Campsite Lottery, Red Rock Hiking & Friends – Moab, UT

Corona Arch Glory

Evening clouds over the canyon at our campground

It’s finally time for us to leave all the past weeks’ frivolity behind and get back to regular blogging. Or, at least become just a tad less frivolous (I try, really I do). This past week we’ve been hanging & hiking in Moab, UT and I’ve got lots to tell.

First up, I should admit that I was in two minds about coming to Moab. It’s not that this isn’t a pretty place…it is. It’s not that it hasn’t got fabulous views, a great little town and awesome hikes…it has. The problem lies in the fact that everyone and his brother thinks so too which means if the weather is anywhere close to good this place is mobbed!

This sign was out every single day!

Finally settled…phew!!!

Our first impressions were not exactly good. There’s zero boondocking for our size around Moab, so we arrived mid-week and early in the day looking to get into one of the 26 BLM campgrounds around town (I mean, that should be enough choices right?). I stopped at the first campground on U-128  to chat to Watson’s Wonder who were in town. Not only were there zero open sites, but I counted 10 rigs that drove by looking while we were talking. Agh! We continued down the road to no sites, no sites, no sites until by some magic we landed a huge (enormous) site in Big Bend Campground, possibly the last and only one left in Moab(?). Five minutes later there were people fighting over sites across the way from us and the craziness has not stopped since.  The campground has been full every day, has had cars driving through every day and it’s been a test of musical chairs for anyone to get a spot. I’m infinitely happy we landed our huge spot, but the stress is a little too much for me. Yikes!

Having won the campsite lottery we bought a week and decided to enjoy what Moab has to offer. After all there’s a reason people come here, and despite our rocky start I’ll admit we’ve had fun. Here’s just a sampling of the stuff we’ve been doing around town:

1/ Arches National Park

Driving through the “Courthouse Towers” in Arches

The view at Delicate Arch

No-one comes to Moab without a stop at Arches National Park, home of over 2,000 sandstone arches including the famous Delicate Arch that adorns all the Utah license plates. Like all National Parks it doesn’t allow dogs on any of the trails (always a bummer for us), so we didn’t spend nearly as much time as we would have liked exploring the trails, but we did take advantage of free pass week to do the drive-through (totally do-able for anyone in a few hours) and the 3-mile roundtrip hike to Delicate Arch. The park offers a huge array of differing landscapes from towers to arches to crazy badlands and many of the views are visible right from the road. Totally worth the visit!

2/ Exploring The “Arms” & Hiking With Doggie

There are 3 main scenic drives that branch off just north of town along BLM (and thus pooch-friendly) land. I call them the “arms” of Moab and each one has tons of interesting sights & doggie-friendly hikes. The drives/hikes are popular so unless you get to the trails by ~8AM (which is what we did), be ready for lots of people! Still, these are ALL worth it, no matter what time you go:

Utah 128 -> Negro Bill & Fisher Towers

In awe at the base of 243 foot Morning Glory Bridge

This is the closest drive to town and follows a stunning canyon that runs east along the Colorado river and past the most popular BLM campgrounds. A few miles in is one of the best doggie-hikes in Moab = Negro Bill Canyon, that goes through several stream-crossings and ends at a stunning 243 foot long natural Bridge. Fabulous! About 21 miles in is another gem, Fisher Towers where you can stroll below the towers and see crazy people doing crazy climbing up the rocks. I managed to get lost within the first 200 feet of this hike (a new record for me), but I’m sure you’ll do better DO stop at the winery and cowboy museum on your way back to town.

View of Manti La Sal Mountains from U-128

Utah 279 -> Petroglyphs & Corona Arch

All alone at Corona Arch

This canyon road follows an arm to the west of Moab, passing several large climbing-walls and interesting petroglyphs within the first 5 miles. About 10 miles in you can access another fabulous paw-friendly hike, Corona Arch. It’s a fun scramble with a few uphill ropes, but will finish at a wonderful 140 by 105 feet arch. Sadly, this very arch was the site of a death from a swing stunt just last month and we saw the flowers on the base to commemorate it. Some people are just too crazy to understand.

Utah 313 -> Dead Horse Point State Park

Polly on the trail

This road is the furthest north from Moab and is around a 28-mile trip. It will take you up onto the top of a Mesa and across sweeping views all the way to Dead Horse Point State Park, where you can walk the easy 4-mile rim trail with doggie. The rim lies 2000 feet above the valley floor and is one of the best places in the entire Moab area to get an “aerial” view of 10 million years of plateau uplift and rock erosion. Be ready for hot sun and no shade, but fabulous views. This is not just a great place to stay, but an awesome spot to gawk too. Simply stunning!

Nothing beats the panorama at Dead Horse Point State Park

3/ Hanging With Friends

Hanging with our RV buddies at Goose Island BLM Campground

Spring and Fall are the absolute best months to visit Moab so it’s no surprise that other savvy RV bloggers are here too. We knew Watson’s Wonder were hanging in town and had been avidly following the hiking & jeeping adventures of Oh The Places They Go! for weeks before we arrived (seriously check out some of their jeeping posts -> I’m glad they’re doing these nutty roads so I don’t have to!). We all got together for a fabulous happy hour earlier in the week at Amanda&Tim’s lovely waterfront site and enjoyed it so much we gathered again at Pam&John’s very stylish spot later in the week. It never ceases to amaze me how easily we’ve met great folks on the road, and this week was just another example of that. Definitely five bonus point to Moab on this one!

It can be quite gorgeous here. All alone in the early morning on the Negro Bill Canyon Hike

That about rounds up our week in Moab. Despite the campsite craziness I have to admit it’s a cool little town. There’s a good downtown, decent food (check out the top-rated Quesadilla Food Truck), good shopping (Moonflower Market is a fabulous health-food store), great hiking (even with doggie, yeah!), awesome views and good people to boot. I think if we were to come back we’d stay further out by the more relaxed Horsethief BLM Campground, but there’s lots of stuff we didn’t manage to see and we’d certainly stop again.

By the stream in Negro Bill Canyon

A mini-arch on the Corona Hike

Lost but happy at Fisher Towers

Polly plays by the Colorado

Up close in red..

And in yellow…

Early morning hike

Yours truly at Delicate Arch

Boondocking With Curves & Gods – Goosenecks State Park, UT

It’s a postcard moment

Parked gloriously by the rim

The past 3 nights we’ve been camping on the edge of a meandering chasm, 1000 feet above the San Juan River with 300 million year old rocks below us. The view outside our window stretches to infinity and the river snakes its way in bulging and dramatic curves deep into the valley below us. Best of all this entire area is free…completely gratis…a grand old payment of absolute zero to stay here. The combo makes you feel magnificently privileged and completely insignificant at the same time. We’ve made it to GoosenecksState Park, deep in the heart of SE Utah. We’re only ~30 miles from our last stop at MonumentValley yet it feels like a completely different world.

Self-panorama of the fabulous curves at Goosenecks State Park

It’s a different world here

Utah is something else. When I’m in this State I feel more remote than almost anywhere else I’ve been. So much of this place is so very barren and so little of it is inhabited. It looks like a giant Martian landscape with massive buttes stretching to the sky and large swathes of desert valley floor sweeping far into the horizon. There’s almost no-one on the roads and the complementary colors of deep red rock and bright blue sky ever-changing with the days’ light make it a photographer’s dream. It’s such an odd place, yet it feels spiritual and relaxing at the same time. Weird, huh?

Polly poses for YET another shot by the rim…patient girl that she is

Wild views in the Valley of the Gods

The CRV is dwarfed by the buttes

This jumble of emotions applies perfectly to the Valley Of The Gods, the “mini-MonumentValley” of SE Utah which just happens to be right next to us. It’s a short drive from our boondocking spot to the start of the 17-mile dirt road (San Juan County Road #242 -> in very good condition I might add) that takes you through a slew of interesting formations. The sandstone buttes in this area stand up to 1200 foot deep and date back to the Permian age 250 million years ago. Water, wind and ice have sculpted the shapes that the Navajo believe are living spirits -> warriors frozen in stone and guardians of the earth. In modern terms the buttes have less creative names like “Lady In a Tub”, “Sitting Hen” and “Seven Sailors”, but that doesn’t detract from their splendor. It’s a mega-cool drive and if you’re a small rig or truck camper there are some spec-tac-cu-lar boondocking sites along this stretch (no way we could get ”the beast“ in there unfortunately).

“The beast” parked on the ridge. Can you see us?

Backlight afternoon light on “the beast”

A rare shot of BOTH of us!

Red views in the Valley of the Gods

We’ve really not done much since we’ve been here except gawk at the view, photograph panorama’s and enjoy the spectacular drive through the Valley. Given that we have almost zero internet (we’re talking a trickle of measly 1X) that’s only added to our outdoor time and limited our blogging. BUT there has been ONE incident….well, TWO if you look at everything in totality, but one in particular that’s caused an “eeeeek” moment and had us scrambling to take almost everything apart in the RV. It’s a helluva story and it’s not done yet but that, my friends, is best left for better internet and a later blog post. For now, just assume all is well in RV-land and the wild soothing view is the only thing on our minds. ‘Tis a pleasant fantasy and I hope you will linger a while J

P.S. Our new, new boondocking spot has even less than zero internet so it may be a while before you hear from me again unless I feel motivated to drive into town That’ll put me a tad behind on blog posts, but it’ll be worth the wait…I promise..

Ring sculptures by the rim

Pretty weeds

Fiery red flowers

And pretty purple ones

A gorgeous sunset

Our afternoon cocktail spot

The Heart Of Mother Earth – Monument Valley, UT

My attempt at the classic Ansel Adams shot…

We’ve made it to the heart of mother earth, the spot that the Diné, the people, the Navajo consider the most sacred place in the universe. The spot is Monument Valley, a 91,696 acres natural beauty known for it’s iconic sandstone buttes that jut up to 1,000 feet into the sky from the flat desert floor. It’s been on my bucket list for decades, ever since I saw my very first shot of the place, an iconic black-and-white print by Ansel Adams that’s haunted and tempted me ever since. This is an area I have always wanted to see…and it does not disappoint.

Long shadows on the road just after sunrise

Sunrise in heavy cloud over Monument Valley

Despite all my preparation, all this previous knowledge there are really no words for how magnificent and overwhelming this place really is. From the very first entrance to the valley where the road seems to  track and disappear into infinity, to the very first glimpses of the towering buttes standing proud and strong in wide, flat desert nothing can prepare you for how small, how awed you will feel in their presence.

The scope of everything here is so very large, so very tremendous that it will leave you simply….speechless.

A faint rainbow at sunrise behind one of the Mittens

We arrived here two days ago and checked into the one and only RV park in town (Gouldings). The weather forecast was fickle and dreary, but we decided we would open up to the experience and take what it gave us. The very next morning I braved the sub-freezing cold to take some sunrise shots under heavy cloud. I awoke in the dark, bundled up to the T in 5 layers and stubbornly headed up to set-up my tripod on the road. I may have been the only fool out there (and I may also have lost a few fingers waiting for that morning light) but it was oh so worth it! What splendor to see the sunrise touch those elegant buttes and bathe the valley in its’ early light.

Nothing can really capture the enormity of the valley. See anyone you know in this pic?

Inside the Navajo park

With our guide by an old dwelling in the valley

Later in the day, after I had sufficiently thawed, we took a tour with one of the local Navajo companies Spirit Tours. Our guide was a young local who was intimately knowledgeable about the history of Monument Valley. She told us about its movie links (there are many), Navajo legends (stories handed down orally from generation to generation), silver mines (now all lost) and also happened to be a professional Navajo singer (we were treated to a traditional song in one of the remote cave locations not open to regular tourists). Despite many shades of grey clouds and even a sprinkling of rain it was a fabulous afternoon. The tours are somewhat pricey but thoroughly recommended. They take you to parts of the Valley not open to others and give you a deep and unmatched appreciation for the culture. Don’t miss out!

Perfect chilly stillness at first morning light

Vast landscapes seen from inside the valley

Sadly our short stay here is up and we’re moving on. We’re headed deeper into Utah today and may or may not have internet access for a while. For the next days I will give myself to the red rocks and the spirit of the ancient peoples. They say the Navajo passed through three worlds in various forms of being before emerging from Mother Earth into this world, the Sparkling World. In the presence of Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii, (“pale colors splashed in rock”), in this sacred valley, I can feel all those legends come true.

More early morning goodness

Polly poses by an arch outside our RV park

The “totem pole” inside the valley

Very first light on Monument Valley buttes

Wind Storms, Another Beast & Cottonwood Outings

Two very ball-focused doggies…will you throw it already, says Lewis??!!

It’s been a full coupla days here in the boondocks. On Sunday afternoon the Big White Beluga rolled into town and joined us at our little spot in the wilds. It was a welcome reunion with much dog-licking and happy paw-play (that would be the dogs, not Sue & Dave), and the two “beasts” slotted easily into our spacious pad for the evening cocktail and meal. Very relaxing stuff all-around.

Ominous clouds by the two “beasts” Monday AM

Stubbornly enjoying coffee in the chilly dust storm

But Beluga brought some weather too. The next morning the winds started picking up and some serious dark grey clouds rolled over the mountains. We stubbornly braved the gusts for our morning coffee (which became more like café-a-dirt), but were subsequently forced inside for the rest of the day. It turned out to be a rock n’roll kinda day, with slides in, 50 mph gusts and spatterings of rain, but the show from inside the RV stayed cozy and warm. The event reminded me of the wild spring winds we encountered in New Mexico a few years back. Not much you can do except point your butt to the wind and wait it out…such is life sometimes.

Red rock views from our boondocking site

Today it’s a tad chillier, but the crazy stuff is mostly gone and we’re winding down to our very last cocktails overlooking the valley. By this time tomorrow we’ll have said our last goodbyes to Beluga, given our last adieu to Arizona and be on the red soils of Utah.

The old Fire Station at Jerome

But before I go I figured I’d round-up a few of our favorite outings in the Cottonwood area. This whole valley, part of the Verde Valley (Green Valley) has attracted people since the very first hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago. With its ready source of water, rich ore and mineral soils it’s seen steady development from early pueblo’s in the 1100′s, mining in the 1870′s to modern-day tourist attractions. Here’s some of our favs:

1/ Tuzigoot National Monument

Yours truly by gorgeous Tuzigoot

Tuzigoot National Monument is an excellent example of an early Sinagua village. Built between 1125 and 1400 it contains more than 110 rooms and sits beautifully on a hill-top ~120 feet above the Verde Valley. It’s just one of the many ancient pueblos in the area, but it was carefully excavated and remains rather well-preserved. Plus the museum has some very nice exhibits too. A really fun outing to learn about early cultures & settlements in the area. Definitely worth the visit.

2/ Jerome

It’s a good cuppa at Flatiron!

View of Jerome from 89A

A historic hillside town sprung from the discovery of vast deposits of copper in the late 1870′s. It grew from mining boom and ~15,000 people in the 1920′s to only 50 people and near ghost-town status by the mid 1950′s. The development of a State Park and pressure to preserve the heritage gave the town another start and it’s now a well-loved tourist stop. The old buildings weave their way up Cleopatra Hill (a fittingly lavish name) and there’s plenty of good food, wine and mining history to keep you occupied. Jerome doesn’t have the cool hippy culture of Bisbee (it’s much more gentrified/touristy than that), but it’s still got some nice appeal. In our 2 trips into town we had some excellent Mexican food at 15.Quince and a delicious coffee at the teeny Flatiron. Worth a stop for sure!

3/ Cottonwood, Verde River & The Wine Trail

The stick is over there, doggie..

Cottonwood is only ~5 miles from our boondocking site and boasts a cool old town downtown, a lovely State Park and multiple access points to the Verde River. The latter winds it way through the entire valley (and far beyond) and provides lots of neat little picnic areas, paddle trips and (most importantly for us) doggie-splash moments. As a nice little side-attraction  for those of us with a nose for grapes, there’s the Verde Valley Wine Trail. There seems to be no end of wine-tasting rooms around town, plus there’s even a winery within biking distance from our boondocking spot…no need to drive, baby!

Paul does a manly pose at Tuzigoot

That’s my quick and rough round-up of the area. There’s plenty more, of course including all of wonderful Sedona (which we visited a few years back), lovely Flagstaff and tons of interesting spots in the surrounding forests, but there’s only so much a boondocker can get around to. We’ve simply loved our winter in Arizona, but we’re looking forward to the next part of the voyage. See you in the red rocks of Utah!

Waaay too much fun at 15. Quince

Cool shadows in Jerome

Tuzigoot glory

The sliding Jerome jail

Cool clouds by “the beasts”

Happy doggies in the wilds

The teeeeny Flatiron Café in Jerome

And some parting sunset clouds

Brilliant Bisbee Part II -> Fabulous Food, Bars & Fun Sights

“Would you like a free expresso shot” said the friendly gentleman behind the street stall
“Would I ever!” I replied, amazed at having been pegged as an expresso fiend so readily

Paul gets a shot and discusses the finer points of coffee in Peddler’s Avenue

From that moment, from the very first sip of that racy liquid delight, I knew Bisbee was going to be my kind of food town. This was a place that knew how to eat, and since eating is one of my very favorite things I knew we would become firm friends. Add-in a few cool bars and some unusual and interesting sights and you’ve got the other three reasons we’ve loved it so much here:

1/ Fabulous Food

Whoever knew Paul would look so happy eating a vegan meal?

I’m an omnivore-opportunist. There are few things I won’t eat (other than shellfish and gluten…sensitivites sadly), and I love to discover new spots. I can’t say we’ve tried everything in town (not even close), but we did come across some gems:

a) Poco - this 100% vegan mexican spot will delight even the most meaty palate. Tucked into a cozy corner of Peddlers Alley (the same spot you get the expresso shot) you’ll get an inexpensive and tasty meal. The spicy bean-tomato soup was one of the best I’ve ever had, meaty or otherwise.

Head-size margaritas at Santiago’s…oh yeah!

b) Bisbee Breakfast Club – A legendary breakfast place locally known as the BBC just down the road from Bisbee. Huge, tasty plates in a very, very cool setting. Highly recommended stop for you breakfast lovers out there.

c) Santiagos - One of the newer spots in town that serves margaritas the size of your head, and very good food to boot. The salsa was delectable and the tequila chicken fajitas delicious. Can’t go wrong here.

d) Screaming Banshee - Mostly a pizza place, but they’ve also got a super-cool bar AND they serve a pajama brunch 11AM-4PM Sundays complete with mimosa’s and breakfast margaritas…oh HOW coooooool! We didn’t get to go, but you should!

Chocolate to die for….drooool!

e) Chocoláte - I consider chocolate its own food-group and when it’s this good it deserves its own special mention too. Since this place is only open Fri-Sun we actually stayed an extra day in Bisbee specifically to try the hot chocolate here and it did not disappoint. Be prepared to revel in delicious, dark, decadent chocolate heaven! DO go!!

There are many, many other places to try. Cafe Roka is the “fancy” spot in town which many rate very highly (personally my meal was disappointing, but you’ll have to judge for yourself). There’s also excellent coffee at the Bisbee Coffee Company and a very nice lunch at the High Desert Market Cafe. Oh and if you like honey be sure to stop at the Killer Bee….yum!

Hanging w/ Sue&Dave at Poco’s

2/ Cool Bars

Squeezed into the Room 4 Bar

The notorious St.Elmos Bar

The gorgeous bar at the Screaming Banshee

I’m rather fond of bars, not only because I enjoy a glass before dinner, but because I revel in the atmosphere and stories of the places. Bisbee has the added attraction of some rather unique brewing history. Not long after the town was established in 1880, German-Swiss immigrants founded the first breweries on what became known as Brewery Gulch. This legacy combined with Bisbee’s mining heritage gives the town more than it’s fair share of cool bars. Here’s some of our favs:

a) Copper Queen Hotel - This hotel, furnished with Italian tile has a lovely old bar with view to an open patio. This place also happens to be one of the most haunted in town, so if you’re lucky you may run into a spirit or two on your way to your evening drink.

b) Room 4 Bar - This teeeny, tiny bar tucked into a room of the Silver King Hotel claims to be the smallest in AZ and with only 3 chairs I’ll bet it is. They also happen to have a fondness for cats and there’s a fine, old girl who sleeps outside the bar and will happily share a rub while you sip.

c) St. Elmos - Definitely not the classiest of bars, but the oldest and the most local. If you want to see live music and get a real feel of town this is where you go.

Other special mentions are the Old Bisbee Brewing Company and the very artsy bar at the Screaming Banshee.

3/ Fun Sights

All dressed up and ready to go at the Queen Mine Tour

Old gas stop on Erie Street

Vintage trailers for rent at the Shady Dell

Although I’d call Bisbee more of a street art and food town, there are a definitely a few “standard” sights that are worth seeing.

a) Bisbee Mine Tour - Bisbee was founded on mining and owes its success in many ways to its booming copper mine. This was one of the most productive mines in the US and yielded over 8 billion lbs of copper during it’s 100 year history. You can’t help but notice the massive pit as you enter town and one of the “must do” items is to take a trip into history on the Queen Mine Tour. You’ll get to dress up like a miner and ride the narrow-gauge car 1,500 feet into the mine. As with all tours your experience here will vary depending on your tour guide, all ex-miners. I thoroughly enjoyed our guide, but others report mixed results. Still, it’s an interesting experience.

b) Erie Street & Shady Dell RV Park - Although not an “official” sightseeing stop, it’s worth the 5-min drive down the road to see this interesting stop. Erie street is a vintage museum with a selection of old cars and gas stations. Next-door Shady Dell has its own set of super-cool and pristinely renovated vintage trailers. You can’t bring your rig in here, but you can rent theirs by the night.

Other noticeable mentions are the Bisbee Museum and the Ghost Tour. We did neither, but they’re both on our list for when we come back.

After 5 days of gastro-indulgence we wobbled out of Bisbee this morning and headed for a super-secret boondocking spot with bird-watching to boot (fear not, I will eventually reveal). Bisbee has been a brilliant and totally surprising stop. We’ve loved every minute and will certainly be coming back to this town in the future.

Riding the cart into Queen Mine

The entrance to Room 4 lit at night

6-nippled art…eye food?

Our guide tells stories of the mine lift

Can you figure out what this cart was used for in the mine?

Old taxie on Erie Street in Bisbee