Ash & Joe

take the show
on the road

Joe 3/22/20 Joe 3/22/20

Stealth camping at trailhead on Schnebly Hill in Sedona, Arizona

We didn’t want to drive all the way out to 525C, 525D, or 525E. We didn’t want to park at the top of Forest Road. We didn’t have a site at Rancho Sedona. We thought: why not camp at the trailhead on Schnebly Hill Road. It’s a grey area; we might be backpacking and backwoods camping along a trail. We had a recreation pass. We decided to try it. We woke up the next morning, in the midst of a movie shoot! (Or television or commercial photography, or maybe just an Insta-influencer and accompanying entourage.)

(This was on a past trip, not recently.)

Joe 2/2/19 Joe 2/2/19

Apache Trail to White Sands

The Apache Trail Scenic Byway is a decently maintained dirt road that leads from Apache Junction, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.

Traversable though it may be for most vehicles – including our 23-foot 4x4 dually van – the winding curving crumbling clinging to plunging mountainsides can be harrowing nevertheless.

The Apache Trail Scenic Byway is a decently maintained dirt road that leads from Apache Junction, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.

Traversable though it may be for most vehicles – including our 23-foot 4x4 dually van – the winding curving crumbling clinging to plunging mountainsides can be harrowing nevertheless.

After viewing the impressive engineering of Roosevelt Dam, we took in views of Roosevelt Lake Bridge – the “longest two-lane, single-span, steel-arch bridge in North America. […] The original dam-top roadway was designed to allow two Model-T Fords to pass abreast, but today's recreational vehicles and full-size automobiles are too wide to permit two-way traffic”.

Back on regular pavement, we drove a few more miles to Tonto National Monument and explored cliff dwellings dating back 700 years. Originally inhabited by perhaps hundreds of Salado people, today’s full-size humans are too wide to permit two-way pedestrian traffic. ;)

Next, we drove half a day and spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico – a new state for us! The following night we drove to White Sands National Monument and then traveled a few hours north to Albuquerque, our base camp before Santa Fe.

(Early November 2018)

Joe 2/2/19 Joe 2/2/19

Spring Lake Regional Park

We had a great site with a view of the lake, as well as a view of the night sky through clearing clouds and intermittent tree branches, on the night of the full supermoon lunar eclipse. It was magical.

Highly recommend Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa Rosa, California!

Here’s a video of our sunset jog around Spring Lake, and a couple of photos.

(January 20-21, 2019)