We were up before 6am, but enjoyed a cup of coffee before heading out at 7:15. The odometer read 1683 miles into our trip.
Within Native American culture “The Three Sisters” are squash, corn, and beans and we saw numerous mentions of them throughout the day as we visited three national monuments: Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Walnut Canyon. Each is as culturally distinct as they are close geographically.
Wupatki focuses on the pueblo constructing people north of Flagstaff. We were able to start exploring some of the 800+ year old pueblos even before the visitors center opened at 9am. The first was Box Canyon, followed by the Citadel, and ending with the largest of the pueblos, the Wupatki. They are incredible structures and illustrate the extraordinary engineering techniques that enabled these people to thrive in the harsh environment that surrounded them. While enjoying the visitors center’s exhibits we learned that even after the monument had been established there were still Native American families living in some of the pueblos as recently as the 1940’s. One of the truly amazing features near the Wupatki Pueblo was something called a blowhole. Due to pressure differences these geological features alternate pulling air in and blow it out. I stood over this one, about a foot square hole in the ground, and felt like I was standing above an air conditioner.
After that educational experience we drove down the road about 45 minutes to the Sunset Crater Volcano. This was one of the last great cider cone eruptions back around 1085, and it changed the way of life for the inhabitance of the area. We watched a 20 minute video, read all the exhibits in the visitors center, but skipped the two short hikes through lava flows and cinder piles. We’ve done that at two, if not three, other locations in our past our travels.
Our third stop was Walnut Canyon. This was our first experience with cliff dwellers, but won’t be our last. We watched a 30 minute video in the visitors center before heading out to do the 1 mile Island Trail loop. It took well over an hour to complete, containing over 240 concrete steps that lead down into the canyon. It’s a great hike, and we enjoyed seeing actual soot stains from warming fires and being able to experience these unique structures up close and personal. We’re looking forward to seeing more dwellings at other national monuments in the area.We made our way back onto I-40, heading east towards Winslow, where we stopped at a gas station to feed Austin. We have been through Winslow before, so we decided to revisit an old haunt; The “At the corner” made famous in an Eagles song. Within this little city lot park is a red flat bed ford, two statues (Glenn Frey and an unnamed troubadour with a guitar), and a pair of metal wings on the nearby wall. I don’t remember the Glenn Frey statue from when we passed through on our way back from Boston, so it must be new. Before leaving town we resupplied our food stores at Safeway: some stew meat, fresh tomatoes, various lunch meats, a can of diced tomatoes, a couple of green apples, a can of mixed veggies, and a bag of lightly salted almonds.
At this point the Petrified Forest National Park was only 45 minutes away and it was unclear whether the park road would be open to us or not. So while Shar battled Arizona freeway traffic, I researched. I was able to confirm that the gates would be closed, and then focused on finding us a boondock location. Unfortunately, I chose to focus on the park’s south entrance, instead of it’s northern one.
It’s amazing how boondocking has changed over the years for us. When we first started looking for free places to camp we would spend hours going up roads, looking for places to hide, and worrying. Now we’re satisfied if the spot is level and off of a less busy road to decrease traffic noise.
Resources to find boondocking/camping spots have also improved over the years. Some of the apps we use are Boondocking, Campendium FreeRoam, and the best of them, iOverlander. Sometimes even Google maps set on Satellite will work in a pinch.
So as we cruised down I-40 I started digging through our resources and found a possible location right at the south entrance of the park. Boondocking spots can change frequently, and the last review was from April, but I set the navigation to it location and we crossed our fingers.
The gate to the park was indeed closed, but the possible boondocking spot was just as written in iOverlander. We pulled up next to a covered picnic table and parked. There was an old, faded sign that said “Free Camping” so we didn’t have any qualms with an “Ask forgiveness, not permission.” attitude until told otherwise.
A small teardrop trail was parked at the covered picnic table next to us. The owners, a nice younger couple from Florida and their dog Dune, showed up at sunset. Shortly thereafter an older couple, also from Florida, arrived in their Mercedes camper van and found a place to park. The owner of the property showed up a few minutes later in a golf cart. While he didn’t speak to us directly, we did overhear the positive news we were fine parked where we were. There are plans in the future with 200 camping spots, so it won’t be free forever.
I continued typing on the blog while Shar did her nightly routine of resetting food duffles and self-care. By 9:15 we were putting the finishing touches on Austin for Sleeping Mode. It was the first time we added the sun shades to the front door windows because of having neighbors. Weirdly enough the camper van kept its lights on all night, which didn’t help since they pointed in our direction. The park’s automatic gate said it would open at 8am, and we planned to be parked on the road waiting.
Places visited:
Lomaki and Box Canyon Pueblos
Citadel and Nalakihu Pueblos
Wupatiki Pueblos
Wupatiki Visitors Center exhibits
Sunset Crater Volcano Visitors Center video and exhibits
Walnut Canyon Visitor Center video and exhibits
Walnut Canyon Island Trail hike
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