Camp Verde Part 1

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As mentioned before, the spread of Covid-19 around the world had us rethinking our plans for the rest of the year. With so many events being cancelled we realized our travels to the Canadian Rockies wasn’t going to happen. Nor were the large geocaching events in the Pacific Northwest for August. Being full timers and not having a “true home base” to retreat to made us feel a bit uncomfortable. We belong to multiple groups or organizations dedicated to RVers, so we were constantly getting feedback about the vast number of campgrounds being closed. In some areas of the country, even private campgrounds were having severe restrictions being placed on them. Traveling in an RV right now seemed to be somewhere in the difficult to not fun range. Arizona was slow to start putting any restrictions on businesses and with so many RVers spending time in the state, we felt staying in Arizona may prove to be less problematic than other states.

But with the heat coming to southwestern Arizona, we knew we needed to reposition to a spot with cooler temperatures and see how things play out with the virus. We had booked two months up in Camp Verde Arizona which is a few thousand feet higher in elevation than Yuma which should make for more tolerable temperatures. We headed out a week before our month in Yuma ended, but given how inexpensive the rate for our site was we didn’t feel too cheated. It worked out to under $14 per day after factoring in electric.

The drive from Yuma to Camp Verde was over our normal 200 mile limit. But being nearly all expressways, the 253 miles wasn’t too bad. The highlight of the drive was actually our fuel stop. Generally, fuel stops don’t rate too highly on our list, they’re just a necessary part of nearly all travel. So why was this stop different? We got to use our new fuel discount card. Over the past 6 months or so, we had heard many good things about signing up for this program. But it always seemed to be a bit too good to be true, so we had resisted. After some investigation, we decided to give it a try and while we were in Yuma our application was approved and we received the required card.

So what is it? TSD Logistics is a trucking company out of Texarkana Texas that negotiates reduced fuel prices for their fleet with truck stop chains across the country. They now allow others to become a member of their fleet. This gives the company more members which helps their negotiating position and allows the others to share in the cheaper fuel prices. There is no registration fee to join the program nor any monthly/annual fee to maintain your participation. TSD will pass 90% of the savings onto you while keeping the remaining 10% to administer the program. It is only for diesel fuel at the truck lanes of participating vendors. We get a special debit card from TSD that we link to our bank account. They have an app that will show the truck stops on the map and what the negotiated rate is so it is fairly easy to find a stop along the route. We linked our card to a seldom used checking account so we have less exposure in case something goes amiss.

We picked out a Love’s truck stop in Buckeye Arizona which was along our route. Generally Love’s stops aren’t our preferred fueling location since their posted prices are generally 10 to 40 cents more per gallon than other nearby truck stops. But TSD has managed to negotiate really good prices with Love’s for their program. In the past with most truck stops, when I try to use my credit card, I found I needed to go into the store before and after filling to get the transaction accomplished. But things have gotten easier as well: I pull up to the pump, insert my TSD card, enter my PIN and start to fuel. One downside is the pump does not reflect the lower price but the listed price. Shortly after I finished fueling, I check the app and see my transaction at the lower price. A few days later (in this case after the weekend) my checking account is debited the proper amount.

So what were the specifics for this stop? The posted price was $2.849/gallon. I had previously signed up for a Love’s card as well which knocked off 5 cents. The price listed on the TSD app was $1.777. I only needed half a tank so I pumped just under 50 gallons. The pump showed $138.68. My bank account was debited $93.50 for a savings just over $45! Pretty impressive. Admittedly there was another truck stop right next door where the posted price was $2.699 and I would have normally stopped there instead of Love’s. Our credit card has a 2% cash back, so the same quantity of fuel would have been $131 but the savings with the new card is still close to $38. Too bad our travel plans have come to a  screeching halt,  think I will like using this card once travel opens up again.

We pulled into Verde Ranch RV Resort and found the site we had reserved. This is a fairly new RV park probably only a year or so old. The sites are large and not spaced right on top of one another. Between their monthly rate and a 25% off special as part of their opening, our cost per day is $18.11. Surprisingly, they don’t have electric meters at the sites so this price includes our electric. And to top it off, the park wide wi-fi is fairly good. We walked around the park to see what the various areas look like. Of course with the virus, most of the facilities are closed so we don’t get a good look at the pool, jacuzzi or fitness center. About the only buildings open are the two laundry rooms with special rules for social distancing. Our neighbors arrived before all the stuff shut down and confirmed the facilities are nice. Guess we will see if anything opens up in the two months we are here. One section of the campgrounds has three large covered areas with solar panels forming a partial shade for the campers below.

Dramatic Sunset at Verde Ranch RV 

Main Club House

Not Very Crowded

Pickle Ball Courts

Wildflowers Blooming Around Campground

Solar Panel Covered Spots

Overlooking Covered Sites

Back on April of 2017, we had stayed at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in nearby Cottonwood. At the time, we visited several of the sightseeing places near Camp Verde. I guess that was fortuitous since these places are all closed right now. But if you’re looking for things in other things to see around Camp Verde, check out the link to that blog post. There are some hiking options in the area we didn’t have the opportunity to check out back then. With two months on our hands, we would find the time to fit many of them in.

The Copper Canyon Trail was first on our list. It’s only a few miles from our campground and is a four mile loop. The trailhead is about a mile out Forest Service Road 136 - dusty and some ruts but not too bad to the trailhead parking lot. We saw a trail heading off from the north/northeast corner of the parking lot and started heading that way but soon realized it wasn’t heading the expected direction. Back to the parking lot we spotted the less major but marked Copper Canyon Trail in the northwest corner of the lot. The first mile of the loop (going counterclockwise) is uphill gaining nearly 300 feet. But as we go up the views get very nice.

Heading Up Copper Canyon Trail

View of Canyon

It was a cloudy morning but even darker clouds were heading our way. A quick look at a weather app showed possible rain. We debated about turning back but pushed on hoping it would pass by. The good news was it didn’t rain however it did precipitate on us - not quite snow or hail. I’m no meteorologist but I’ll declare it graupel. Given we had moved up in elevation to beat the heat, I guess we can call this a win! It didn’t last long and we continued along the trail. At about the 2.7 mile mark, we were crossing a small creek and noticed a trail heading up along the water. The short diversion was less than a tenth of a mile but well worth it. At the end we ran into a small waterfall. The rest of the hike back to the parking area was pretty and fairly easy being a gradual downhill.

Clouds Roll In

Small Waterfall at Copper Canyon

Plants Growing in Crack

Clouds Moved On

A few days later we would come back here with the plan to continue the drive up FR 136 to get to a few more geocaches that were hidden along the road. Even with our Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, we didn’t make it a quarter mile beyond the parking lot before we decided this wasn’t going to work. We managed to turn around and went back to the parking lot and started to hike up the road. A short time later, we ran into a woman walking her dogs back down the road. She told us how this road would hit another trail that we could follow back down to the Copper Canyon Loop trail we had hiked a few days earlier. Near the top of the hill, we came across a small herd of cattle. They watched us intently as we passed by.

FR 136

Under the Watchful Eyes of a Cow

We eventually found the side trail the woman mentioned and we started to follow it. The trail follows the top of the canyon and didn’t seem to have any means to get down into the canyon to get to our other trail. We followed it for some distance and even ran into the same herd of cattle again. We had almost given up hope and figured we would just have to head back to the road when we spotted the trail down the steep canyon wall. The trail was cut into the side of the canyon and actually was fairly easy just quite long to make the grade manageable. We hit the main trail and even recognized the junction as something we had seen before but didn’t realize it could lead us up the side of the canyon. This loop was 3.5 miles and not quite as nice as the main Copper Canyon Loop but still a pleasant hike.

Overlooking Copper Canyon

Vibrant Red Indian Paintbrush

Even though Montezuma Castle National Monument is closed, we discovered there are some nearby hiking trails from a series of geocaches places along the trail. This trail was mainly an ATV trail but in reasonable shape and fairly easy walking. We only ran into one other couple out social distancing. We could see the main structure in the cliff wall that is part of Montezuma Castle albeit probably a mile or more from our location. The trail eventually drops down next to Beaver Creek. There are some humongous sycamore trees along the creek. It was fun to explore a bit before heading back up to the car. Round trip was about 3 miles and an enjoyable out of the way location. We mentioned the spot to our neighbors and they have subsequently taken their two dogs for a walk to the creek. I know our dog Shelby would have loved walking around in the fairly shallow water.

Heading Down Trail

Montezuma Castle in Distance Cliff

Beaver Creek

Huge Sycamore Tree

Another trail near the campgrounds is one called Grief Hill. While not listed in the AllTrails app, there were several geocaches along the trail that brought the location to our attention. Part of the Prescott National Forest, the trailhead is only 5 miles from camp and has a rather large parking area that gets used for equestrian and ATV’ers as well as hikers. Even the view from the parking area was pretty nice. Off to the north were the snow capped San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, where we visited in October prior to the snow arriving.

View from Parking Lot with Snow Capped Peaks on Left Side

We initially were fooled by the more obvious Jeep trail that heads to the south from the parking lot but it didn’t take long before we realized this wasn’t going the right way and headed back to the parking lot and found a much fainter trail heading to the east. It doesn’t take long before we start to gain even more elevation quickly. The trail is rather rocky and a bit challenging at points so there were plenty of opportunities to stop for a breather and take in the distant views or the many spring flowers in bloom.

View While Climbing Grief Hill

As the trail comes along the backside of Grief Hill, it is much easier - less rocky and less steep. There’s lots of evidence of cattle but we didn’t spot any in person. There were vast patches of purple wildflowers that made for quite the setting. Plus the distance views up top were nice as well. We managed to find the caches along the way and even though the trail looked like it might continue on, it wasn’t clear where it was heading so we turned around and headed back. We did run into one other hiker on his way up but this hike would still easily follow the social distancing guidelines. The hike back down the steep rocky parts wasn’t a lot of fun but we survived the 3 mile round trip hike.

A Sea of Purple

Heading Back Down Trail

We drove out beyond the Grief Hill trailhead a couple times in search of a few geocaches. West Cherry Creek Road is in reasonably good shape but is generally uphill with lots of tight turns and some limited visibility spots. Our goal was Forest Road 361 that intersects West Cherry Creek Road about 7 miles out from State Route 260. While the Jeep might have made it down FR 361, it wouldn’t have been easy in spots. The views along the way were quite nice. We made it out to the last geocache we wanted to attempt and turned around with the round trip coming in at 3.5 miles. Given the remote nature of this forest road, we were surprised by the stone wall holding back the side of a hill. We only ran into one other couple but they had chosen the easy way to do the miles on a Polaris RZR.

Heading Down FR 361

Huge Retaining Wall

I had solved one of the puzzle caches in the area and had the final hiding spot just a mile or so beyond FR 361. So after the hike we proceeded up the road to find this one. We looked and looked but found nothing. Worse, neither the puzzle’s hint nor the previous finders comments in their logs matched what we were finding at my solved location. The only upside was we got some even better views along the road.

Another View Along West Cherry Creek Road

I spent several more hours pondering the puzzle and came across something I had missed in my earlier attempt. It turns out my thinking was nearly correct and only had one digit of the coordinates wrong. Of course that error put the final more than a mile from where we first looked! As luck would have it, the final was not too far from FR 361 and where we had already hiked. Generally we avoid repeating a hike but the desire to find this particular puzzle cache won out so we headed back out to the trail a couple days later. The side trail up to a rock outcropping was challenging but not impossible. The footing around the hiding spot was very difficult and made our searching go quite slow. We likely looked for 20 minutes before I found the right approach to a potential hiding spot and made the find of a well hidden cache. It’s always a rush and relief to find a cache like this.

Outcropping Near Geocache

Geocache Well Hidden in Outcropping

We did a day trip into Prescott Valley to pick up something at Best Buy. Their online ordering and curbside pickup works well when you know exactly what you want. Since we were in the area, we decided to head back to a place we really enjoyed when we were here last November - Watson Lake. Our timing was perfect. Parking at the main park is free on Wednesday. We did a little bit of a walk along the lake but didn’t do the full loop. The water level is dramatically higher than it had been. We had wondered if the water level fluctuates that much and I guess we now have our answer. I’m including a similar photo from our first visit to compare to now. I think the white band visible when the water was lower makes the lake look more interesting.

Watson Lake Early April 2020 - High Water Level

Watson Lake November 2019 - Low Water Level

Showing Off

Duck Floats By on Watson Lake

I take advantage of the extra free time and wax the rig and Jeep. It’s not a fun job but is necessary. Back in the day, I would wax all the vehicles twice a year but I find that once a year is adequate nowadays. Lots of people seem to either walk or bicycle around the campgrounds but I tend to think that’s just a bit too limiting. One day I headed out I search of a decent bike ride. There is a paved path on the opposite side of SR 260 so I started out on that path. Getting across the busy 4 lane road can be a challenge but once on the path, it’s an easy ride. About 2 miles from our site is a gated forest road. The gate isn’t locked and the road is in reasonable condition. It looks like there used to be dispersed camping in this area but the sign says camping is no longer permitted but day use is. This road is generally uphill with a couple parts being steeper than I can easily bicycle up. When I get to a split in the road, I take the route to the right and follow it for a bit. It doesn’t take long for the road to get much more treacherous. Nothing super steep but it is covered in loose rocks mostly in the fist to head sized variety. I find myself walking the bike down and up many of the washes along the trail. I eventually get to a point that looks familiar. Turns out my trail comes out at the Grief Hill trailhead parking lot. From here the ride back down West Cherry Creek Road is a rather easy downhill. Even the mile or so of gravel is in good enough condition to get decent speed. When I get back to camp, I ended up with a 10.4 mile ride.

Over the next couple weeks, I find myself heading back to attempt this route over and over. It didn’t take me long to realize that doing the loop in the opposite direction would make for a more enjoyable ride. Biking up West Cherry Creek Road is a long but gradual uphill and is just under 5 miles to the trailhead. The next 1.8 miles of Jeep trail have the challenging washes to go thru with the loose rocks. But once I make it thru them pushing the bike up a few of the hills, I get to the top of the ride with it dropping 250 feet in the next 1.7 miles. In general the forest road is in decent enough shape to go in the 15 to 20 MPH range as long as you have some confidence in your bike handling skills. It is important to pay attention to the large rocks that are partially exposed. Hitting one of them the wrong way at speed could be painful. Once back to SR 260, it’s exactly 2 miles almost all downhill to the campground. In the first month here, I complete the ride 5 times and start to feel comfortable with it. It’s not for everyone though. Chris joined me once and survived but didn’t enjoy it and never came along again.

View from High Point of Bike Ride

One of Several Rocky Washes

Bike Ride Route

On another day, we head east on Route 260 with the intention of hiking in a place called Fossil Creek. It was only about a 10 mile drive but we discovered that even some of these remote locations have been closed from Covid 19. With this plan out the window, we decided to just keep driving east and let geocaches and fate tell us where to go. Six miles beyond Fossil Creek was a pull out with a forest road heading up the hill. A couple geocaches got us to stop and go for a hike. This gate was not locked and had no Covid 19 closure signs so we felt okay to enter. It turned out to be a rather interesting walk with some great views and even an old gravel pit. A bit further out we heard some voices but didn’t notice anybody at first. Turns out there were a couple of climbers on the sheer rock face of a hill about 1000 feet from the forest road. Being that far away, my picture just barely shows a figure about halfway up the climb.

View Along Unnamed Road

Very Pretty Butterfly Poses

Climbers Up There

We get back to the car and continue another 3 miles east to another turn out. This one is a bit more popular with a few other vehicles and even has a name FR 9243D. We do a little bit of exploring to get the nearby caches. Several other geocaches are further out the forest road than we want to hike but from the looks of the road, as long as it hasn’t recently rained, it appears to be something we could handle on the mountain bikes.

Small Pond Along FR 9243D

Saved This Part for Bike Ride

A week or so later we come back out to this same spot but with the mountain bikes. The recent dry weather has eliminated any mud but the road is extremely rutted from off road vehicles coming out when it was muddy. It was manageable as long as you picked your line through the ruts appropriately. We didn’t quite get to out two miles when the road petered out to the point where it became too difficult to ride a bike on. There were definitely some great views from the road overlooking the surrounding valleys.

A few days later, we took the short drive into Cottonwood. We had some hiking/geocaching to try. Our first stop was at the Zalesky Trailhead on the southeast side of Cottonwood. It’s a short (~1 mile) loop that also ties into the much longer Backbone Trail. Our goal was to find a series of 6 geocaches and retrieve some puzzle pieces needed to solve an additional puzzle geocaches. It was a pleasant walk on a hot day but we found them all and got our pieces. From the trail we could see some of the red rock mountains that surrounds Sedona. At lunch, we stared at the pieces trying to determine just how to use them. Chris did a quick online search and found the key that got us coordinates for the puzzle. This was a bit further from town but we decided to give it a shot. A drive part way back some ATV roads and a short climb up a steep hill gave us two rewards - our cache find and another great view of the area.

A Glimpse of Nearby Sedona Red Rocks

View From Puzzle Cache