A Place Unlike Any Other (Oh, And Gnats) – Antelope Island State Park, UT

A glassy sunset from the shores of Antelope Island

Polly poses in the big salty flats

It’s a place unlike any other. An island in the middle of an Ancient Salt Sea, a spot almost unfettered by human touch where the most primitive of earthly rocks (up to 1.7 billion years old) lie side-by-side with the most new (tufa deposits from the last 10,000 years). It’s an oasis of green and raw nature, a birders paradise, a place where the buffalo roam (I am not kidding). It’s astonishing, astounding….magical.

Well, unless the biting gnats are out…

We arrived at this island paradise 3 days ago, and the gnats hatched 2 days before that. The lady at the entry station informed us of this lucky coincidence as we paid the $3 nature fee to get in. Being the eternal optimist I reasoned that it couldn’t possibly be that bad. I mean I’ve lived in Asia, hiked the rain forests of South America, RV’d through the mid-west in summer.

Then again, I’d never been to Antelope Island.

Birds flutter in the setting sun

Very early AM…and the gnats are already out!

A pronghorn takes a look

This place is absolutely everything that the story tells you. It is…literally…an island in a sea of humanity. When you cross the road from the massive suburbia of Salt Lake City and drive the 6 miles across Salt Lake to enter the 28,000 acre island you emerge into a whole different world. Bird songs fill the air, gulls swoop over the salt ocean, white-tipped mountains reflect eerily in the glassy-still lake. And then you see buffalo (whole herds of them on the beach!), pronghorn antelope springing in the plains, rabbits bouncing through the grass…even a lone coyote crossing the road. You are enveloped by the glove of nature, surrounded by pure beauty. And your massive RV site (easily the size of 3 “beasts”) sits lone alongside the beach with 360 degree views and nothing but the tweeting of birds to keep you company. WOW!

Practically no-one is here.

Of course, that could have something to do with the gnats…

Our RV site sits lone on the shoreline

Paul strolls in Salt Lake…of course he has nothing to worry about

Another magical sunset

Now at this point in the story I should interject that Paul is a very lucky man. You see he has me, and I don’t mean this in the “oh it’s so romantic” sense I mean it in the “I’m a blood-sucking insect magnet” sense. There exists not a biting insect on the face of this earth that has not wanted to dine on ceviche-a-la-Nina. Paul may have the advantage of a natural resistance to bugs, but he is backed up by the iron-clad security of carrying along the mobile bug all-you-can-eat buffet that is moi. Within the first half-hour of our stay at Antelope Island I had at least 100 bug bites and by evening my skin looked the human version of a walking pineapple. Even Klingon’s could win a beauty contest against this one. Paul of course, was utterly untouched.

All I can say is the bugs are bad…..very, very bad…

Historic Garr Ranch – a very cool visit

View from Bison Point Hill

And a last look at some last light

The only respite from the biting bastards are before sunrise and after sunset. The rest of the time they swarm like…well…bloody insects and your best bet is to stay inside with everything shut. Despite the amazing beauty here, miles of biking/hiking trails and even an on-site historic ranch (which is very cool) we’ve decided we have to leave early. We’ve loved the view from our RV window and enjoyed some pretty amazing sunsets, but after battling valiantly through three days of unrelenting gnats we concede defeat and will probably leave tomorrow.

That is unless the gnats leave first…

This is most definitely a place unlike any other.

Note/ According to the local ranger the gnats hatch as soon as weather warms and stay in force until temps hit around 90. This means the best times to come to Antelope Island are probably very early spring or late fall. Totally worth the visit, as long as you plan for the gnats!

Sunset in the grasses

A lone bison on the beach

Gloriously perfect reflections

Old blacksmith equipment

At the Garr Ranch

And a last sunset

Dancing In The Buff – Cottonwood, AZ

Sunset at our new site

We find ourselves today, yet again, in the boonies. Our new spot is just east of Cottonwood, AZ and has a sweeping view of the valley with afternoon glow to the red rocks of Sedona in the background. It’s a tad closer to the road than we like, but the views and location make it a pretty darn nice spot. Plus we’re all alone…our kinda spot.

View of red rocks out our front windshield

We actually had to work a bit to get here. There’s a rather well-known and fairly easy boondocking spot about a mile away from here but there were over 25 RV’s there when we went to check it out a few days ago…yikes! Right across the way is a gnarly forest service road that bumps and ruts its way into the wilderness. This road is not for sissies and thus no beast goes there. Guess where we are?

Yeah, this is how we like it…

“The beast” soaks in some last rays

We’ve been here several days thoroughly enjoying the higher elevations and thus near-perfect temps. This is the time of year our flip-flop barometer keeps us heading higher and northwards, warm enough to bask in a T-shirt but not so hot that we’re forced into air-conditioning (or so the plan goes). The paws have been frolicking in the grasses, we’ve been on some pretty neat outings (more on that in the next post) and we even…finally…finished our taxes, an event that got us so excited we danced naked around the RV. Well, we may not exactly all have been naked (in fact it’s possible the paws were the only ones essentially in the buff), but the point is we could have. When you’re boondocking and happy, the possibilities are endless.

Sunset views from the rig

Our RV mirror reflects last rays

This afternoon we’re being joined by our buddies Sue & Dave who are celebrating their one-year-on-the-road anniversary. It’s a momentous event and they’re bringing some rather sumptuous food to share with lucky us (love those kinds of visitors!). We will be contributing to the party with a Peruvian cocktail (Pisco Sour) and my famous flourless chocolate cake. This will also mean a reunion of Polly and her bestest buddy Lewis. Lucky dogs! It’s a good thing we’ve got lots of space ‘coz I predict exuberant pooch craziness all around.

I leave you with a few shots of our little spot and will be back to report on dog reunions and outings soon.

Morning coffee view

Early morning visitor at our forest site

Wondering the roads in our neighborhood. At least one of us is naked

Last light

Glorious Grasslands – Las Cienegas National Conservation Area

Cool clouds and golden grasslands…what a view!

I imagine it might have looked like this thousands of years ago. In fact I imagine most of the southwest probably looked exactly like this. Long, rolling grasslands swaying and wrapping the hills with their golden fingers. Mesquite trees spotting the landscape with curves of brown as far as the eye can see. Shadows and coulds rolling over the grass leaving patches of bright and dark from brilliant yellow at mid-day to a deep orange glow at dusk. This is the way it once was and still is right here. What a place!

Afternoon glass by the rig

Sunset from the rig

We’re boondocked at Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA) and the only living thing we’ve seen in 4 days is a Pronghorn….oh and one cow. It’s been near-perfect weather…perhaps a few more clouds than we normally like, but otherwise mostly bright, sunny days, a slight breeze and a cool 70 degrees (~21°C).

This 45,000 acre preserve is truely a capsule in time. It contains five of the rarest habitat types in the American Southwest: cienegas (marshlands), cottonwood-willow riparian forests, sacaton grasslands, mesquite bosques, and semi-desert grasslands as well as roaming herds of Pronghorn and Black-Tailed Prarie Dogs (recently re-introduced)….oh and some cows.

All alone in the boonies….lovely!

The old Empire Ranch

It’s the real deal in these old rooms!

It also just happens to have a bit of wild west movie history. On-site historic Empire Ranch was the setting of several western classics including “Red River,” “Duel in the Sun,” “Hombre,” “Winchester 73” and “The Big Country”, amongst others. The ranch has been preserved as an open museum and the NCA still has a working cattle ranch on the grasslands (thus, the cows you see) that allows you to walk your nifty Keens where many well-worn cowboy boots have previously tread. So not only do you get some pretty cool nature, but you’ll get to pretend you’re a cowboy too.

“The beast” in her element!

So what have we been doing? Well apart from the visit to the Empire Ranch (which is well worth a gawk and gander) we’ve been doing absolutely nothing…nada…not a thing. This is one of those areas that is sooooo very remote and sooooo very relaxing that it’s really best just to throw off your inhibitions and go with the flow. We’ve gotten into the habit of taking our morning coffee with an east view of the Whetstone Mountains, our afternoon lounge by the shade of the RV and our evening glass over the sunset of the Santa Rita Range. Plus a few bike rides and walks across the grasslands thrown in. Simply wonderful!

Might be a rabbit out there?

A rare “fire rainbow” on a cloudy day

The time off has also allowed me to map out most of our Apr-June travels. If all goes to plan we’ll be boondocking our way through Eastern Utah all of April, heading off across Idaho in early May and arriving at the Columbia River Gorge in Northern Oregon by the second half of May. Then we’ll take a leasurely pace along the Gorge and down the Oregon coast to our jobs at Bullards beach in July. The only month I’ve booked out is June and that’s purely so we can get the sites we want at the spots we want on the OR coast during summer vacations (I’m very particular about where we stay). The rest of the time we’ll be free-flowing our sites along the way…we’ll see how it goes.

So there you have it. We’re headed next to Patagonia Lake State Park, and then probably coming right back to the grasslands for another break before we go north. See ya at the next stop…

Grassland views

Interior of the old ranch

Spectacular coulds

Another tough day for Taggart

More old ranch views

An beastly view

I just LOVE these grasslands

Polly scans her territory

A Cienegas wildcat?

Afternoon shadows

Friends & FullTime RV Families

Fabulously fiery sunset at Usery

Desert views from the Pass Mountain trail

So it’s been socializing galore for me here at Usery Mountain Regional Park. Over the past few days I’ve been gathering with friends both old and new, meeting folks right here at the park as well as taking a few excursions to other Maricopa parks around Phoenix. In addition to being a fun experience it’s added to my ever-expanding view of the very cool RV community. The more we live this lifestyle the more we realize there are SO MANY different ways to approach it. What started out as a solitary adventure for the two of us 3 years ago has yielded a ton of social experiences and an appreciation of the wide variety of people on the road….man I love this part of the journey!

The two families at our morning coffee

And the kids…from both families

With that said I’m going to start with the new, for both you and I. Before I arrived at Usery I’d heard that a fulltime family  boyinks4adventure were hosting here. Think life is tough with teenagers? How about fulltime RVing in a 30-foot 5th wheel with teenagers? Turn back the wheels a bit and how about getting laid off from a secure job with kids & a mortgage and THEN deciding to start your own business, change your life around, leave your home town and go fulltiming? Well, that’s exactly what Mike, Crissy, Harrison & Storybird (her blog name) did. And guess what? They are a well-balanced, cohesive family with cool kids and a great outlook on life.

Mike actually came over to say “hi” my first day here and subsequently invited me to a breakfast with another fulltime family the UnpredictablePerries (check out that enormous truck!! And how about those cute twins?) who were also hanging at Usery. I’ve known (for a while) that there is a growing sub-culture of fulltime RV families, but this is actually the first time I’ve met any of them. It tickles me no end of joy to see families like this take the plunge out of the norm and raise balanced and beautiful kids. We had a great morning hanging at their camphost site, sharing a campfire and chatting about life.

Lu poses on the Pass Mountain Trail at Usery

And as for the old? I’ve been knocking around town, taking a trip up to Cave Creek to see our old buddies Lu&Terry, plus look-in on Ingrid&Al. Lu also drove down to Usery and tackled the rather epic ~7.5 mile Pass Mountain hike with me and pooch (lots o’cactus folks). Then this morning I shot up to McDowell Mountain (my FAV county park in the whole area) to hang with Alex&Ellen as well as go for a doggie play & a lounge with Dave&Sue in the big white Beluga.

Shadow of the superstition mountains from the Pass Mountain trail

Call it solo-Dane gone wild, but clearly the party is HERE and we’re rocking in the most civilized manner. Only a few more days of this debauchery left before hubby comes home….phew! In the meantime, I leave you with a few more cactus shots…

P.S. For those interested in more fulltime RV family resources check out FulltimeFamilies.com as well as FamiliesOnTheRoad.com. Lots of cool info here both for aspiring fulltimers and homeschoolers on the road.

Yours truly on the Pass Mountain trail

Polly on the trail

A cactus sunset

And a final cactus view

Prickly Galore & Desert Adventures -> Usery Mountain Regional Park, AZ

Pretty sunset by the Cholla tree

Paul left a few days ago for Miami so I’ve been on my lonesome here in Usery Mountain Regional Park. Although I’m missing the hubby already, it’s nice to have a few days of alone time too. It’s pooch, 2 cats and a Dane loose and alone in the desert…very exciting stuff I tell you (I swear if I had a mask I could yodel “hi ho Silver” and make a film out of it), but the reality is that we’re just having some great, lazy days and taking advantage of the TON of stuff there is to do here.

Usery Mountain Regional park is 3,648 acres of desert goodness set at the western end of the Goldfield Mountains just east of Phoenix, AZ. The sites don’t have quite the majestic valley views of McDowell (the spot we stayed at last year), but they’re spacious with lots of natural surroundings and some fabulous hiking (around 30 miles of it) not too far from camp. Plus the park is conveniently close to shopping and the like. I’m pretty stoked we managed to get 2 weeks at this place.

Panoramic of the campground from the Wind Cave Hike. Lots o’ space here!

Yes, it’s me & yes, that’s my biking outfit too (and yes, those are cactus in the background -> get used to it).

EARLY morning hike to Wind Cave on Pass Mountain

Polly and I have been totally digging the trails, taking time to meander around the valley plus tackling the more strenuous ~3-mile “Wind Cave” hike up Pass Mountain to the views near the top.  The nature and views are fabulous, but one thing we’ve discovered is that we need to get our butts out early to avoid the crowds…and by early I mean around 8AM. By 9AM people start coming in and by 10AM most of the trails are teeming with hikers. It’s not too surprising I guess. If you don’t learn to hike early in the desert you don’t hike much. The heat will get you just about any time of year by ~mid morning.

But I’ve been expanding my outdoor repertoire too. Many of the trails here are multi-use so I’ve been mountain biking too!

Polly poses in Wind Cave

Now I should specify that I use that term in it’s veeeery loosest sense. I may well be the only mountain biker (in the US?) who rides the trails in hiking pants, a straw cowboy hat and slip-on Keens…this being my standard go-to outfit for just about any outdoor excursion. I may look like a redneck and, at the pace I ride, just about anyone short of the age of 90 can easily overtake me, but I sure do enjoy the time to stop and smell the cactus.

One of the ENORMOUS Cholla Trees in the park. Wind Cave is near the top of that mountain in the background.

Empty trail at ~8AM…perfect!

Which lead me to the cactus…oh yeah…there’s cactus here. Massive, stupendous specimens all around creating a near-infinite landscape of prickly galore. This is cactus country and you better like it!

The “jumping Cholla” don’t just jump here, they grow to the size of friggin’ trees and seed entire acres of desert with their deadly offspring. Saguaro’s aren’t just around here, they propagate like bunnies into “Saguaro forests” that go for miles and soar 40-feet into the air. Thankfully doggie is a well-versed desert pooch and avoids most of the traps, but hiking with a set of pliers is a necessity just in case. Oh and if you don’t like cactus pictures you may be disappointed in the blog for the next month or so….just letting you know…

Still I won’t be alone for long. I’ve already met a very cool fulltime family (Boyinks4Adventure) who are hosting here in the park, plus buddies are coming down for a long hike tomorrow. So, social activities will once again be on the agenda. Until then, I leave you with some cactus shots…..enjoy!

Cholla are almost luminous in early AM sun

One of the many cool hiking trails in the park

On the biking trails in the park

Saguaro shadow

Just another fiery desert sunset

Taggart enjoys the afternoon sun at our site