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Dry Camping, Mexico, and Another Surgery

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We’ve been home for about a month and are already longing to be back out on the road. The freedom we feel traveling is like nothing else, and we’ll be back on the road soon (with new blog posts, of course). In the meantime we have been busy and thought we’d share a few updates.

Once we arrived home to Prescott after 81 days on the road we set out to clean and fix up the trailer. We washed, we polished, and we added a few decorations. Thanks to my dear friend, Dr. Michelle May, for hand-painting two pictures inspired by our photos of North Cascades National Park. They are now framed and proudly hang over our bed in the rig.

We also did a dry camping experiment. In our almost three months on the road this summer we never went more than a day or two without electric, water, and/or sewer hookups. We wanted to see how we’d fare without utilities, so we headed to a dispersed camping area south of Flagstaff and survived four days without the luxuries! It was a beautiful spot, nice weather, and a good place to just hang out. We probably could have gone another day or so, but we figured four days was good enough!

We also made a trip down to our condo in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. With our dear friends Sam, Nancy, Tom, Rick, and Mary, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner out at our favorite restaurant, Regina’s. After being closed for six months for the pandemic, the restaurant was as warm and welcoming as ever.

We also enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio of Pane y Vino with sweeping views of the Sea of Cortez.

It was great to catch up with friends while taking care of some business for our rental. Beach time and sunset happy hours on the patio were also on the agenda, as usual.

On the way home we ran into a protest being conducted about 1/8th of a mile north of the Mexican border. A group aligned with the local tribe has been protesting the construction of the border wall and its encroachment on sacred lands and water sources. Luckily it was only a short delay and we were on our way.

Next up is another surgery on my left foot. Tomorrow I’ll go in for another procedure to hopefully alleviate the still nagging pain in the ball of my foot. My previous Lapiplasty surgery didn’t seem to do the trick. This time the doctor will be focusing on the nerves between my third and fourth toes, which are separating after numerous, ineffective coritisone shots.

They say this surgery will be easier than the last one. After four+ years of dealing with pain I’m hoping this is the end of this journey. I’ll post an update as soon as possible.

The Sawtooth

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From Salmon we drove about 150 miles south to the center of Idaho and the Sawtooth National Recreation and Wilderness Area.  Most famously known for nearby Sun Valley Ski Resort, the draw for us is the natural beauty. We’ve said lots of “Wows” on this leg of the journey.

First we headed into Ketchum, the closest town with a Verizon store. Replacing the broken iPhone is a priority but in these parts, your priorities are not their problem. After a number of calls and an uncomfortable store visit we left without a viable solution. The last photo my phone took was a call to 911, which I didn’t make.

So, we are working on one phone for the time being. The scenery, however, makes up for it.

Our first destination here was the small town of Stanley and the nearby ghost towns of Bonanza and Custer. This is gold rush country from the mid 1800s through 1960. In Custer we toured the ghost town that once held a large population, all there to work the nearby mill, built to process ore from the mines. Relics from the early miners litter the ground of this historic site.

Along the way to Custer we passed the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, which is a 988 ton relic of gold mining from the 1940s and 50s. There are 71 one-ton buckets on one continuous chain and each bucket could hold eight cubic feet of dirt.

The dredge dug into the valley over a six mile swath to recover gold by washing and separating the rock, gravel, and dirt from the gold.  Having cut a large swath of land through a beautiful valley, the old dredge still stands as a testament to man’s search for wealth. We toured the four story dredge which over a 12 year period turned out gold valued at  $1.2 million in 1958 dollars.

The next day we hopped on the bikes and rode from our campsite to the nearby Pole Creek Ranger Station. Pole Creek is the oldest Forest Service construction in the Sawtooth National Forest and was home to Ranger Bill Horton for 22 years.

The station is on the National Register of Historic Places and shows how tough and hard working rangers like Horton were. 

The remainder of the day was spent at the popular Redfish Lake. With a lodge, visitor center, and white beaches, Redfish is popular with hikers, paddle-boarders, kayakers, and boaters.

We walked the Fishhook Trail from the visitor center and came across the Kokanee Salmon, a relative of the Sockeye in the nearby creek. It was spawning season, so the red fish were thick, having come up stream from Redfish Lake. Once they hatch and grow they will go downstream tail-first to live and enjoy the beautiful Redfish Lake. 

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is filled with campsites, streams, and trails. We spent some time on the Harriman Trail, an 18 mile mountain bike trail that runs along the Big Wood River. We rode just a section of the trail, which was a good workout with incredible views. 

From there we headed to nearby Pettit Lake where Steve did a seven mile trail run while I rode the bike a little more. Steve’s run took him from Pettit Lake to Alice Lake. Along the way he had incredible views and scenery. 

The campgrounds were beginning to fill up in anticipation of the upcoming long weekend, which is our cue to move along. We really loved our time in the Sawtooth area and hope to return to explore more trails by foot and by bike. 

We are heading south towards Twin Falls for our next set of adventures. 

North Cascades National Park

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In our continuing quest to visit as many national parks as possible, we ticked another off the list–and this one was beautiful!  North Cascades National Park is located in the northern part of Washington State in the middle of the Cascade Range. IMG_0444It’s brimming with old-growth forests, hundreds of glaciers, swiftly flowing rivers, and alpine lakes. You kind of have to want to come here, as it’s not a park you just drive by. Certainly the remoteness makes it all the more special.IMG_8870We visited just one day and saw what we could from the car and short trails. However, the real way to see North Cascades is on foot with a pack on your back. We are not traveling that way these days so we settled for the tourist route and it was still spectacular.  We can’t help but wonder what we missed by not being able to get to the back country.IMG_0461From our campground in Concrete, Washington the park was about a 30 mile drive. Of course the visitor center was closed due to COVID-19 but rangers still greeted us outside with maps and suggestions. Our first official stop was the town of Newhalem. This old village was once the “company town” for Seattle City Light, the power company that has transformed the power of the water in these mountains into electricity for Seattle and the surrounding areas. As such, there are large power lines, old pump houses, and hydroelectric dams throughout the park.IMG_0460Not far from Newhalem we came across the Gorge Dam and Gorge Creek Falls.  While man has certainly altered the landscape here, it is still a spectacular natural site.IMG_8877The most incredible views were found at Ross Lake. We could have spent days here if we were down at water level. Instead, we soaked in the glacial-topped peaks and glacial-green waters. The Ross Lake National Recreation Area, at over 100,000 acres, is a lot to explore!IMG_8884.jpegWe took in a few short hikes that gave us a flavor for what the back country might look like. The Ladder Creek Falls trail features a suspension bridge over the Skagit River, gardens, and a 1920’s powerhouse. IMG_8894

The powerhouse was constructed to produce electricity for homes in Seattle as part of the Skagit Hydroelectric project.IMG_8905The Trail of the Cedars was a short, 0.3 mile loop starting on another suspension bridge and weaving through an old-growth forest along side the Skagit River. Just lovely.

Lunch beside the river in a shady spot and a quick stop at the Cascadian Farms Organic Farm Stand for the best chocolate ice cream on the planet rounded out the day. We left feeling like we saw a lot but left much yet to explore.

IMG_8914Steve also made a habit of picking wild blackberries from the bushes around our campground. With so many berries he made his first pie! We were in this area for just a few days and spent the rest of our time shopping for an internet jetpack, barbecuing, and enjoying the cooler-than-Arizona weather.  From here we begin to travel eastward.