Manti-LaSal to Monticello

The storm clouds rolled out over night and gave way to beautiful blue skies in the morning. I let Mike sleep in, he didn't sleep well.  It would be a constant theme throughout this trip, only one of us would sleep well each night.  I looked out my window to see all three of them waiting for me to play with them.  So I reluctantly got up.

Beauty shots:

After play and breakfast, we packed up and made our way through what seemed like an entire mountain chain.  It was a magnificent drive.  

We stopped off in some shade for lunch and discovered a battery issue with our trailer.  One of the batteries was dead.  Our duel battery system was failing, triggering breaker issues and not supplying our trailer with enough power. The boys made a work around to keep our fridge running while the dogs rested.

We continued on and enjoyed the views.

We were curious about the weird tiers this mountain had. 

On our descent into Monticello, we had what would be the first of many deer sightings.  Or what we would call "don't-give-a-fuck-deer" sightings.  We crept up on this guy.  He was just kicking it in the road until Pete's noisy FJ spooked it.

We popped into Monticello for gas and parts at AutoZone.  Afterwards we crept back towards the mountain for a camp spot.  Unbeknownst to us, we camped in the middle of a cattle trail.  Elly would have several close encounters of the bovine kind.

We grilled chicken, enjoyed a mediocre sunset then watched the full moon in all of its glory.

It was so bright and illuminated the sky.

A few night shots then off to bed to try and make up for lost sleep.

Tomorrow is another day.

The Grand Canyon to the Manti-LaSal National Forest

When in Rome....

We went continued on NF-302 to NF-310 and hit pavement still in the park.  Since we were already there, we stopped at a few overlooks.

(I know better than to ask Pete to smile, so I accepted just the dogs peering at the camera)

We made our way eastbound through the park.  The tall pines gave way to scrub and finally to the vast nothingness that is the desert.  And it went on for hours.  And hours. 

We stopped in Blanding, Utah at a public park. Grass was enjoyed and there was even high powered water pump to top off our water supply.  After that stop, we hit the Utah BDR into the Manti-LaSal National Forest.

 
We climbed out of the low desert, through a bizarre Star Trek-like scene and into the pines.  Storm clouds were rolling in, so we stopped for the night.

We ate dinner under the Foxwing to escape the rain. Mandy made Paella and it was a really good dinner for the middle of the woods.  We tucked the dogs in and climbed into the tear drop for a another night.

Commencing Countdown, Engines On!

Its that time of year again, where we load up four adults, three dogs, two rides, and two trailers and head to the mountains.  "The mountains are calling and I must go", has never been more appropriate.  I've been looking forward to escaping southern Arizona for a long time.

We made it through Phoenix by 9AM and slabbed it all the way to Flagstaff.  After gassing up, we stopped off pavement for a quick lunch.  And then it poured.  Monsoon season has hit Arizona a little early (which we have been welcomed with open arms).  Undeterred, we crossed I-17 and started down a portion of the AZ Backcountry Discovery Route.

(You know you're from southern Arizona when, you take pictures and video of rain).

It was boring.  Of all the beautiful places to ride in AZ, the BDR crew chose a crazy boring route.  Scrub brush...and more scrub brush. Hey guys, AZ does have trees.  I didn't take a lot of pictures here.  Blah.  But we did see a huge herd of elk: at least 25 head.  And I didn't get any pictures of them.  They ran across the road before I could get my Nikon to cooperate.

We made it back to pavement and slabbed our way to Tusayan.  We found a back door into the Grand Canyon National Park and took it.  It rained off and on.  We pushed west until we were out of the rain clouds and camped off of NF-302.

It was early and Mike got out the slack line so we could thoroughly embarrass ourselves.  

The dogs wanted to join in.  The girls tried limbo.

The storm clouds moved on, a decent sunset happened behind the pines.  We had dinner, played dominoes and made our way to bed. It was a pretty good start to our trip.

National Geographic presents Papago Camp

Not really, but I did use my time at my mandated time living in squalor on the border to good use: I played with my camera taking night photos and learning the capabilities of my long lens on wildlife.  Oh, I did work too.

My first stop was the Lesna Mountain chain.  I fell in love with the morning light (by morning light, I mean the sun did not even crest the horizon yet) on this lone rock formation.  I really wanted to wait for the sun to actually hit it while I was parked in front of the Saguaro skeleton, but the waking bee hive residing at what used to be it's root base shooed me away.

After spending a good amount of time enjoying the sunrise from atop a small rock outcrop, I got back into my truck to explore some more.  I did a loop and while heading back up Secret Road, I spotted this owl.  He was a ways out and refused to look at me. This was the best shot I got. I took some action shots while he was flying away, but his coloring camouflaged him against the rock color.

And then I got yelled at by a crow.

I almost missed these beauties.  I threw the truck in reverse.  Small white flowers that I have never seen in my 7 years as a desert resident.  I did some research later on and I believe they are Night Blooming Cereus. If the internet is to be believed, this cereus only blooms one night every year before shedding its white flower and replacing it with a fruit.  If so, I feel very fortunate to have spotted one.

 After my love affair with the flowers waned,  I made my way westbound.  Stopping only for birds atop cactus.

This hawk was less than thrilled with me.  I was cramping his hunting time.

My next night out, I was stationary on the border.  What better way to protect our nation than to experiment with long exposures at the night sky?

The sunrises this past week were....weak.  It figures.  A few days later I explored further north and west.

Dead things are always so pretty.

During a pit stop of FR1, I found another dead Saguaro.

And then the hawks.  I'm not sure if they were a nesting pair, or if they were in the same area together.  But they flanked me and one fussed at me until it realized that I would win the battle of will and flew away.

What little time I had out and about, I took full advantage of.  Relearning areas I haven't seen in years and exploring new areas I've never been.  Eat your heart out Nat Geo.

Overland Expo 2014

Mormon Lake did not disappoint. It was windy as hell. Again. For the third year in a row. They advertised this years expo as the largest yet. And apparently they advertised well, it was packed. We arrived around noon on Friday to find the camping area almost full and utterly chaotic. They did not put thought into it and several of the "roads" had been claimed as camping spots. We smushed ourselves in a corner and began erecting camp. We kept it fairly simple: Pete and Mandy used their roof top tent and Foxwing and we declined to set up the tag a long, only setting up the Foxwing and walls. (whoops, I didn't take a picture of camp in the daylight)

We lassoed up the dogs and went to check out the vendors and rigs.

Chillin while mom and dad shop.

The actual expo was okay. I don't think it was their biggest yet. The vendors always change every year, with only a few coming back every year. We landed ourselves some awesome chairs from OzTent, an AZ BDR map, and some sweet KC lights (at a steal). And AEV gave us some sweet hats for being loyal customers.

The rigs never disappoint.

 
John from Canyon Country Teardrops was with Adventure Trailers. We caught up and showed our trailer to some potential customers. We even ran into Joe, who bought our Howling Moon Tent from us a few months back. It's pretty cool to see how thrilled he and his wife are with it and it sounds like they have already used it more than we did. 

We watched a few rigs do the vehicle course. And yeah, the wind got worse as the weekend progressed.

The sky on Friday night was killer.

I wasn't thrilled to be camping so close to people. But by the days end I came to the realization that while we were all packed into the camping area like sardines, we all view camping as a passion. People were generally very quiet, clean, courteous, and friendly. There were no generators, loud music, piss drunks, or obnoxious pets. It's nice to camp with a huge crowd of people that value camping.

As antisocial as I am, i found the social experiences more rewarding the the actual expo. Overlanders, campers, outdoor enthusiasts are so easy to get along with. Conversations flow easily and no matter what our rig is, we all value the same thing: life off of the well beaten path, full of adventure and wilderness.

I had a few good days with friends, my wonderful husband and awesome dogs. Camping is so important and necessary for my psyche and mental health. Each trip is an enriching experience in itself and helps recharge my batteries.

After all: