Geeks Gone Wild!

Stockton Pass, Coronado National Forest, AZ

2010-05-04T14:53:00.001-07:00

Features:

Restrooms (Outhouse style)
Trashcans (“Bear Proof”)
Cell Phone Signal (not 100% reliable)
Picnic Tables
Fire Pits
RV Campsite
Group Campsite
Hiking Trails (Numerous, leading in all directions away from campground)

This is actually our second time staying in Stockton pass, though the previous time we only stayed for a night.

The campsite itself is quite nice, and, judging from the times we have stayed there, doesn't seem to get many campers. (This is generally preferable to us, A) because it gives us some privacy and B) because, with a baby, and kids and dogs we can get noisy and we don't feel good about disturbing our neighbors.)

Of the three campsites we have been to, Stockton pass has the most amenities. There are picnic tables, fire rings, bathrooms (outhouse style), (“bear proof”) garbage cans, and, the most exciting “amenity”, cell phone signal! (The signal is spotty, but there is a cell tower at the top of a nearby mountain, and we can get up to 4 full bars of EDGE depending on where we stand. lol)

Stockton Pass is on Mt Graham where there is a large observatory, which can be seen from many miles away.

This time out, we actually met many hunters, not camping, but just checking out the area. The ranger informed us that it is turkey hunting season, and apparently Stockton pass is right in the middle of prime turkey hunting area! One person made mention that a friend of theirs saw 33 turkeys there the week before we got there. We spread the legend of the 30 turkeys to the hunters we met that asked if we had seen any. lol

While we didn't see any turkeys in the first few days we were there, Vallori did hear some, and we saw one roaming around in the nearby town of Ft Grant. We also saw some beautiful bluebirds, some animal with white fur and shiny eyes slinking around one night, and a cute pocket gopher digging out part of his burrow. We got video of our rodent friend that you will soon be able to check out on our UStream and YouTube channels. We also saw many different types of scat, and heard many different animal and bird calls during the day and night, so, while we may not have seen much wildlife, it is certainly all over the area. Stockton pass is also known for black bear sightings.

Linus and Nikon had an incredible time exploring, and even came across a skeleton! We think it might have been a small mule dear, judging from the hoof and skull. We didn't get to see the whole skeleton, the dogs were very careful not to let anyone know exactly where their find was, but they kept running off and then coming back with different parts of the animal. The skeleton had obviously been sitting around for a long time before they got it, it was just dry bones, but dry bones are an exciting find for dogs!

While the dogs generally don't go much out of eyesight and usually come back soon after leaving (if we let them off the leash), one morning they ran off, and no amount of calling or whistling brought them back. We were getting pretty worried and were about to go on a hike to find them when some hunters came to check out the area for turkey and use the rest room. We wanted to wait until they left before we left, and while they were there, we chatted with them for a few minutes. We mentioned that our dogs had gone missing, and the hunters said they hadn't seen them on the nearby road, which was some relief. After the hunters left, while we were about to go looking for the dogs, the hunters came back into the campsite and they had found the dogs! Thank goodness, and Thanks again guys! Apparently they had been running down the road, but, being friendly dogs, they came easily when called to the hunters. Linus also made quite an impression on one of the guys, which is how Linus is, always making instant friends for life. LOL.

For the first couple of days we got to use our tent without the rain fly since the weather was dry and warm, which was a nice change, though due to the full moon, we didn't get to see the stars. During the times we have gone camping previously, the weather was too cold and windy to go without the rain fly. The weather did turn, though, and we had to put the rain fly up for a few days. We didn't get any rain until the last day while we were packing out, though it sprinkled in the nearby towns, but we saw a lot of wind with temperatures near freezing at night and not warm during the day. It was uncomfortable, but we snuggled around a campfire, and then snuggled in bed with 3 layers of clothes, 2 blankets each, gloves, winter caps, 2 pairs of socks, and hand warmers in our gloves, socks, and hats. LOL. It might be considered going overboard for some, but we are not used to cold temperatures, and found it very very unpleasant. Luckily, things warmed up a bit the next day, and we were ready for the cold the next night.

To make matters worse, Vallori also got to experience her first migraine while camping, which was extremely unpleasant, thankfully, it only lasted one night.

Atari had a great, time, as usual. He loves being outdoors and loves camping. He crawled for the first time one day in the tent, and also made his first ASL (American Sign Language) sign; “eat”. We didn't set up his outdoor play tarp this time, not only was there no great place for it, but we think it might be a little too small for him, now that he is more mobile, but, with the older kids not here, there was plenty of room in the tent for him to play with his toys and crawl around.

A lot of people have wondered if it is very difficult to camp with a baby, but, from our experiences, it isn't any more difficult than living in a house with a baby. There seem to be a similar amount of concerns, but just different ones. We don't have to worry about socket covers and cabinet latches, but do have to worry about bug spray and sunblock. At times, it even seems easier to camp with a baby than to deal with the concerns of a baby in an apartment or house, because the precautions we need to take for him are the same ones we need to take for ourselves. (Whereas, in a house, you don't need to install socket covers, cabinet latches, and the like for yourselves.)

Overall, our experience at Stockton Pass was probably the best camping experience we have had so far. Even with the weather not being totally incredible, Stockton Pass is a beautiful and interesting place to camp. Hopefully, next time we go there, the weather will be better and we will get the chance to explore some of the many hiking trails around the site.

(The Road to) Sheeps Bridge Campground, Tonto National Forest, AZ

2010-04-14T19:37:00.005-07:00

We haven't been out on the road much in the last couple of weeks. This is due to the neccessity of taking care of some various bit of paperwork for various things, and due to Kevin's recently begun class having homework due almost nightly. We didn't really expect this out of an online class, and it has posed some challenges, since we have yet to find a camping site with cell phone reception, and without cell reception, we can't use our phones as modems to get online with our netbooks. Luckily, Vallori's mom and stepdad have been kind enough to let us spend some time with them, as long as we are helpful and not underfoot, and this has allowed us to attempt to try some recon missions on campsites before we stay overnight. (basically to see if we can find one with cell reception so we can stay a full week or 2). Hopefully we will find a good place soon, as we are sure we are wearing out our welcome here. :(

As some of you may have noticed, we missed putting up yesterdays listing in the WildernessGeeks Etsy shop. The reason for this is that we were on an exciting adventure toward Sheeps Bridge campground in Tonto National Forest, Az. If you take a look at the AZ Free Campsites map we've created you'll see Sheeps Bridge just north-east of the Phoenix metro area.

While we usually trust Google Maps, when we saw that this 60mile drive was supposedly 3.5hrs long, we laughed, we scoffed, we joked about driving 5mph the whole way there on dirt roads... haha.. haha...hahahahahaha...

Come to find out, most of the trip really is on unpaved forest roads (FR24 mostly, which is Cave Creek rd, back in Phoenix). Our top speed on any point in the trip was probably around 20miles per hour.

While it was still daylight the scenery went from desert brush to more forested and green areas with creeks and streams several times. There were gently sloping hills in some areas, and fairly steep drop offs and canyons in others. Overall, it was quite beautiful. During the night, we didn't see the scenery much, as one would imagine, but we did see many rabbits, some kangaroo rats, and some flying creatures, though whether they were bats or owls, we aren't sure. We also stopped a few time to admire the star filled sky, with very little city glow visible.

We took Cave Creek road, which turns into FR24 on the way out, per Google Maps directions from our starting point. In Vallori's opinion, the roads were rough at their best point, and absolutely terrifying at their worst. In Kevin's opinion, however, they were pretty rough, but not really a big deal, as long as we took it slow. (Kevin was driving). We would not recommend taking these roads in a lower clearance vehicle, or a vehicle that isn't pretty rugged.

The reason this post's title is prefaced with "(The Road to)" is because we never actually made it all the way to Sheeps Bridge! After a few hours of driving the dirt back roads, we came to a road where we had to turn to travel the last 2 miles or so, and this particular road was more rocky and dangerous looking than any of the previous roads, and it was dark already, so we decided it just wasn't worth the risk. On the way back, we decided to take a different route, since we had seen a sign that pointed toward the I17. So we took Bloody Basin Road around 20 miles to the I17. This road was, of course, as bad, if not worse than FR24, and certain parts of it were the most rough (terrifying - haha) of the whole trip. (perhaps it would have seemed a little bit different in the daylight).

While we never did make it to Sheeps Bridge, we did get a good look at some areas where there is "dispersed camping" (basically public lands where you can where you like.). We even got cell signal in some of these areas.

As a side note, I ran across a blog today called "Our Odyssey" with an excellent and informative post about Dispersed Camping that is worth a read. The rest of their story is also interesting, and I fully recommend checking out their full story.

It's much easier to appreciate the travel from yesterday now that we aren't on the road. We learned a lot of useful things, first and foremost being that we need new shocks on the van RIGHT AWAY, but also that the van can handle some pretty rough terrain. We also found some good sites for dispersed camping, and sites with cell reception, and we learned to trust Google Maps, if it says a 60mile drive is going to take in the neighborhood of 4 hours, it really will take that long!

Oak Flat, Tonto National Forest, AZ

2010-03-31T09:23:00.025-07:00

Oak flat is a campsite between Globe and Superior in Tonto National Forest, AZ. We stayed for 3 days in mid-March and liked it well enough; though, of the 3 campsites we have stayed in in AZ, it is our least favorite.

Upon entering the site there is a section with about 4 or 5 campsites, and then there are 2 roads that lead (we assume) to more campsites, one marked for high clearance vehicles only. We did not explore down either of these roads.

The campsite was very busy when we arrived, and we expected to see much fewer people when the weekdays came, but were very surprised when it stayed quite busy, for camping and picnicking on both the weekend and weekdays. Perhaps it was so busy because it was on/ near Spring Break for nearby schools.

The campsite we set up in was very large, and had plenty of room for all of our stuff, which included a large tent, a screen room, a small tent for the dogs, and a privacy tent. The kids and dogs had tons of room to run around, and behind our campsite was a small trail and a sizable hill that the kids loved exploring.

As far as amenities, there were no bathrooms, and no trash pick up. A "primitive", "Pack In Pack Out" campsite. There were, however, picnic tables and fire circles, both of which make things quite a bit easier while camping out. (Additionally, the area seems like a frequent lunch picnic spot, presumably for the employees of the nearby mine.)

It had rained the week before we came to the campsite, and nearby there was a small body of water (like a large pond), as well as a creek, and a huge muddy area. The kids and dogs had a good time exploring the mud and creek, and we discovered that Linus loves to splash around in shallow water. Near the water there was a shelter that was clearly man-made that was made some time before we got there.

The campsite had no cell phone reception, and were were actually asked (be two different people) for rides into Superior so they could make phone calls for assistance with their cars. One person's car wouldn't start, and the other had gotten not one, but two of their trucks, and an ATV stuck in all of the mud. Kevin tried to help these people get out of the mud, and they gave him a few dollars for the assistance, so that was very kind of them.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay, but next time will likely go further down one of the roads in the back of the first set of campsites, because the areas that way looked more scenic. (Our campsite had nearly no foliage, and was just a large dirt lot.)

Jones Water, Tonto National Forest, AZ

2010-03-31T09:23:00.014-07:00

Jones Water is a lovely campsite on the other side of Globe from Oak Flat, in Tonto National Forest, AZ. The drive into the site is a shady unpaved road with trees overhanging, as you can see in the pictures in the slide show below. We stayed at Jones water for 3 days in late-March.
There are few campsites, and the sites themselves are all quite small, except for the one directly across from the bathroom. (The one with the table marked with the number 2). This worked out just fine for us, and made it so we didn't have reason to set up our privacy tent.

Much to our great pleasure, the restroom was extremely clean, and maintenance/ clean up people for the campsite came daily to clean out the restroom and they even took out a load of our trash for us.

Behind our campsite we found a very tiny stream (really just a few inches, both across, and deep, though it trickled along the entire length of the campground). The kids and dogs enjoyed exploring along the stream, and we saw and heard lizards, a small mouse of some kind, birds, and various unidentified critters near the stream. Early one morning, I heard something that sounded fairly large down by the stream, I imagine it was a javelina, since we saw javelina tracks. Though it could even have been a coyote; we also saw tracks and scat that lead us to believe there were coyote nearby.

When we went on a family exploration walk, we found that another campsite had a swing made from a rope and a stick tied in a tree, and the kids had a great time playing on that. The dogs found patches of grass to roll in, and we also found a neat "wash" type area with a big collection of river rocks, and some really interesting black sand.

While the experience really felt and sounds like a great time out in the wilderness, we were constantly reminded that we weren't all too far from civilization. While we weren't close enough to have cell phone reception, we were a LITERAL "stones throw" from the highway, and sometimes the amount of traffic, and the noise from it made it sound like just another day in the city.

Jones Water was not busy, as far as other people camping, as a matter of fact, there were no other campers while we were there, though there was one couple who came, made a campfire, and then slept in their car and left in the morning, The relative privacy was great for the dogs, who we allowed to run and explore, pretty much to their hearts content. The site was, however, busy for people using it like a quick pit stop. Stopping to use the bathroom, exercise their dogs, and just get out and stretch their legs. We saw so many people doing this, it doesn't seem like we were alone at the site much at all.

So far, Jones Water has been our favorite campsite, but that's only out of 3, so there is a chance we will like another one better soon enough.