Dates we visited: March 22nd – March 26th 2021
Where we stayed: Tucson Lazydays KOA

Saguaro National Park, near Tucson Arizona, was our first stop back out on the road after spending the winter in Phoenix. We made a quick trek up to the Grand Canyon in January, but other than that we were stationary since November 2020. We chose the Tucson Lazydays KOA to get us back in the swing of things. For one thing, it is pretty much right between the Saguaro East and West units, which are on opposite sides of the city from each other. For another, it is a pretty nice resort style KOA with lots of amenities to make our transition back into RV life an easy one.

Cacti

As you might imagine, this national park is filled with cacti. Saguaro are the main attraction, but prickly pears and cholla abound as well. If you’ve never seen a Saguaro in real life it is quite an experience. The Saguaro is the quintessential image that comes to mind for most Americans when they hear the word cactus. What most people don’t realize about the Saguaro cactus though, is that they are huge and old. They can be as tall as 50 feet, weigh more than a ton and regularly live to be 150 years old. They don’t sprout their iconic “arms” until they are at least 60. It’s crazy to think that many of the Saguaro in this area were here before Arizona became a state (which was in 1912 in case you are wondering).

East and West

We went into the park on each of three days while we were here. The first day we explored the East unit, taking the loop drive from Rincon Visitor Center and stopping for a short hike at along the Desert Ecology Trail. The weather was overcast and we were in the shadow of an impending rainstorm, but we enjoyed the trip in nonetheless.

We returned to the East unit for sunset at the Mica View Picnic Area. We enjoyed an expansive view of the park as the sun set over Tucson.

On the final day we explored the West unit. First, we stopped at the Red Hills Visitor Center so that Owen could pick up a Junior Ranger booklet and score a Junior Ranger badge. Then, we headed out to complete the Desert Discovery Nature Trail, before taking the Hohokam dirt road to Golden Gate road, and on to the Signal Hill Picnic Area. While we were there, we did a short hike up Signal Hill to check out the petroglyphs, which were among the most plentiful and accessible of any we have come across. We finished up our visit by heading north up through the Picture Rocks area and then back to the campground.

While both sides of the park had their charms, Kristy and I both enjoyed the west side a bit more. The cacti seemed more dense, and the views more expansive. Owen, in his characteristically enthusiastic manner, said that both sides were “GREAT!”

The desert landscapes found at this National Park are truly unique. I probably wouldn’t use the word beautiful to describe this harsh environment, but it was fascinating. It’s hard to imagine anything surviving here, but there is a vibrant ecosystem of both plants and animals. It’s also difficult to put yourself in the shoes of the indigenous people and settlers that were walking through this unforgiving terrain, and then decided to stop and build their home here. It was fun to visit, but it would have been tough to live here without our modern convieniences!

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Saguaro Gallery

The giant Saguaro cacti are an iconic symbol of the American southwest, and this park is full of them! The desert has its own harsh kind of allure and we found it in abundance here.

Dates we visited: January 1st – 4th 2021
Where we stayed: Black Bart’s RV Park

Our travels had mostly been on hold since early November, as we spent the holidays with family in Arizona. However, we did find time to take the rig up to Flagstaff, Arizona for a week of cold weather camping (below freezing every night) to celebrate the new year. While we were in the area, we made two trips up to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, which is about 90 minutes northwest of Flagstaff. Additionally, we explored two National Monuments in the area: Sunset Crater Volcano and Walnut Canyon, which are both worth your time if you are in the area.

It’s Cold!

The campground we stayed at was pretty quiet, and had limited services available due to Covid-19 and the cold weather. bathrooms and showers were closed, as was the on-site restaurant. While they had heated water pedestals to prevent freezing, the one for our spot was not working. Luckily our heated hose was long enough to hook up to the neighboring spot. If you have not camped in cold weather before, specifically below freezing temps, it’s awesome, but a whole different experience from summer camping. Even with the extra work that cold weather camping required, we had an awesome time ringing in 2021!

The First Visit

Our first trip up to the Grand Canyon was on Friday January 1st. Some friends that camped next to us over the weekend joined us on this trip. We were hoping that the park would not be too busy, but our hopes were quickly dashed as we were met with a pretty sizable crowd. We stopped at the Visitor Center area and bookstore to talk to a ranger and get the Junior Ranger booklet for Owen, and then walked to Mather Point, and strolled a short distance along the Rim Trail. While it was certainly a breathtaking view, the crowds were a bit overwhelming, and we decided to head out pretty quickly.

The Second Visit

We made a second attempt on the Grand Canyon a few days later in the early morning. We intended to see sunrise in the park, but arrived just after dawn, due to a minor mishap with local law enforcement (note to future visitors: watch out for the reduced speed zone on Hwy 64 going through “Grand Canyon Junction” near the Valle Airport). Upon our arrival, we found no crowds, beautiful vistas, and very chilly weather. While we didn’t do any hiking this day, we stopped at a few of the overlooks, including Hopi Point and Powell Point. Of the two, we enjoyed Powell Point the most. It’s just down the road from the village complex, so you get away from the crowds of people that only stop at the visitor center. Powell Point has great views of the canyon to the east and west, and there is a cool commemorative memorial to some of the early explorers of the canyon.

Grand Canyon is one of the most popular National Parks in the country, and for good reason. The incredible force of the Colorado River, unrelenting over millions of years, has sculpted the landscape into something that has to be seen to be truly appreciated. Next time, we may try to get at the North Rim to experience the park from a different perspective.

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Grand Canyon Gallery

We rang in the the 2021 new year in a style perfect for us, by visiting Grand Canyon National Park. Even though it was a little busy, we consider ourselves lucky to get a glimpse of the canyon with snow on the ground.

Dates we visited: Nov 5th – Nov 7th 2020
Where we stayed: Holbrook / Petrified Forest KOA

Petrified Forest National Park was our first of three Arizona National Parks, but our last one planned before hanging up the keys to spend the winter season in Phoenix. Located in the northeast corner of Arizona, we stopped here as we made our way down from Mesa Verde. Interstate 40 splits the park into a northern section and southern section. The northern section, looks out into the Painted Desert, while the southern section contains the petrified trees that date back 225 million years!

Painted Desert

The painted desert region in the north section of the park has little to do with the petrified forest, but it is incredibly scenic. We observed the endless shades of red rock from a short trail near the Painted Desert Inn, and again from Pintado Point, both of which are right along Painted Forest road. It is possible to hike down into the desert region, and while we didn’t tackle that hike on this trip, we saw some folks on the trek down and it looked like it would be a lot of fun.

Giant Logs

After driving the length of Painted Desert road from the north entrance, through a surprisingly varied landscape, and with a quick stop the Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs, we reached the Rainbow Forest Museum at the southern end of the park. This is also the launching point for the short but awesome Giant Logs Trail. There are petrified logs strewn along this trail that date back to the Triassic period. For some rough context, that is before the rise of most dinosaurs, and it’s when the land on earth was mainly arranged in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. In other words, super old. It was mind-blowing to walk this trail and think about what has happened around these fossilized tree trunks in the time since they were alive.

We didn’t really know what to expect at Petrified Forest, and we were pleasantly surprised with the varied and scenic landscape, as well as the mind-boggling timescale of the super-old fossils. If you live in or travel to the southwest, you may have driven through this park along I-40 without even realizing it. Next time though, take the afternoon, or day, to stop and explore it!

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Petrified Forest Gallery

225 Million years ago. That’s when the trees that would eventually become the Petrified Forest lived. As humans, it’s hard to wrap our brains around that kind of time scale. It was wild to walk amongst these fossilized tree trunks and think about all that has happened since they fell.