fairly easy trail and leads to an ancient cliff dwelling called the white house.

March 18th thru March 21st Green Valley to Dead Horse Ranch Campground (near Cottonwood AZ)

March 18th  We left Green Valley and drove into Tucson where we did a bit of shopping. We headed directly north on Highway 77 to Globe. We took this highway to avoid getting anywhere close to Phoenix. What a pleasant surprise this road turned out to be. It had very little traffic on it and the scenery was beautiful. A javelina and her baby crossed the road in front of us.
We camped this evening in Tonto National Park at the Old School House campground on the shores of Theodore Roosevelt Lake. The lake is created by the damming up of the Salt River. The dam for the lake was built in 1911, and a couple of years ago they increased the height of the dam and built a bridge and this weekend was the celebration of  its centennial. Tonto National Monument is just up the road, so we visited the cliff dwellings of the ancient people of Tonto Basin. No one knows why the people migrated from the basin before 1450.
We arrived at Dead Horse Ranch Campground about 3 pm and there were only 3 spots left in a campground which has 120 camping spots. We felt very fortunate to get a place to camp here this evening. We went for a walk by the Verde river which runs close to the camp. 

Tonto National Monument

Tonto Cave Dwellings

Roosevelt Lake

View from Tonto Cave Dwellings

March 19th  Today we drove up to the old mining town of Jerome which is about 8 miles from our camp. Jerome is now an artists  community. The shops in town are either galleries or eaterys. A fun town to wander around. We viewed a mine shaft which went straight down 1900 ft. There was a glass platform on top of the shaft that you could stand on and look down into never-never land. Neither of us liked the idea of standing on the glass. 
On the way back to camp we stopped at Tuzigoot National Monument. Here there is a ruin, which was last occupied in the 1400's, before the inhabitants abandoned the location. 

Jerome Art Work

Lining up for Hamburgers in Jerome

View From Jerome

Jerome Hillside

Tuzigoot National Monument

March 20th  We decided we would have another day of day tripping. This time we drove over to Montezuma Castle, which is about 15 miles from camp. Here there is a 5 level, 20 room building standing in a cliff recess 100ft above the valley floor. It is believed to have been built by the Sinagua culture in the 1100's and abandoned in the 1400's. We then drove to Montezuma Well, which is a limestone sink hole 368ft wide with cliffs of 70ft above the water surface. 

Montezuma Castle

Bee Hive at Montezuma Castle

Montezuma Well

March 15th thru March 16th Patagonia Lake State Park to Green Valley

March 15th  There were some people parked on the road beside our camp site for about 2 hours this morning waiting for us to leave so they could have our spot when we vacated it. Today we drove south to Nogales then headed north to Green Valley. We only traveled about 40 miles today. We have gone as far south as we are going on this vacation. Turning north gives us a feeling of heading home. At the end of the day we were in Green Valley, at our friends Lyle and Rose's home. 

Madera Canyon

March 16th  Today was pretty easy. We went with Lyle and Rose up to Madera Canyon which is close to Green Valley. We had a picnic lunch and then went for a hike; it was a pretty warm day. 

View from Madera Canyon

Madera Canyon Sign Post

March 13th thru March 14th Benson Escapees RV Park to Patagonia Lake State Park

March 13th  We checked out of the RV Park this morning and drove about 80 miles southwest to Patagonia, a very small community with a few shops, hotel, an eatery and gas station. Another 8 miles down the road is Patagonia Lake State Park. Our timing was fortunate as there were few camp sites available here and we didn’t realize the importance of finding a camp site until a little later in the day as we saw many disappointed campers who could not find a place to park here and had to drive on. We shared our camp site with a couple from Bisbee that were tenting. They had a lovely campfire this evening which they shared with us.  We put our inflatable kayak on the lake and had a lovely paddle around a portion of the lake before dark. Many bird watchers and locals come to this camp. 

March 14th  We had a very relaxing day; we spent most of the morning paddling and floating around the lake. We probably spent too long enjoying the lake as we both got too much sun today. We paddled into a few bays, enjoying the wildlife, and spotted a blue heron and a deer at the lake edge. There were many people fishing from the shore and from boats on the lake. We never saw any fish being caught, but the people were enjoying themselves.

March 9th thru March 12th Benson Escapees RV Park

March 9th Today was a day of reading and relaxation at the campground and socializing with folks at the campground.


March 10th Today we drove about 20 miles to Colossal Cave Mountain Park. The pathways, stairs and lighting were built during the great depression by the young men of the CCC. This cave is not a living (wet) cave so photos were allowed and we took lots of them. The tour was about an hour of up and down stairs thru narrow passages and we had a real feeling of being in touch with the cave. In the afternoon we visited a ranch on the property.
We got back to the camp in time to see the parade which was part of the Spring Fling that the Park was having. It was just like any home town parade but smaller. Golf carts were decorated with flowers; there were horses, dogs, cats, dancers, and a band in the parade. The parade did the circuit twice and we had our lawn chairs by the street. Pretty soon there were a dozen folks sitting beside us enjoying the parade.

The Parade

March 11th We drove about 80 miles to the Chiricahua National Monument. We did a tour of the Faraway Ranch House. The Erickson family with their 3 children moved into the original log cabin in 1888 and expanded it to the house it is today. It was furnished in the decor of the 1950's and the house had been lived in until 1976 when it was handed over to the National Park Service. We drove up to Massai Point at 6870 ft where we had a a picnic lunch viewing the wonderland of balancing rocks known as hoodoos. Every direction that we looked there were columns of rocks. We did a short hike to Echo Grotto, where we saw more fascinating balancing rock formations. The trails here were also built by the CCC. There is one mountain ridge known as Cochise Head.
In the evening we drove into Benson and looked at the stars and moon thru a 16” telescope and that was quite amazing. We saw nebula, giant red stars, hot blue stars, and craters on the moon.

Faraway Ranch

Cochise Head

March 12th Today was another relaxing day at camp. There was a pet show at noon. Folks brought their dogs and cats to display; plus there was one bird which won the prize for the best bird at the show. Early in the day I was in a pool tournament and I got to watch some real good pool players at their game. We went into Benson and did a little shopping for food. For us Benson has proved to be a nice place to camp and from which to take day trips which we have thoroughly enjoyed.

Mattie May

Stan and friend tending Bar