Back to Arizona!! (6th -16th April)
After relaxing in Flagstaff, on Monday, 6th April
we headed south to Sedona.
Flagstaff was still cold (about 32F/ 0C during the night)
with cold winds during the day.
We already had stayed twice in Sedona for hiking and this
was so far one of our favorite places on earth. So we were really looking
forward to come back, see things we already knew and explore new things.
The first change we noticed was the colors. We had been to
Sedona in autumn (September and November) in the past the red rocks were
shimmering in the sun. Barely any vegetation around, just some lonely cactus
and bushes. This time it was spring time and everything was green. In the
bottom near the creek it was almost like spring in Germany with 500 different
shades of green. The nature was exploding!!
Impressions from Oak Creek:
That was something new and we really liked it. We went downtown
Sedona to have lunch at the Wildflower bread company http://www.wildflowerbread.com/ They
have authentic bread and Pretzels (like in Germany but not as good as Mac’s
Pretzels) and we were looking forward to a nice “Butterbretzel” and good
cappuccino. The city hit us like a shock. 11am in the morning and it was
sooooooooo crowded. We learned that it was still “spring break” – this time in
California.. We thought we were in bad luck… since we started the trip a month
ago spring break was following us…. Seems that in the US you cannot travel in
peace in March and early April…. Spring break for 6-7 weeks…. We got
information from the Visitor center about “dispersed camping” within the Cococino
National Foresthttp://www.fs.usda.gov/coconino/
. A new term we didn’t know so far. Means national land where you can camp “wild”,
sure without any service like water, electric, etc, but for FREE!!! Later we
found out they even publish a map Motor vehicle use map for this National
forest (but not all national forest have this map), where you can see all the back
roads you can drive and where you can camp.
First night we decided on a dispersed camp area near to the
Bear Mountain trail. This is a mountain we had hiked last visit in Sep 2012, it
was one of the highest mountains in the area with spectacular views to the
Sedona valley. And we were not alone. Most of the spots where already taken since
we were not the first ones to discover this kind of camping. We found a nice
place and you could collect all the firewood you want !!
We settled down and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and
beautiful sunset. First we wanted to do
an overnight trip to the Bear mountain, like last time, but on Tuesday 7th
April, the weather slightly changed and cold wind gusts started to appear. So
we decided to do a day trip. Its changes a lot if you walk up 800 f/ 280m with
a light backpack or filled with 40lb/ 20kg each person.
We accomplished the trip in half time than last time… Maybe
it was the backpack, maybe the weather (only 65F / 18C instead of 85F 28C) or
our fiscal condition? J
The atmosphere and views where still amazing, maybe the light was not as
perfect, and we did not see ballons taking of at 6am in the morning floating up
towards us, but still it is a beautiful hike we can recommend anybody who is in
the area.
Impressions
from Bear Mountain and Dispersed camping
On Wednesday 8th April we got up early. We went back to have breakfast at http://www.wildflowerbread.com/ and then climbed up Mount Wilson, aprx. 2200m altitude /6700f . We couldn’t get a parking spot at the regular trail head so we opted to take the North Wilson trail. Instead of steady upwards loops this was a kind of demanding climb through the north rim. With beautiful views to the north Oak creek. Still we had quite some wind gusts, so our “Gipfelbier” – on top of the mountain – we had to enjoy it in a little edge corner with wind blind….
Enjoying Mount Wilson, Sedona AZ
After the hike we headed back to Sedona as we wanted to camp south in the lower valley close to the Bell Trail. It took us 45 minutes to cross Sedona ( for 10 miles). First we thought there was an accident, but the back up was caused by the tourist crossing streets in Sedona….. We were sooooooooo happy once we crossed town and swore not to come back to Sedona during high season. We had done a hike in the southern part before, it was a remoted area with small creeks running thorough in the lower parts. We camped out on a nice spot, enjoyed the stars in the evening and on Thursday we headed off to the Bell trail (nice creek with water wholes – great for a nice swim). After 3 days without shower we were looking forward to this swim wholes. The creek was different as many areas due to spring time…. It was soooooo green and we had water along the trail (which does not happen in summer/ autumn) Once we arrived it was warm but not hot… should we really jump into this cold water (aprx. 45F, 11C)…. We both did, and it was cold like hell….. it must have been the coldest water I ever jumped into. you could get easily a heart attack :) .
Impressions from Bell trail
On Friday, 10th April we headed south to Phoenix ,
specifically to Apache Junction, AZ.
This dessert town east of Phoenix is the entry to the
Superstition Wilderness and part of the Tonto National forest
We had been here twice before doing backpacking in the
Superstition wilderness and it was another of our favorite places in AZ./ or
even USA
We had some difficulties to find an RV Park in Phoenix area
where we could stay for a week and park our Camper (put it down from the truck)
to be able to do some cleaning, organizing, maintenance. Finally we found an RV
park http://azrvresorts.net/superstition-lookout-rv-resort/.
This is an 55+ park, that means only for retired people. With Robert’s grey
beard I figured it would not be a problem. The other parks turned us down as
they had regulations for minimum size of the RV (min 25 feet) and NO Truck
Campers as we were a bad bread.
The park we found we really liked from the beginning. We
were welcomed by a senior who showed us our spot. He and his wife owned the
place. He said the office was closed (Friday 14.30h) and we should come on
Monday for check in. They did not ask us for an ID, nor a credit card…. That was
something new. We got in touch with the rest of the community (about 190 sites,
in April only about 50 occupied places). Most of the park was not really an RV
park but a kind of mobile home park. Most of the spots the residents had
constructed a 1 bedroom apartment (aprx. 700 sf/ 60m3). All of them where spotless. Nice palmtrees around and a nice pool with
hot tub. The seniors are really active as well and invited us to their
activities (Saturday coffee/ farewell breakfast/ cards sessions, daily water aerobic
at 7.15am!!, Sunday church service, etc.) We felt so good at this place that we
skipped our Superstition Wilderness backpacking trip and just enjoyed a week of
sun and doing activities with the other residents.
Robert said he would take a picture if I get up to do the wateraerobics at 7.15h.... I did but he slept in and I didn't wake him up.... as I didn't want him to take a picture...
Relaxing at Apache Junction:
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