Tuscon, Arizona is in a magical warm pocket where winter never seems to fully take hold. While the rest of the country may be freezing, we toss our coats in the car and explore the surrounding country in short sleeves. It's no wonder that the region draws nomads in the winter. And while there are many camping opportunities circling the metropolitan center, boondocking can be hit or miss. This time, however, we are lucky to score one of the last spots in Proctor Campground.
Kofa Wilderness Refuge is a special destination to us. It's the first place we ever boondocked and we fell in love with the remote and dramatic rock formations. That said, as much as we have explored the area, we stuck to relatively major roads in the past. Yes, all of Kofa's roads are dirt, and, yes, they can have some mean washboard or washouts. But the main arteries in the park that connect to the highway are recognizable on maps, wide enough for two vehicles to easily pass, and easily distinguished from the rest of the landscape. But when we turn down Castle Dome Mine Road, we don't encounter another soul. And we're grateful for that because this trail gets incredibly narrow and rough with tight turns and high brush. But when we reach a clear vista point, that view is all ours.
Lake Havasu is a popular resort destination on the border of Arizona and California. It's charming, from the little of it that we've seen. But it's sufficiently built up to not be a place for boondocking. While much of the lakefront is privately held or part of limited-use parks, most of the land on the outskirts of Lake Havasu is Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wilderness and open to dry camping. So, when we roll through on the lookout for a place to spend the night, we may not have a lakefront campsite, but we certainly have a fantastic view.
We aren't too alarmed when we hear about the wind advisory in Death Valley. After our December experiences with tornados in Kentucky and Kansas, we don't think much of winds in sunny California. Even so, we don't have to be in Tornado Alley for winds to whip up quite a storm. Rather than dropping tree limbs and flipping trailers, this wind kicks up a dust storm so great as to block out the surrounding mountain range and, later on, the sun. We wander Death Valley through a muted haze. Even in that midday twilight, we wear sunglasses and masks to protect our eyes and airways from the grit and dust kicked up by the wind.
Wander past lime green rhyolite hoodoos, historic homesteads, and curious coatimundi in Chiricahua National Monument of southeast Arizona.
Pull up your RV in the shady Bonita Canyon Campground in Chiricahua National Monument and enjoy lime green rhyolite hoodoos.
Hike the 2.8-mile Silver Spur Meadow Trail connecting the Faraway Ranch House to Bonita Canyon Campground in Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona.
Wander past lime green rhyolite hoodoos on the 3.3-mile Echo Canyon Hike in Chiricahua National Monument of southeast Arizona.
Drive through a desert forest of cacti in Saguaro National Park's Tucson Mountain District on the one-way dirt Scenic Bajada Loop Drive.
Valley View Overlook Trail is an easy 0.8-mile scenic in-out dirt route through a forest of cacti in Saguaro National Park, outside of Tuscon, Arizona.