Camping In Luxury

The campground in Flagstaff sat at the base of a mountain and covered with beautiful tall pine trees.

I had not realized how much I had missed trees while we were in the desert until we saw them again. I woke early, and as I walked around, I enjoyed the rays of sunshine streaking through the trees as it rose in the sky. It was chilly. I sat at our picnic table, wrapped in a blanket, to get some work done.

Suddenly I spotted a squirrel the likes of which I had never seen before. The squirrel had beautiful long ears, a red back, and a white underbelly and tail. I watched as he played on the rocks next to our campsite until he scurried away.

We had treated ourselves to steak for dinner the previous night and had some left. I planned to have steak & eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately, when I opened our new egg container, the eggs were all broken. We found out the hard way that we would have to settle for large eggs in the future. While we weren’t able to have the eggs, the leftover steak was still a treat.

We took our time reorganizing and repacking the truck, once again finding ways to be more efficient. We had seen a container at the store the day before that I liked but was hesitant to buy. After some thought, we decided it would be useful, so we went back for it.  We also purchased two more containers to store more items on the cargo carrier instead of in the truck.

Walnut Canyon

After packing everything away in the new containers, we headed to Walnut Canyon National Monument, one of Chris at Tuzigoot’s suggestions. We arrived at the canyon after about 20 minutes. We caught a glimpse of it from the parking lot and could see that it would be a beautiful stop.

Chris talked to the park ranger while I used the facilities. When I came out, he suggested we go back to the car for my trekking pole.  The ranger told him about two different hikes. One was relatively easy, and the other much more difficult but vastly more rewarding. We were going to tackle the more challenging hike.

While we were getting situated, a woman next to us asked if we had been to Sunset Volcano. She was attempting to figure out if it was worth the detour for her to go. We had not heard of the volcano, so we made a note to investigate it later.

The hike we had chosen took us down 240 stairs into the canyon. I was excited about the view as we peered straight down into the canyon on the first set of steps. Chris, who does not enjoy heights, was much less enthralled but willing to do the hike because he knew I would enjoy it.

The canyon’s rock formations were spectacular, with trees and cactuses growing from the rocks’ sides. We could see cliff dwellings dotted across the sheer rock faces on the opposite side. Several different species of birds flew around the canyon.

As we neared the bottom of the stairs, the path followed the butte’s contour around its perimeter. Signs indicated that we should follow the trail to the right to maintain social distancing.

The path led us past cliff dwellings on the left. It was nice to have the opportunity to walk into the rooms. Any other places we had seen so far had been off-limits. It was interesting to learn how the inhabitants had lived. When it snowed, they collected the snow and stored it in vessels in the rooms where we were walking. They were able to keep enough water to use throughout the dry season.

As we meandered our way around the butte, we enjoyed the varied forms of landscape. There was a big difference in temperature between the sunny side and the shady side. There were places where trees grew precariously, the roots seeming to hold on to the rocks they grew out of barely.

In some places, the path narrowed, with one side straight up and the other straight down. It was an intimidating walk. We rounded a bend to find a nook where people were meditating.

When we heard people approaching from behind, we stepped off the trail and sat down to enjoy the beauty while letting them pass. At one point, two small children walked by us. I was very uncomfortable as I watched them. They looked at us as they walked by instead of watching where they were going. I was concerned they might walk right off the cliff. A few minutes later, their father came by, not seeming to be the least bit concerned.

We climbed back up the steps, which was much more strenuous than going down had been. At the top, we visited the gift shop. We found information about the volcano and decided we would see it another day.

On Our Way To The Grand Canyon

We headed for the Grand Canyon National Park. As we followed the small highway north, the light indicating a door was open suddenly came on. Chris stopped to check the back door. Somehow the latch had come undone, and he could not get it to reengage. After a few minutes, he decided to use the key to lock and unlock the door manually. I’m not sure what caused the problem, but for some reason, this fixed it.

As we continued, we saw an interesting mountain in the distance. As we drew closer, we realized that it was much more impressive from a distance than it was once we were up close. I think it may have been the mountain’s position, centered directly in front of us, and the fact that it was the only one on the horizon.

We planned to stay just outside the park. As we drew closer to the park, the traffic grew heavier and slowed down. Chris saw an elk lying on the side of the road, having been hit by a car. He was surprised at the size of it. As I peered into the woods to see if I might spot a live one, I noticed something large moving near the top of a tree. When my brain registered what my eyes were seeing, I was delighted to realize that it was a California condor.

We turned down the road to the place we planned to camp. It was a beautiful spot, filled with Ponderosa pines. Despite the many campers in the area, we found an excellent site, on a hill away from the road.

After a great night’s sleep, we woke up to clouds moving in. I checked the weather to find a brief rain shower expected, but it would clear up in about an hour. We hung out in the truck until the rain passed and then had a leisurely breakfast before going to the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon

After a short wait to get into the park, we quickly made our way to the Visitor Center at the canyon’s south rim. It was a short walk from the parking lot to the edge of the canyon. Our first glimpse was breathtaking. Chris’s discomfort with the height took away some of his enjoyment, but he allowed me to stay as long as I liked taking it all in.

I attempted to take a video of what I saw, but another visitor parked herself right next to me, blocking the view. We decided to walk further up to find a quieter spot. There were people everywhere, and unfortunately, many of them were not wearing masks and had no respect for social distancing.

I decided to make one more attempt at getting the video in a beautiful spot. Chris waited away from the edge while I worked my way to the end of the platform. I waited while people took their pictures and enjoyed the view. As I inched my way forward, several people jumped right in front of me, oblivious to the fact that I was waiting for a turn. When Chris realized what was going on, he ignored his discomfort and came out onto the ledge, boxing people out, until I had the opportunity to take my video.

We walked back to the parking lot, stopping at one more overlook. We bought an expensive sticker in the gift shop but could not find any shot glasses. We stopped at a store outside the park, where I found my shot glass at a much more reasonable price.

We originally planned to spend two days at the Grand Canyon, but when we realized that most of the park was closed for the winter, we decided to move on. The drive back to Flagstaff took us through the most stunning terrain of mountains and Ponderosa pines.

We spent the night in an area covered with volcanic ash, indicating we were close to the volcano. The strange grey earth with a crunch under our footsteps was unlike anything I have seen before. Chris cooked a lovely dinner of fish and vegetables before we retired for the night.