View Lake Mittry & Painted Rocks Petroglyphs Full Album
Oops — It’s been over 2 weeks since my last update, time flies! 😅 TLDR: I’m in (and have been) in Arizona the past 2 weeks. Service blows. Lots of camping!
So far on this road trip, I’ve been using the evenings to write blog posts, organize photos, and catch up on life outside my bubble. For the majority of this time, I’ve been comfortably housed by loved ones (and motels). After leaving Carlsbad, I realized all of my time for blogging disappeared with Max’s apartment in the rear view mirror. When camping, everything seems to take twice as long (I still dread having to brush my teeth with no sink…every time 🙃). Plus the nights have been cold or windy (usually both) which is not conducive to typing on my tablet.
My mobile kitchen setup may look chaotic at first glance, but it actually works surprisingly well
The handful of times I’ve checked into a hotel for the night, I’m usually scrambling to wash all my dirty dishes, reorganize my car, get a shower, hit the grocery store, and then by the time I figure out where I’m going next, its time to sleep! However I finally invested in a camping table, plus the weather is improving, so hopefully posting frequency returns to normal.
This post will be short relative to what’s happened since leaving California. Just letting folks know I’m alive and generally what the hell I’ve been doing. Now that I’m re-incorporating writing into my routine, I’ll dedicate full posts to recent adventures 🤞.
Picking up where my last update ended, I had a great week in Carlsbad with Max. Had some really good climbing gym sessions, walked to the beach every morning, daily yoga & music in Max’s backyard — pretty chill week. I ended the weekend with a double header though 😈 Catalina had a layover in L.A. Friday night, so we met up and went to a dubstep show in an old airplane hangar. Then Saturday I drove back to Carlsbad, and joined Max and his crew for the All:Lo Collective show in San Diego. Incredible way to end the California adventure!
Steven, Max’s climbing buddy, suggested that I go to Mount Lemmon next. Located outside of Tucson, Arizona, the area had free dispersed camping and great walls for top rope solo — plus I’m starting to work my way back east, so it was the perfect destination.
Unfortunately, they were cutting down the giant pine tree in Max’s backyard the day I was leaving 😭 It was sick and dying they said. I say unfortunately both because of the death of my friend, but also the trucks and machines were taking up the entire parking lot, which made it hard to pack my car🙃.
Really though, I spent at least a couple hours with that tree every day. Its anchoring presence and immense beauty felt like the cornerstone to the garden. No one else ever seemed to utilize the space…I’m glad its final days were not spent alone.
Because of this, I hit the road kinda late. Not enjoying drives in the dark, I found somewhere free to camp on the way to Tucson: Lake Mittry in Yuma, Arizona. It blows my mind where you can just sleep for free.
Lake Mittry was incredibly beautiful, and one of the stranger landscapes I’ve ever seen. The backdrop of mountains, the beauty of a large lake with reeds, grasses, ducks (the works). Add in palm trees, numerous sandbars, RV’s, and the fact it seemed to pop out of nowhere after hours of farmland, it was a real treat. Also, the moon was POPPIN that night, I was star struck (literally) walking around. (Check the Google Photos album below for pretty decent star pictures)
Lake Mittry & Painted Rocks Petroglyphs Full Album
After leaving Lake Mittry, I made one more stop before Mt Lemmon: Painted Rocks Petroglyphs. This was by far my favorite petroglyph site yet — damn near every rock was graffitied!
Side Note
If you really know me, you’ll know I hate stopping on drives, always racing the Google Maps ETA (shoutout to Austin if you’re reading this 😉). At this point however, I find myself stopping almost every hour 😅: whether its the bathroom, wifi, petroglyphs, Culver’s, whatever. I need what the roadside provides! At almost 9,000 miles driven so far since January 1st, I’m in no rush, and embracing this.
#growth
I’m taking short cuts on this post, so the above album is every picture I took…Normally I widdle em down to the cream of the crop, maybe 30% or so…but that’s time consuming. So enjoy the RAW AND UNCUT duplicate pictures. 😁
After finally making it to Mount Lemmon, the climbing was indeed very sick and the camping was indeed very free. Just as Steven promised. Full post on that later.
After winter weather chased me off of Mount Lemmon, I headed to the Coconino National Forest. This is the closest you can (dispersed) camp south of Sedona, yet still close to Flagstaff area climbing.
The greater Flagstaff area provides lots of good top rope solo climbing options, I only highlighted one on the map — however they’re ~7000 feet in elevation. Tired of camping that high, I am choosing to stay near Rimrock, which is lower in the Verde Valley and closer to 3,500 feet. This makes for warmer temps, less wind, and accessible water — at the cost of longer drives to climbing spots. At this point, I’m more than willing to take that trade.
It’s breathtakingly beautiful but very limited cell service (texting only…if it sends). Driving into Camp Verde for service and supplies has become a daily routine, but it’s worth it to me. I’ve been here (Coconino) about a week, and plan on staying another week. I’m tired of having to find somewhere to go, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what this area offers.
I’ll elaborate in future posts, but this place legitimately feels magical. I’ve had crazy vivid dreams every night. I feel compelled to sleep here — even in poor weather. It looks different every time I drive in. The creek is partially fed from an ancient aquifer that pumps out millions of gallons of water every day. Water that has never seen the light of day. Revered by people for as long as history can recount.
Here is the same spot at 3 different times:
- How I found it
- Night time (the moon is crazy bright…plus nightlight camera)
- After a snow the other night (more on that later)
That takes me to now! Keep an eye out for posts on Catalina and I’s Pacific Coast Highway road trip, climbing at Mount Lemmon, camping in Coconino, climbing in Sandy’s Canyon, and I think I’m gonna make a fun post summarizing my cooking adventures.
Stay Tuned.
✌️
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