I (Greg) took a trip to Arizona to get out of the cold winter of Los Alamos for a few days.
The first stop was
Faywood Hot Springs for a night soak in their hot springs pools. See earlier blogs for more about Faywood.
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| Lunch at Tuscon Sweet Tomatoes. |
I wanted to hike up to Picacho Peak, so staying at Picacho Peak State Park made sense. (Electric hookups for about $25 with nice shower/bathrooms). Arriving just before sunset, I found plenty of sites to choose from. Before bed, a good hike around the entire park area was called for. After dark, the walk was fun with beautiful lights in the distance.
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| My campsite at Picacho Peak State Park. |
The next day, I headed up the front trail (
Hunter Trail) to Picacho Peak. It's not an easy hike (Rated: Difficult). Bring a lot of water. When I got to the saddle, I discovered that the trail dropped quite a long ways down the other side before it rose again to head to the top. I wasn't really ready for that drop and decided I wouldn't go all the way to the top on this visit. There is a trail from the back side (Sunset Vista Trail) that doesn't do this unexpected up, down, up. Next time, I will take the back trail up to the top. 2-3 liters of water is recommended for these trails.
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| Looking down from the hike up Picacho Peak. |
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| The view on the hike up Pacacho Peak. |
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| Sign at the Saddle of Pacacho Peak. |
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| Meanwhile, back in Los Alamos. |
After my partial hike up Picacho Peak, I headed north to the El Dorado Hot Springs in Tonapah, AZ. El Dorado is a funky place with nice hot springs tubs. If you camp there you get 2 hours of private hot springs use. There is also a public area to soak 24hrs.
I arrived on an early December Thursday. The place was pretty much empty. I signed up to soak in the Desert View pool around sunset time. It was great. After my hour, and wanting more soaking time, I headed to the public area called "Desert Pete." I was the only one in the Desert Pete area my whole time there and enjoyed a full moon while laying on my back in the largest of the hot pools.
I have reviewed El Dorado Hot Springs in a past blog
HERE. It's $30 for 1 person to camp, $50 for two. $20 more for each person. (kids $10). Add $5 for access to an electric plug.
I got the Katie's Corner camp site and paid the extra $5 for an electric connection. You have to hunt for a working 15amp connection. Bring a really long electric extension, you might need it.
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| "Desert View" hot springs tub at El Dorado Hot Springs. |
After my stay at El Dorado Hot Springs, I wanted to find a nice hike in the Phoenix area. The
Piestewa Peak Summit Trail looked like a great hike, so I programmed Google Maps to get me there.
Piestewa Peak turned out to be a really great hike. It's a short distance hike at 1.2 miles up but you rise 1,200 feet, so it is a heart pumper! There are fantastic views at the rugged top.
It's a popular hike. Get there early. I got one of the last parking spots at 2:30 pm.
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| Lots of folks hiking up to Piestewa Peak. |
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| Greg at the top of Piestewa Peak. |
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| The top of Piestewa Peak. |
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| Sunset on the way down Piestewa Peak. |
After the hike, being hungry, I found a store nearby to re-supply and then I found a Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. After dinner, I took a cruise through Scottsdale and ended up at a hospital employee parking lot in Phoenix. There was tons of empty space at night. It was a little dicey, as security was running around, but no one bothered me and I slept well and left early in the morning for my next stop. (My van is setup for stealth.)
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| Stealth overnight at the Maricopa Medical Center/Hospital employee parking lot. |
In the morning, I headed to Papago Park in order to eat my breakfast and then to take the short stroll up to Hole in the Rock.
When I was a young lad, my parents bought me a Batman Cape and mask for my birthday. I still remember clearly the moment when I was climbing up to Hole in the Rock and some older boys made fun of my batman outfit.
Ah, the little traumas of life!
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| Greg at Hole in the Rock at Papago Park, Phoenix, AZ, sans Batman Outfit. (I do have my "utility belt" or sling.) |
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| Looking through the Hole in the Rock with van below. |
After programming my Google Maps, it was off to Sedona Arizona. My research said that "Devil's Bridge" was a great hike in the Sedona area. I headed for the trail head.
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| Map of trails northwest of Sedona, AZ |
A couple of nice young women from Georga were going at my pace and they offered to take my photo and I took theirs on Devil's bridge.
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| On the trail to Devil's Bridge northwest of Sedona, AZ. |
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| View from the trail to Devil's Bridge. |
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| A couple getting a photo on Devil's Bridge. |
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| Georga ladies on Devil's Bridge. |
After the Devil's bridge hike, I was ready to head for home. I would stop at
Twin Arrows Casino Resort just east of Flagstaff on Highway 40. Twin Arrows has a good buffet for a nice dinner. I slept well in the casino's RV parking area.
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| Driving through Sedona, AZ. |
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| Buffet meal at Twin Arrows Casino Resort |
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| Twin Arrows Breafast Cafe. |
In the morning, it was time to truck on home. I took a rest-stop for a hike at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque. The Casino was all dolled up for the Christmas season.
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| Christmas Tree at Sandia Resort & Casino. |
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| A nice walk around Sandia Resort & Casino looking up to the Sandia Peaks. |
Sandia Resort & Casino use to allow RV overnight parking in the northwest lot. I asked the doorman guy why there were no RVs now. He said a new manager had banded RVs after the Balloon Fiesta RV parking got out of control. He also said that a new manager was coming in and it sounds like this new manager will allow some RV parking in the future. I hope they do. It's a nice place to stop for the night and they have a good buffet. The casino is nice. Seems like a waste to have all these empty parking lots when instead you could have customers dropping dollars in your tills.
The trip was a nice break from the frigid December weather of Los Alamos.
