Monday September 2017

It was a breezy day with temperatures in the high 80s today. There wasn’t a cloud visible in the sky all day. Knowing that I have two weeks in the area, allow or possibly compelled me to stay at home today. I used the day to get familiar with the Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

The park is on the hill side on the north side of the Verde River Valley above the town of Cottonwood AZ. There are a few trees, but it is mostly high desert open range land. There are many trails around the park and out of the park in the Coconino National Forest. I hiked a few of the shorter ones today.

My RV as seen from one of the hills in Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

There were some good views of the campground and the town from the higher ground. I kept an eye out for wildlife, but didn’t see anything bigger than a grasshopper. Even the birds were hiding from me. The area looks like it should support deer, elk or whatever the bigger hoofed animals are in this area. I’ll need to look early or late in the day for a better chance at seeing something interesting.

View from one of the hills in Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

Civilization in the distance. 

It is nice to be back in a campground closer to nature than town. The chance of seeing animal life is always nice and the night is dark enough that the stars really pop. Even though I’ve been visiting a lot of national parks this summer, I’ve usually stayed in nearby towns and driven into the parks. The lights of the towns make the night sky harder to see.

When I started this Rambling Road Trip, I thought I’d be staying in more state parks and natural places away from towns. What I’ve found is the need to understand access for my RV and the requirement to plan ahead make finding place matching my desire hard. I knew about this place from reading blog posts by other full time RVers. I’ve been keeping notes on good places that other people have written about and that I’ve scouted out in the areas I’ve traveled. That means that the over time it may get easier to find campgrounds that are more in my preferred