I’ve been enjoying the change of scenery and the break from driving where I’ve been camping for the past several days in northern Arizona. South of the Grand Canyon and west of Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks I found a very nice area in the forests near Williams, amongst the large mature ponderosa pines to pitch my tent.
Although a very popular camping destination on the weekend when I arrived, I still managed to find a place away from other campers with some privacy, and plenty of peace and quiet.
There are so many campsites along the roads just in this one small area I’m at, that I don’t imagine there’d ever be a time when one couldn’t find at least one free campsite. There are dozens, if not over a hundred spots back in this area that one could camp, and most can fit full size RVs, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an area with quite this many spots to camp, it’s definitely a nice camping destination for those looking to be near civilization with cellphone service while still having the feeling of being deep in the forest.
I had never been in this area of the state either, so I was excited to see some new scenery, and it seems I picked a terrain to camp at that is in between the high desert below and the mountains above. I found some really nice views on a hillside during a hike one evening, looking down at the flatland below where all the camping opportunities lie.
And the nearby dog town lake:
The area has been pretty thinned out by logging, so the forests
aren’t as thick as they naturally would be, but still plenty of trees for shade, and plenty of open space for sunshine in the mornings when it’s cool and to catch some solar power...
It is quite dry and dusty, however, with a fire ban in place so there have unfortunately been no campfires, and the red dirt turns Dakota colors, a thin layer practically covering her at times!
Even do dirty, she’s still cute, though...
As nice as my time here has been, I’m ready and excited to head north towards Montana to more familiar (and cooler) country with water around, but first we’ll have to stop in some really nice country in Utah for a couple nights or so on the way up there. So time to hit the road once again, before finally reaching a destination that will put an end to the long drives at least for a month or two.
Oh, and before I go, here’s a really nice view of the San Fransisco Peaks from a meadow we drove through on our way into the campsite I found.
I remember you liquidated everything, including a business if I'm remembering correctly. Are you using that to buy the consumables you use, such as gas and other fuels and food, etc?
If not, what are you doing to pay for those things, and if so, what will you do when it runs out?
Seeing all of your many posts on Arizona lately has left me a little homesick. Your posts have helped (a coworkers stories have helped too) inspire me to thinking about buying just some undeveloped land in the coming years since it would be more easily accomplished for me than a house as far as price.
Yes, that’s right, I was able to get my setup and the cash lasted almost a year, since then I’ve been surviving on crypto from blogging, a few cash jobs, and the ‘stimulus’ checks. I get some free food from time to time, at food banks and when volunteering at farms, use very little camp stove fuel as I can cook and heat with my wood stove, so it’s primarily gas for when I’m on the road and cellphone/car insurance besides food, primarily. I’ve learned to live off very little, and seem to always get just enough when I need it. I think I’ll have a week or two of work when I get up to Montana in a couple days, so that will keep me going for a while and/or cover some car maintenance. I’m hoping I can eventually get by with mainly just crypto and maybe selling a book or something some day.
I would certainly think land is a good investment personally, much cheaper to put a camper or even build a tiny home on some land rather than buying a house, plus there’s still relatively cheap land in some nice (although dry and rural) places in Arizona, New Mexico, and even Montana near where I was. I’ve always been chasing rising land prices when I was saving for land, so gave up on that goal for the time being, but there’s some really good land options around for under 50k for sure, even less depending on what one looks for.
I can see why you miss Arizona, really pretty diverse scenery, although a bit on the hot side at this time of year... Thanks for the support on here, really appreciate it!
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Thank you scilwa. This account is one that I followed when I was still on Hive. I even reblogged one of his posts while I was powering down to leave Hive about 9 months ago.
The time you and your curators (in this case PriyanArc) take to find and curate posts, especially newer members like his is a blessing for so many, not just the author. But also for those of us who wish to see more from authors like jasonliberty, and know that your curation added to ours increases the odds of us seeing more.
Thanks to you and your team.
Beautiful area ....