I recently went on a scouting trip to Gila National Forest for our next location. The solar has been installed so my hope is to be off-grid for two weeks so we were looking for remote and quiet. Obviously my rig cannot do high clearance but I was in the jeep and in need of some new scenes and fun and something that required my full attention. This seemed to have potential.
This sign above was just as the paved road turned into a washboard gravel road that gradually climbed the hills. The first side road appeared and we turned left, heading to the end where I found these two wire stick figures that had to have taken quite a while for someone to build.
It looks like there may have been another figure in the middle at some point and I swear I've seen something similar to this somewhere before I just can't place. If any of you know of this or anything similar please comment and let me know! And yes, I think he's happy to see her......
The road curved and climbed with beautiful vistas and several places to pull over and hike for a bit. So many photo opportunities with each view more spectacular than the last.
The further I drove the higher the hills got and the more washed out the road became. Thelma stayed true to the road however and I decided to drive until the road ended or became paved again.... wherever that might be. Several roads turned off to places that were "frequently" used for camping and at one point we came around a curve and looked down on a beautiful river scene.
I wasn't able to get a photo as we were on a precarious one lane, rocky piece of road with a cliff going straight up on one side and a sheer drop to the creek below on the other but I was determined to get closer to the water. It turned out to be another path, it would be a stretch to call it a road, that led off and ran parallel to the river for about 1/2 a mile and ended (at least as far as Thelma was concerned) at a gorgeous camping spot right on the water. It was a popular place and there was a fire ring with several large tree trunk furniture surrounding it. The sound of the river was accented by the wind and the birds and was great place to sit and soak up the scenery.
I headed back to the main part of the "road" and continued on but it only went a short distance before becoming a hiking trail so we turned around and began the two hour drive back home.
As for finding the next place to land I was not successful. The RV (she still doesn't have a name) is not built for those types of roads and doesn't have clearance. She does however, have the new solar system and although we are still in the campgrounds we have been disconnected from the grid for 4 days not with no issues! THAT is exciting and means that a another scouting trip is on for this week. This time we'll head towards Gila Cliff Dwellings and see if we can find something in that area. There are also hot springs near there that I would love to check out. State parks continue to be closed to camping and are only open for day use to NM residents which is a bummer. I was hoping those might open up while I was still in this area but it's not looking good.
I wanted to also mention that I have a "product" page on my website now. I will be adding more items to it and all of the items will be products that I am currently using or have used and recommend. I'm now an Amazon affiliate so if you click on one of my links to start your shopping, I earn a little on any qualifying purchases. No additional cost to you so if you already shop on Amazon, please consider doing your shopping through one of my links.
Thanks so much for following my journey and until next time, keep Movin' On!
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