Going West (April 1st to April 6th)
On Wednesday April 1st we started in
Alberquerque. The wind ( more like a Hurricane ) was coming from south west so
Robert had a hard time keeping the rig on the Interstate (US 40). We had
decided to stay a couple of days more in New Mexico. We stopped at El Malpais
National Monument http://www.nps.gov/elma/index.htm.
We enjoyed the afternoon at their campground hidden from the wind viewing again
Red Rocks looking out of our camper. This was a free campground with dry
toilets, but no water or electricity…. On Thursday we made a 8 mile (aprx 12km)
hike to the Narrow Rim to see the Wilderness attraction (a Natural Rock Arch/
La ventana) from the upper rim in front. The hike was really nice but the wind
was so strong at the end we just wanted to get back to the truck.
Impressions from El Malpais National Monument:
In the afternoon we drove to El Morro National Monument.
Even the air distance was only about 30 miles (45km) we had to drive 80 miles
(130km) to get there. But it was worth it! http://www.nps.gov/elmo/index.htm.
They had another free campground and we met there nice travelers. A Polish
couple with their daughter who lives in the US over 20 years and have travelled
half the world with a tent, and Lance a guy from California who lives over 3
years in his rig (Truck with camper) and travels on his own through the western
part of the US. The kind of people in these campgrounds are really different from
the big RV parks or well equipped State or National Parks…
On Friday we enjoyed El Morro Monument. The wind had calmed
down and we had a nice walk (even it was still cold) in the morning learning
more about Indian pueblos and the European Settlers coming through this Oasis
from the 17th to 19th century.
Images from El Morro National Monument:
On the way to the Petrified Forest we stopped in the famous
Indian village Zuni, which is one of the biggest Indian populations right now
in the US and are famous for their jewelry. We somehow had imagined something else,
but the only thing we saw a poor village in the dessert with lots of jewelry shops
… like tourist traps.
As we entered by the south side to the Petrified National
Forest http://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm
we found out there was a free campground offered by the gift shop just out of
the south entrance. This was nice spot just outside the Park (this National
Park does not offer any camp possibilities and every town is 25-30 miles from
the park entrance). The only bad thing there was that they had NO water and
since Steffi had to clean the dishes at our last camp ground we were dry. The
water we could get in a bucket was brown
from the sulfates of the soil and therefore only good for the toilet. The Petrified
Forest is a really amazing natural jewel. It is wood buried into the water
covered with volcanic ash and sand and the quartz leaked into the wood and
converted the wood in quartz stones. We were really amazed what nature had to
offer. Really incredibly beautiful. You can nowadays see the different layers
and what nature and human beings are doing to nature.
Enjoying Petrified Forest:
After enjoying and being loaded with impressions of this
National Park we headed to Flagstaff on Saturday afternoon. We already had
visited Flagstaff on our previous trips to AZ and NV so we were looking forward
to go there again and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere there. We stayed for 2
nights (Saturday until Monday) at the Wooden Mountain Campground http://www.woodymountaincampground.com/
On Easter Sunday (April 5th) after a relaxing
morning at the campground, we took the bikes and hang around Flagstaff for ice
cream and beer and as long as the sun was shining it was fun but when it went
down it got pretty cold again. Enough of the cold… we are heading down to
Sedona tomorrow where we should have at least 80 degrees. (forgot the camera - so no pics)
We loved the Petrified Forest:
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