We continued south to our next major stop - Moab Utah. This is home to Arches NP, Canyonlands NP and the equally impressive Dead Horse Point State Park. Our 19 nights in this area seemed to fly by but we had another bucket item stop this year a bit further south - the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in early October. In fact as we were putting together our travel plans for 2020, the Fiesta was the first thing we booked and then we determined a route and stops that would allow us to end up in Albuquerque at the right time.
After the Fiesta, we dropped back into a free form travel mode and for the next 7 to 8 weeks we wandered around northern Arizona and southern Nevada trying to stretch out the autumn months for as long as we could before dropping back into a familiar spot in Desert Hot Springs California where we spent the holidays.
Mid-January brought us back into Arizona where we bopped around to some familiar areas and several we hadn't visited before. For those two months or so, we had a wonderful time. Then Covid 19 hit. By mid-March as shutdowns and social distancing became the norm, we started to pay a great deal of attention to the status of campgrounds. We were hearing way to many stories of state parks closing and even some private campgrounds having restrictions placed on them and forcing campers out. At one point, one source figured that over half the campgrounds in the US were closed! This was the first time in our travels where we almost wished we still had a sticks and bricks house to go self isolate in peace.
So as our 4th year comes to an end, I am writing this post holed up in the mountains of eastern Arizona instead of at a scenic spot in the Canadian Rockies getting ready to go to the Calgary Stampede. Everyone has been put through some tough times and I realize our "problems" pale in comparison to what many others have experienced. At some point in time, we will be able to resume our normal travel routine.
So let me get into some of the facts and stats from the past year. Below is a picture of the Google Map I use to keep track of our stops. Clicking the link below the map will open up the actual Google Map for our fourth year travels. Clicking on an of the pins for our stops will display a pop up window with a link to the blog post(s) for that stop.
The next two maps show each state shaded proportional to how many nights we stayed in it. The first one is for just our 4th year. Even with the extra day from Leap Year, we only managed 9 states! In the prior three years we camped in 22, 13 and 22 states. The second map shows the culmination of the first 4 years full timing. I feel we are doing pretty good at 41 states. We have nothing against Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii or Alaska. In fact we have camped in many of them, just not during our full time years.
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| Our Fourth Year |
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| Our First 4 Years |
How did year 4 compare to previous years? Well many of the stats related to year 4 should probably receive an asterisk next to them since they are impacted by Covid 19. But be that as it may, we definitely dropped our number of camping stops for the fourth year in a row. This in turn got our nights per stop up to over 12 - not quite twice as high as our first year. I guess this shows it is possible to slow down the travel pace.
Both motorhome and Jeep mileage dropped significantly. Cost for diesel fell as well but gas price for the Jeep is up. I split the camping into a few categories: boondocking, federal/state/county/city parks, private parks and Elks Lodges. This past year definitely skewed towards private campgrounds although by staying longer we often got the monthly rate and saw a good benefit in the nightly price. Our boondocking costs might see a bit high. While I do include diesel to run the generator, that usually is only ~$4/day. This year we boondocked at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and I've factored in the $45/day fee. The net result came in at just under $29/day.
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| Condensed Stats |
As part of our year end review, we like to go back and pick out stops that were highlights for the year and mention a little bit about them. I'll put a favorite picture and a link to a blog post from that stop in case you have more interest in checking it out vicariously from our travels. In chronological order, here our our top picks for year #4:
- Glacier National Park - Hands down, my favorite NP so far. The hiking here is excellent along with the sheer beauty of the place. Chris will only rate it at the #2 National Park with Acadia NP in Maine beating out Glacier for the top spot. Needing to hike with bear spray and keeping a watchful eye out for bears likely being Glacier's achilles heel. As avid hikers, we spent more time on the east side of the park. Casual National Park visitors will likely prefer to stay on the west side of the park. First Glacier NP Post
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| Mountain Goat Poses |
- Yellowstone National Park - This park is huge and has a wide diversity of things to see and do. There are the obvious thermal features like Old Faithful and the ever present bison causing traffic jams. The hiking is okay but not particularly spectacular. The biggest downside to Yellowstone is possibly its popularity. Expect crowds and limited parking at some of the popular stops. If you haven't been there, it is a "must do". First Yellowstone Post
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| Overlooking Grand Prismatic Spring |
- Grand Teton National Park - Another beautiful National Park. Much smaller than Yellowstone but also less crowded. Some excellent hiking and lots of animals. We stayed in Gros Ventre Campground within the park and had moose visit on three of the mornings we were there! Grand Teton Blog Post
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| Three Moose Checking out the Dutch Star |
- Moab Utah - Okay maybe cheating a bit since Moab is often used as the home base to visit both Arches NP and Canyonlands NP. We stayed in two spots during our 19 nights to better cover both National Parks but I suspect most people visit both from one campground. Arches has some excellent hiking with some incredible scenery. Canyonlands NP has some beautiful sights and hikes. And even though the two parks are near one another, don't think you can visit one and extrapolate what the other is like. They are two very different National Parks. Another stop in between the two National Parks is Dead Horse Point State Park. We actually camped here so we could explore it thoroughly. It's more like a mini Canyonlands but still worth a visit. First Moab Blog Post
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| Landscape Arch at Arches NP |
- Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Everyone has heard of it and seen pictures or video from it. Most people will say it is on their "bucket list". Trust me - you should move heaven and earth to make it happen. Yes it is that amazing. You will find yourself looking forward to getting up at 5 AM in order to see Dawn Patrol. So what are the downsides? Getting up early. Crowds. Traffic. This event does require some advanced planning. Make every effort to camp on site so you don't need to sit in traffic trying to get to the launch field. If you want to get camping on site on your own, you'll need to book a site a year in advance and even have some luck to make that happen. We booked our site through Escapees although there are many groups that can be used as an intermediary. Balloon Fiesta Post
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| Glowing Cat Eyes at Sunset |
- Prescott Valley Arizona - We really enjoyed this area during our stop. The original plan was to stay 10 nights but we enjoyed it so much we extended to 17 nights. What is so special? Again, we enjoy hiking and geocaching. This area has both of these in spades. Some of the most creative geocaches we have done have been placed in the area. And there are some pretty hikes as well as what is like the most "moving" hike we have done at the Granite Mountain Hotshot Memorial. First Prescott Valley Blog Post
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| Reflections |
- Cave Creek Arizona - A county park in a small town north of Phoenix along the Carefree Highway (think Gordon Lightfoot's song). Some great hiking out of the campground. Horseback riding if you're so inclined. We even found some nice mountain biking nearby. Wish we could have snagged more than 6 nights at the campground. Cave Creek Blog Post
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| Hiking Trail at Cave Creek |
- Bisbee Arizona - Less than 8 miles to the Mexican border, Bisbee is an old mining town. The historic district is a very cute town. We found lots of interesting things in the area. Whitewater Draw was an incredible area for Sandhill Cranes and other birds. We even got to tour an active Army base at Fort Huachuca. First Bisbee Blog Post
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| Entering Queen Mine in Bisbee |
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