Arizona! After 2 full weeks in New Mexico, we are leaving for Arizona at 10:00am for the Benson area and the Kartchner Caverns State Park Campgrounds. The road starts out great, as it’s recently paved, and traffic is light but an hour later the road starts to deteriorate with constant potholes in the slower lane and traffic gets heavy – especially with semis. The speed limit is 75mph, but we generally follow the recommended limit of 64mph for hauling a camper safely and to optimize mpg. The semi-trucks are utilizing the fast lane and we had to stay in the slow lane with the potholes most of the way. But the camper held up and Ron did too and made into Arizona around 12:30pm.
The scenery is the desert landscape and mostly flat with mountains in the distance and some are snow-capped. Enroute, we stop at one of the first rest areas we reach after crossing the State line. It is located in Texas Canyon which lies between the Little Dragoon Mountains to the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south. This area is covered with giant granite boulders, some of which look like they are balancing precariously and ready to roll at any moment and crushing anything in its’ path. In reality, they’ve probably been in this exact spot for decades and possibly centuries. This area attracts both rockhounds and photographers and we snapped a couple photos too. We wondered why ‘Texas’ Canyon since it is in Arizona and learned a family became the namesake of it, as there were ‘a bunch of damned Texans up there’! In the mid-1880s, a family from Coleman, Texas arrived here to settle, and descendants still live there, raising cattle.
We read about several of Arizona State Park Campgrounds that have great reviews, and the Kartchner Caverns is one of them. It was difficult to secure reservations, but I kept checking back to their website and was able to secure 3 different sites within the campground for the 5-day period. This will be a bit of an inconvenience, but we’ll manage, and it gives us good hitch/unhitch practice.
Entering the park, we see why it is so highly ranked in the camper’s world. The drive entering the park is newly black-topped, and all the campsites are too. We are at site #37 tonight and its level, easy to back into, and we are set up in a few minutes. The Level-Mate Pro also makes it so easy to see if we are level both side to side and front to back. Not sure if I mentioned it previously, but for a RV refrigerator to operate, the camper must be fairly level and through trial and error, we’ve learned that up to 1 inch either way is sufficient for it to work. This site is level without having to use leveling blocks for the side to side, and we only have to move the jack by 3 inches to get it leveled front to back.
The sites are spacious, with small trees flanking them and generous spacing between the RVs on both sides. There is a picnic table and fire ring included and restrooms are located very close to us. We both decided this is the best campsite to date we’ve stayed at and are excited to explore the area.
We fixed a quick meal of soup and sandwich before we started to explore the park. The park is located next to the Coronado National Forest and the foothills of the Whetstone Mountains. This area is referred to as ‘Sky Islands’ where isolated mountains are surrounded by radically different lowland environments. This area of southeastern Arizona is one of these islands.
There are over 7 miles of trails here and we are eager to check them out and decided to take a short hike on a marked trail near our campsite. It’s part of the Foothills Loop which is 2.9 miles in total and as its name indicates, it follows the foothills of the mountain. It was getting late in the day and we decided to make it short, following the loop to the Discovery Center, which we plan to check out another day. There is a hummingbird garden adjacent to the to the DC as well as a cafe – this park is amazing!
Most of the trails are dog friendly as long as you keep them on a leash and Justice was really enjoying the new smells here. Starting up the trail, we see something moving through the brushy area, 4 or 5 deer are also following the trail and we are able to get a few photos before they moved on. We were thrilled to see them, and Justice was eager to sniff their scent! The trail is mostly red sand and rocks, at times there are a lot of them. Further from the campgrounds, it meets up and follows a small stream that tumbles over rocks and boulders. There is a park bench at one spot next to a large tree and we think it would be a great stop to catch some birds. In reading about the trees here, we learned that Mesquite trees are found near washes or creeks and that their roots can travel 100 feet underground to search out water. I think this must be a Mesquite tree here next to the stream. Further on, the trail crosses the creek and decide to forego getting our feet wet – except for Justice of course!
We do capture a photo of a bird we think is a Flycatcher but unable to determine if it’s the Hammond Flycatcher or a Dusky Flycatcher. Either way, it’s new to us.
There is snow in the forecast for tomorrow, but the temperatures are forecast to improve as the week progresses.
2025 Airstream Travels 