Flagstaff wasn’t our first stop after the Grand Canyon, but a terrible fate befell the photos I had of our few days in Williams (i.e. I accidentally deleted them.) The only ones I lament are the handful from the 8-mile hike we did at the Benham National Recreation Trail just outside of town. Otherwise, we used our time there at a commercial park to catch up on laundry and avail ourselves of the complimentary continental breakfasts (fresh-made waffles!) every morning and the hot tub soaking every evening.
After delaying our next leg of travel for an extra day due to high winds (oh no, more waffles and another night of heavenly soaking?! how will we cope?) we next rolled into Bonito Campground, a USFS park north of Flagstaff and right outside the gates of Sunset Crater National Monument.
Beeyootiful!
We were expecting long-time friends to roll in the next afternoon, so we had most of our arrival day to get settled. The weather was finally conducive to setting out our new relaxin’ chairs. We made a quick trip into town in the morning because
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| I needed bird seed! |
The Steller’s Jays were decorating the campground with their beautiful blueness. These birds were commonplace in Washington state, but for all the years we lived there, I never got a decent photograph of one. We noticed right away that the ones in Arizona were much bluer overall. The WA birds are almost half black from beak to wing, and their blue is much darker. I don’t remember ever seeing the white head-stripes on the WA birds, either, and the crests of the AZ birds looked more spiky, fittingly like they were crossed with a roadrunner. I set out a dish of seed every morning, and I could sit right next to it, quietly enjoying my coffee while several cobalt jays came for breakfast.
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| They’re here! They’re here! |
TBG’s friend since 9th grade, Erik, his better half, Theresa, and their woof, Pharoah, had caught up with us on their way back from a family wedding in Colorado (gee, that sounds familiar!) They were settled quickly in the site across from us, and the good times rolled from there for the next three days.
Our friends had arrived toting a big gunny sack of Hatch chilies, and TBG added them when he cheffed up his signature breakfast for everyone each morning. The fumes made us all cough and necessitated the removal of the smoke detector, but they were the best breakfasts ever. Our first full day together saw TBG making Erik a belt, Theresa and I painting a rock, a 2-mile walk, and some absolutely fantastic steaks that Erik made in his special smoker.
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| Feed these wacky people already! |
With park passes burning holes in our wallets, it was a given that we had to walk over to Sunset Crater’s Visitor Center and then take a hike through the monument.
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| The sign-pointing guests choose the Lava’s Edge Trail. |
I didn’t think the scenery in an ancient lava flow area would be very interesting, but we were all taken in with the trail itself and the views it offered.
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| Traversing the flat lava “sand” |
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| on the “scary” stairs |
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| Erik gives an interpretive presentation in front of Sunset Crater. |
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| Dinner was calling us home. |
We’d connected a few of the park’s trails to make a total of 4.7 miles, which deserved another great dinner when we returned.
Our last full day together was spent with a trip into town to hit the thrift and grocery stores, then the guys took a long mountain bike ride. The campground was full but quiet that night, our final campfire one of many winking amid the trees.
We bid farewell to our friends in the morning, hoping it wouldn’t be another year before we could see them again. After their trailer was out of site, TBG and I laced on our boots for a final hike before we left the next day ourselves.
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| A leery lookout. |
While the hike was to be 10 miles roundtrip with 2100′ of gain, it followed the fire access road entirely, which made for uncomplicated walking. We added a tiny bit more distance since we walked to the trail head from camp.
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| The lookout is on the middle peak, directly above the bright aspens. |
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| Getting closer! |
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| The final push! |
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| Scarier stairs. |
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| The reward at 8916′. |
We had our lunch in the sun at the base of the tower and each took advantage of cell service to call our folks.
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| While you were out… |
For the rest of the year, most of our planned stays are only about an hour’s drive from one another, which makes moving day a breeze. After Bonito, we headed down to Pine Grove, another USFS campground southeast of Flagstaff.
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| Sunny pull-thru #19 |
Another big advantage to moving short distances is that our time doesn’t get eaten up by travel, leaving plenty to get other stuff done.
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| Like enjoying the campground trail! |
All the USFS campgrounds we’ve stayed in so far have had their own short nature or interpretive trails that make for easy leg-stretchers. As you can see from the photo, the Arizona Trail (AZT, the same trail we biked and hiked on last winter in Tucson) runs right through the park.
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| We hiked on it this time. |
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| Well, now, this is just getting adorably ridiculous! |
We had to walk through the piney woods a short distance to access a proper trailhead. There the woods ended, and the majority of the hike was over the flat Anderson Mesa.
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| At Horse Lake, TBG had a stare-down with the beeves. |
I made sure to tell the cows and calves that they were at the wrong lake, not being horses and all. They were headed our way along the dirt track toward their watering hole when we stopped for lunch, but they veered off just shy of our grove until we were finished. Probably because I said, “Heeyah! Git on!” when they got to the tree line. I’m a regular Doolittle.
As we stood up to leave, I espied this.
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| Curious little boy sneaking around the junipers to see what we were up to. |
As much as I wanted to pet him, I didn’t need a kick from a mama cow, so we headed back over the cattle guard and left them to their cow-grazing ways.
Our last day was spent writing and visiting with Nan, one of the camp hosts who shares TBG’s fascination with leatherworking, as well as having lived in Washington and worked in disaster preparedness. We weren’t sorry to bug out a bit earlier than planned in order to miss the frigid nights that are headed this way, but we are sorry that we didn’t get more time to shoot the breeze with Nan.
See you in Cottonwood and Sedona!
COMMENTS
Chasing Dirt We were pretty comfy in shorts, but it was never really hot. We had a friendly bet on our return from the lava hike about what the temp would be when we got back. I won, but still had to peel the potatoes. There was a cool undercurrent to the breezes that definitely let us know fall was getting serious, and we found ourselves buried under our wool blankets every morning.
Sunset Crater was a nice surprise, and you’re right, the piney woods make everything better!
Chasing Dirt Miss you, too, Jonsie! Aren’t you due for a southwest vacation? 😉
It sounds like you had a great time with your friends. So hilarious that
you had to remove the smoke detector to cook those chiles—that must
have been some breakfast.
We like Flagstaff, but we’ve never found an appealing RV park in town,
so we were delighted to discover the alternative of the forest service
campgrounds. We’ve stayed in both of those campgrounds and really like
them, and loved hiking through the lava fields at Sunset Crater. They
were oddly picturesque, as your photos show.
Stay warm! Eat chiles, LOL!
Chasing Dirt I thought the southern Steller’s were far prettier than their northern cousins, except for their sillier crests. They looked so funny with their crests bobbling in the wind. The only song difference I noticed was that the southern jays didn’t seem to vocalize quite as much. The WA birds were very, very noisy (like most jays!) and that was another reason they weren’t one of my favorites. The Southerners did have the characteristic screech, but vocalized much less often and also used some quieter calls.
We are still enjoying some chilies with our breakfasts, and they definitely do warm us up for the day 😀
You are right, the RV places in town proper aren’t great, but the USFS places are pretty darn nice!
Chasing Dirt Both of the USFS places we stayed were very pretty with really great sites. We did one w/o reservations and one with, but both had sites that were plenty large enough for those of us in big rigs. If we hadn’t wanted full sun for our solar, I liked some of the shady, sun-dappled sites the best — so gorgeous!
I thought of you guys and Thor a lot while our friends were there — and I almost called Pharoah “Thor” a few times! They, too, were going through some of the classic Shepherd problems you’ve talked about, but also, like you, this isn’t their first go-round with the breed. It was nice to be with a dog for a few days, and NO! we are not getting one! 😀
My lips are still burning from this morning’s breakfast. You guys are welcome to come over any time for one of TBG’s chef-ups. I am sad now, because I think it’s going to be awhile before that actually happens. But happen it will!
The Northern Stellers don’t have white striped on their heads and now I
know the difference from your handsome Steller Jay. And they were our
entertainers on Vancouver Island.
I noticed that you did not drive all the way to Wupatki National Monument 🙂
Did you by any chance store some Hatch peppers in the freezer?
Chasing Dirt Oh, that is a bigger loss than mine! I would have been upset over those photos as well.
It was such a coincidence that just after I commented on your Steller’s
picture to say that I’d never gotten a good shot of one, there they were
everywhere! I didn’t appreciate them like I should’ve in WA even with
my soft spot for the birds in blue. I’ve also just finished re-reading
your post about your time at Dead Horse Ranch & the Sedona area
since we’re here now 🙂
No, we didn’t get out to Wupatki. We have visited Tuzigoot here — there
are only so many ruins we can handle in a month’s time period LOL
We did freeze a few Hatches, but I think we’re very near the end. TBG’s
signature breakfasts won’t be the same without them, sadly. He’ll still
make you both a breakfast when we see you. They’re pretty darn good even
without the Hatches!