Coconino National Forest…
I found this camping spot with one of the
apps I use and it really was nice. It
was only about 15 miles outside of Flagstaff and right on the expressway so I had
an excellent cell signal. I never heard
the traffic and I only had a short jaunt back to Flagstaff for supplies. It was nice!
This was a very peaceful place at about
7000 foot elevation and the weather was great.
Usually highs in the low to mid 70s, and lows in the high 40s to low
50s. Sunny, not too windy, and lots of
trees which I needed at the time. I have
an affinity for trees, they comfort me…
The Hoku knife I made back in the Bread
Rock Recreational area still needed one more thing to be finished, and that was
some pine tar pitch to glue the flint to the handle. I finally found enough pitch on one downed
pine tree to mix some up, so I was able to get that done while I was there. I explored a lot, trying to identify the
plant life, and other than some cows that were let into the area to graze on
the last couple of days I was there, I didn’t see much wildlife. I did see squirrels, but I could never catch
them in a photo. So the photo below is
from a Google search. Their tails are so
large with feathery plumes of white, very beautiful.
I was there for 5 days or so, and I had
planned on staying longer since it was so close to town and supplies, but the
temperatures at night were falling into the 30s ahead of schedule, so I opted
to pack up and find a warmer place. I
was basically heading back south towards Quartzite, AZ, but I kept an eye out
for other sites on the way, I do like to explore other places.
I found some BLM land outside of Quartzite
that I looked into called Saddle Mountain.
It was okay, but there was a manufacturing plant a few miles away that
was intruding into my landscape view and I couldn’t find a place where it
wasn’t looming on the horizon, so I didn’t stay.
I have now been back in Quartzite AZ for
the past week. This was a good test of
my resources and to experience extended life in an unfamiliar environment,
but I needed to get supplies so I spent most of Friday looking for food.
Like I said in the video, that's been a bit
of a problem, locating organic foods in my area. I drove north to Parker, AZ. because Google
Maps said there was a store up there
that had organic food and supplies, and it was only about 45 minutes away. The store was small, but chocked full and a
really nice place, but I went down every isle and was only able to find a few
things on my list.
Thinking now I am probably going to have to
make a longer trip to Phoenix, and the only other major store in the area was a
Walmart, I opted to check out the Walmart.
To my surprise, I actually found everything else I needed at Wally
World, who'd a thunk it...
When I got back to Quartzite I stopped and
topped off my propane tank, I've been using the cook stove for months now,
even used it some before I left E-town, and it cost me less than five bucks to
top it off. Very pleased. I used about 10-15 gallons of water in the
past week so I filled the water jugs back up and put a few more gallons in the
solar shower bag all for only a couple of dollars. Again, very pleased.
My food supply was also okay, I was just
getting low on things like bread, cheese, eggs, lunch meat, and coconut milk,
but the food I had held up really well.
I ate good meals and my supplies lasted well.
I tried to time my trip back down to
Quartzite with the changes in the daily high temperatures. According to the weather services it was
beginning to cool down about this time to where you have 80s during the day and
50s at night. So far, except for a couple
of days, that’s where it’s been. Sunny,
clear skies, no precip, and cool nights.
I had a low of 42 the night before I made the video, and that’s good
sleeping weather.
I’ve been walking and exploring a lot and
also taking a lot of pictures, mostly of plants, landscapes, and anything I
found interesting. I will say that I am
learning more about the eco-system, mostly through experience, like these
tiny little cacti that grow all over this place.
As you can see they are really pretty small and difficult to see because of their color, they fade right into the
background, but if you step on one or even just brush one, you’ll know it. The thorns are needle sharp and tough. They will get your ankles too. I have pulled many of them out of the sole of
my shoe, some of them made it all the way through.
Oh, and my tip of the day. Never slip into another pair of shorts while
you still have your shoes on, especially if there are tiny hidden thorns stuck
to the sides of your shoes. They
miraculoussly relocate to all sorts of sticky positions in your shorts. Just sayin’…
Here’s an interesting plant called a
creosote bush, I loved the striping on the limbs, and they have a faint scent
of creosote. They hold their green
leaves very well without rain, and they have these small yellow blossoms that
mature into little white seed puffs.
It’s a good medicinal plant too.
The leaves can be used as an antiseptic as well as made into tea for
other medicinal purposes. It is very
hardy and can go for up to 2 years without water.
And here’s an old downed tree trunk I found
while exploring one day, I could just sit and stare at all the intricacies for
hours, amazing…
Last but not least here is a wonderful
specimen of the Saguaro cactus I found on one of my hikes. I also learned something I didn’t know, that
the first ‘arm’ of a Saguaro cactus does not appear until they are at least 60
years old. So, this one has had a pretty
good long life thus far.
So that’s where I’m at right now, but I
plan on moving to Ehrenburg in a few weeks to check it out, there’s some BLM
land there where you can stay as long as you want, so it might be where I stay for most of the winter. So, I may not
be posting very often until I get back on the road traveling in the Spring…
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