Cave Creek

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We enjoyed our stay with Newmar friends in Quartzsite but most were heading out and we had already made plans for our next stop.  Back in the fall, we were trying to get a rough outline of where we might go after the gathering in Quartzsite. We have learned over the past few years that Arizona state and county parks fill up during the winter months. For good reason, I suppose, since all the ones we have visited have been nice. In mid-October I was poking around the reservation system for some of these parks and not having much luck at all. Maybe two nights in a row in a site but we were much too late to get a week. Then I discovered a county park north of Phoenix had some availability. Somewhere along the way, I remember hearing or reading about Cave Creek Regional Park and it sounded nice. We had wanted to get a week but could only squeeze in 6 nights.

It’s a pretty easy 160 mile drive mostly on I-10 and then one of the outer loops around the north side of Phoenix. The last stretch of the drive is along the Carefree Highway. Being born in the early 60’s, my formative years for music were in the 70’s and 80’s. As soon as I saw the sign for our exit, I found my mind automatically singing Gordon Lightfoot’s song from 1974 of the same name.
“...Carefree highway, let me slip away on you
Carefree Highway, you seen better days.
The mornin’ after blues from my head down to my shoes...”
Since the campground is right off of Carefree Highway, anytime we headed out, the song would pop back in my head. I really like the song, but after a few days of hearing myself sing it in my head, I had grown tired of it! I guess it remains to be seen if I successfully got it stuck in your head as well. We did a bit of online research to discover that Gordon Lightfoot had traveled in this area, saw the name of the highway and thought he could somehow use it in a song.

Cave Creek is a nice park with just over 40 sites. We needed to dump our holding tanks on the way in since we were coming from our 7 nights in Quartzsite. Like most campgrounds, the dump station is setup for use on the way out, but there was enough room and no traffic so it wasn’t too much trouble once the Jeep was disconnected. We were in the first loop that only has gravel sites while the other loops have paved sites. We were only expecting 30 amp electric but it actually has 50 amp. That was a nice perk after a week with only the generator. We had good weather for the drive but the next day a front came through and the rain did too.

Cloudy at Cave Creek

There are a number of hiking trails in the park and while one out of the campground connects to the other trails, it made more sense to drive to the main trailhead in order to tackle the first one we planned on doing. The nice thing about how these trails are laid out is that they are all generally loop trails that start at the trailhead but intersect again a mile or two out along the trail. This allows hikers to combine the various trails in a way that lets you customize the overall length of your hike. We pick the main trail named Go John. Not sure where the name comes from but it is the main, center loop of just under 6 miles.

Beginning of Go John Trail

The weather had cleared nicely with just some large puffy clouds and pleasant hiking temperatures. We followed the trail in a clockwise direction which seemed to allow us to do the steepest portion of the hike first. There are lots of saguaro cacti along the way and on the surrounding hills. Even with yesterday’s rain, the trail was in good shape. I suppose the dry desert soil easily soaked up the small amount of rain we got.  As we gained elevation, the distance views improved immensely. There wasn’t much in bloom this early in the season but there was still a lot to take in along the hike. A young barrel cactus growing up between some rocks and a saguaro that was just forming a bud that likely would be an arm. It was a fun but tiring hike. Maybe we have just gotten out of hiking shape? On the way back we stopped at the nice nature center to check out the displays.

Young Barrel Cactus

Bird Perched on Saguaro

New Arm Starting on Left

View Back Down Valley

The following day we decided to stay in the park and do a different trail. The trail that starts at the back of the campground is the Clay Mine Trail. Less than a quarter mile along the trail, we spot the reason the trail is so named. There is a fenced off opening into the side of the hill. We stop to check it out and it looks like a short tunnel that then opens up again after 50 feet or so. It would be neat to actually explore but apparently the powers that be don’t want us to do so.

Former Cave Entrance

Peeking Thru Fence

We hit a trail intersection at the 0.8 mile mark. We take a left on the Overton Trail which skirts along the backside of the hill we hiked past yesterday. It was another pretty hike with some great views. In about 1.5 miles we intersect with the Go John Trail again. We typically don’t like to repeat trails but we need to do a mile or so section of this to get back to the Overton Trail. At least we are heading the opposite direction on the Go John so it seems like a new trail. One of the workers is out with a pickax performing some trail maintenance. Looks like rather backbreaking work.

When we intersect the Overton Trail again, we follow that back to the Clay Mine Trail. Along the way, we com upon three riders on horseback. The guide seemed to have a mother and her young daughter out for a ride. We have seen the stables inside the park that offers rides. At one point along the Clay Mine Trail, we realize a slight climb up a berm will give us a good view overlooking the horses at the stables. It was dinner time for them and the worker was bringing in several large bales of hay with the tractor. It was fun to watch them as they jockeyed for position at the feeding stations. Some didn’t bother to wait and simply started to chow down on the hay while it was still in the bucket of the tractor. There was one horse that seems to be rather ornery and we decided that it may be a poor choice for a ride. This loop came in at 5 miles and we were able to enjoy it right from the campground.

Trail Riders

Hungry, Hungry Horses

We knew there were other things in the vicinity of Cave Creek and figured if we just did the last loop in this park, it would likely be similar to what we have done already. From the geocaching maps, we surmised there must be some sort of trail system just a bit to the south based on the number of geocaches. With a little investigation, we discovered the Apache Wash Trailhead. We were surprised to see how large and popular this place is. The parking lot looks to hold at least 100 cars and was nearly 1/3 full on a workday morning. A large number of the visitors were mountain bikers but we had come as hikers. The map showed a rather extensive trail system with about a dozen trails and maybe 25 miles of trails. After the two hikes we’ve done at Cave Creek, we were looking to keep today’s hike a bit shorter and with less climbing. We let the geocaches and our legs dictate where we headed. When we eventually got back to the parking lot, we had gotten in about 4 miles. This was definitely a nice area for hiking and many of the trails we were on would have been the proper skill level for us to mountain bike. Unfortunately we aren’t going to be in the area long enough to get a bike ride in here. Add this to the list of places to come back to in the future.

Lots of Cholla Cacti

We figured we deserved a more relaxing day so we drove into Cave Creek for a geocache at the police station and then a quick stop at the library to get some decent internet. Police station hides are usually a bit unnerving but the place seemed isolated when we were there so it wasn’t too bad. Just past Cave Creek is the town of Carefree. This looks to be a very quaint town. We stopped at a small shopping area that has a very nice park and probably the largest sundial we have ever come across. We ate our lunch at a picnic area then explored the park with well maintained gardens. We did find it odd that some of the cacti had styrofoam cups placed on each of the arms. Turns out that is done to help these Organ Pipe Cactus handle the cooler conditions of this area compared to its normal growing range. The tips of each arm are a bit susceptible to frost damage.

Huge Agave After Blooming Last Year

A Mass of Cacti

Protected Cactus Arms

Large Fountain

Larger Sundial

One last stop Chris had on her list was just a bit unusual. It’s less than a mile from downtown Carefree in a residential area. It’s a rock formation that probably doesn’t need any further description. I almost feel bad for the person that lives in the beautiful home who’s driveway exits onto the main road just 150 feet away from this oddity.

Caption Not Required

Cave Creek Regional Park was an great place to stop. We were talking with one of our neighbors at the campground. They have come to the park many times over the past few years. But it sounds like they reserve a spot as soon as the reservation window opens which is 6 months in advance. I guess we will need to plan in advance if we want to stay longer the next time.

Our next stop would be a rather short drive to Mesa AZ. We have been dealing with a couple of fogged dual pane windows on the rig. Had the problem windows been in the main “house” part of the rig, we could have dealt with them but one of the failed windows is at the driver’s seat and is what I need to look through to see the side mirror. It’s not always bad, but when it is fogged up, seeing traffic in the mirror is quite the challenge.  We know there is a very well respected window repair place in Florida near where we stayed last winter but the windows were fine then. Chris did a little research and found this place in Mesa that has reasonable reviews.

Fogged Driver's Window

We had called and booked an appointment for first thing Monday morning. They generally will go to campgrounds and do the work where the rig is but if you want to come to the shop, they will let you stay in their lot overnight so they can get to it first thing in the morning. They have a small lot shared with a couple other businesses but we managed to back in next to the building and plug into their 50 amp outlet. It’s a busy area but we slept fine and the following morning a large crew arrived. I suspect there were half a dozen trucks with two workers per truck. The morning is when they clean out the trash from the prior day’s work and restock on supplies before heading out for the day. Our assigned worker came over and made quick work of removing the large triple window frame from the driver's seat.

Windows Out

I watched him do the work and realized there wasn’t anything real specialized about the tools or supplies. Once the frame was out, he disassembled it to get the two windows that needed repair out of the frame. For each window, he cuts the seals and then uses a box cutter to remove the bulk of the seal. Then he cleans the inside of the windows very well and puts a new seal around the perimeter and sandwiches the two panes together. They don’t doe anything to try to fill the gap between the windows with some sort of inert gas. They simply rely on the dry desert air to fill the void. He did the two windows and reassembled them in the frame and had the whole thing back in the coach in about 90 minutes. It will be interesting to see how long this type of repair lasts compared to the shop in Florida that uses equipment to fill the void more like the original windows were created. But for now, I can see out the perfectly clear window!

Re-assembling Windows into Frame

Gathering in Quartzsite

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For nearly the past decade, a group of Newmar owners meet in the desert just outside of Quartzsite. They are all part of the manufacturer’s club - the Newmar Kountry Klub (NKK). The hosts call the event the Gathering in the Desert for good reason. Quartzsite has an annual population of around 3700 so there are stores, restaurants and other businesses. But it is a small place and really isolated from other towns since it is surrounded by desert. Much of the desert land is overseen by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). Out in the western US, many thousands of acres of land run by the BLM allow something called “dispersed camping”. What that means is that you can camp on the land for free (or very cheaply) but you won’t have any services. No water, no dump station, no electric but quite often isolation. The isolation aspect of camping in Quartzsite in mid-January is definitely thrown out the window. Many tens of thousands and by some estimates over 100,000 rigs will descend into this tiny place for a week or more to attend a large RV show.

This will be our third time to come to the event. We had attended back in 2017 & 2018.
The event is scheduled just before the big RV show opens in town on a Saturday. We show up the Monday before mainly to avoid some of the congestion driving thru town while the show is in progress. Although the gathering doesn’t officially start until Wednesday, there were already a dozen or so rigs here when we arrived.

Gathering in the Desert Before the Crowds

In years past, there was a crew that attempted to put some order to the parking situation. They are expecting over 100 rigs to attend and since the weather is looking pretty decent, the majority will likely show up. This year, the parking plan was a little bit more fluid but it worked out well for us since we were early and lots of options still existed reasonably close to the main gathering spot. We wander around and meet some of the group already here. Fortunately we all need to wear our NKK name badges so we stand some chance of remembering a name or two along the way. Our hosts Ted and Ruth Ann are having problems with their motorhome and it is in the shop. But that didn’t prevent them from doing the hard work involved to pull off something like this. They were in a rental Class C motorhome from CruiseAmerica. It had an impressive amount of cargo space to hold all the supplies that need to stay indoors to avoid having critters get to them.

Our Spot for the Week

There is a very large ring of rocks that denotes the fire area and a handful of tables setup to hold all the food that will be consumed during our stay. We all bring our chairs down and set-up around the fire ring. On Tuesday, we have a potluck dinner with those that arrived early and by then we are probably close to 40 rigs in attendance. Since we need to get our meals served, eaten and cleaned up prior to sunset, our dinner time activities start around 3 each afternoon.

Lining Up for Food

Lots to Choose From

 After eating, we all sit around the fire ring chatting with one another. We always find it interesting to hear about places other have been to since it often gives us ideas of options for future stops. We had a glorious afternoon weather-wise although once the sun sets in the desert, the temperature drops rapidly.

The following day was the true start of the gathering. It seemed like there was a steady stream of rigs coming in. I never heard the official tally but there were definitely over 100 rigs there by mid afternoon. We all gathered around to hear from the host and co-hosts about what was planned for the several upcoming days.

Getting the Rundown

Great Afternoon in the Desert

Ted Makes Announcements

One of the Cutest Participants

We had a very large crowd come dinner time. We found it difficult to get to meet everyone as there was only so much time. We did have great conversations with the people that happened to be sitting around us while eating. There were two large sheet cakes that were very artistically decorated to serve as desert. We were expecting our friends Lorraine and Michael to be pulling in and we really hoped they would make it before dark. Sure enough, I saw another rig pulling in just after dinner and I headed over to show them the spot we had saved next to us. It had been since the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in early October that we had seen them and was good to catch up again.

Cake #1

Cake #2

Ruth Ann and Teresa Show off Cakes

Firewood Ready for Sunset

On Thursday, we had a few seminars scheduled for the group starting early and going thru lunchtime. They generally had good attendance and were informative. One of the speakers had a demo of a fire retardant system that can be installed on your rig in potential fire prone areas. They lit a fire in a box of plywood and plexiglass. After the fire reached the proper temperature, the system basically exploded its chemicals and instantly doused the fire.

Early Morning Seminar

Fire Lit

3 Seconds Later - Fire Out

Solar Presentation

Dinner followed that evening with the main meat provided by the hosts and the sides brought in by all the attendees. We have found over the years that one does not go hungry at a NKK event! More sitting around the fire and talking with our fellow travelers until well after sunset.

Raging Fire at Twilight

The following day was much the same. Four seminars to start the day. The fulltimers had a round table discussion about becoming fulltimers and some useful tips regarding travel, mail and domicile issues. There were a number of non-fulltimers there but it wasn’t clear if we did a good job of enticing them or scaring them. Evening dinner was roasted chickens from the nearby town of Blythe which has a slightly larger grocery store than Quartzsite. The line for this meal was quite long but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We even had an evening travelogue session from another owner that had recently done an RVing trip in South Africa. It didn’t sound like a very cheap trip but the pictures of wildlife were very good. Maybe someday?

Kassandra has Large Crowd

Fulltimers Round Table

Long Line for Chicken ...

... and Sides

Since the RV show opened on Saturday, there weren’t any real scheduled events for the gathering other than happy hour in late afternoon. We headed to the big tent at the show both weekend days mainly just to walk around. I had one service kit I wanted to pick up and you never know if we might see something we didn’t even realize we needed. The crowds were nearly overwhelming. We ended up parking in Quartzsite and walking across the bridge over I-10. We ran into the hosts from the Albuquerque rally at the Escapees booth. We both knew we looked familiar but it took us a minute to remember what the connection was.

We also checked out some of the booths associated with campgrounds or tourist bureaus. We picked up some good pointers from the people at the large booth about traveling to Alaska. Since the main route to Alaska goes past the area near Calgary where we will be this summer, they had firsthand knowledge that might prove useful. We also ran into a guy from eastern Washington state. He has a very large parcel of land that he has concrete pads and full utilities for RVers. It’s not really a campground since the sites are 5 acres and up! He is trying to sell them but permits people to stay on them for up to 4 weeks for free. Free sounded good and we had already figured out that his place could easily be on our route this year. After a bit more planning, we booked a 2 week stay on one of the lots. It sounds like it’s a beautiful area of the country and we haven’t been there yet so we are looking forward to seeing. We don’t have plans to buy a lot but who knows?

One last thing we managed to get was a month-long stay at a campground in Yuma. We had spent a week in Yuma a couple years ago in order to attend a Geocaching Mega-event. We weren’t sure how much more there is to see and do in the area but the deal was just too good. A month of camping for $259 plus electric! That’s under $9 a day and even with electric added, it should be about $12/day.

We really didn’t get out and do much sightseeing in Quartzsite for the week we were there.  Since we had spent close to 4 weeks during our early stays, we had already seen everything we wanted to see. This stop was truly just for the camaraderie of NKK members - meeting up with old friends and making a few new ones. Next stop, just north of Phoenix at Cave Creek.