some camping questions????

[ddnww]

Well...now I think I'm going to head up there again this weekend to check out the falls area. I'll be sure to get good pics and share. Most of the times I can remember, I seem to always be up at the falls when there's snow on the ground. The trail gets slippy up near the falls with snow on it.

well be careful, at the top right before the ruins is where my son was attacked by bees. Seems they had a nest under the slate rock he must have disturbed.

I remember one year in the winter the falls had frozen almost halfway up the falls, one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen.

 

[MyHigh]

Great pictures!

Thank you for sharing

 

[Offroader5]

Went up there on Saturday morning. Wow, can't believe I've never been that far up the trail till now. From what I saw, it's an amazing view from up top. Saturday morning near Roosevelt saw some interesting weather. Lots of clouds, lots of thunder/lightning, and pouring down rain.

It was raining very hard as I ascended the trail towards the falls and all the way to the top of Aztec. By the time I reached the top, it had slowed to a drizzle, but the entire top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds. There were only a couple times when the clouds cleared enough to see the view below, the rest of the time it was only a couple hundred yards of visibility. I passed on trying to get up to the ruins due to the wet rocks. Will have to go back and check them out.

Saw some deer up past the falls, and on the way back down, noticed carpets of red raspberry bushes all over below the falls. Almost back to Roosevelt, in some of the same spots I had seen them before, there was a small herd of Bighorn grazing.

Going to have to make future trips back to check out a couple of side trails and areas I'd like to investigate.

I did get some pictures, but with all the rain...didn't get much on the way up top. Once I pull them from the camera and put them through my normal post-process workflow, I'll upload and share.

 

[RAD4Runner]

Great trip! Surely a hundred times better than the malls that many 4Runners find themselves relegated to.

 

[GiGi's 1996]

Wow. What an adventure ddnww !

Thanks for sharing. I love the pictures.
I am not familiar with that area of our state, but it looks awesome. The mountain lions, the bees, the remoteness, might be a little too much for me.....haha. The closest we've camped in that area is Roper Lake.

The next area I want to explore here in AZ is Fossil Creek up by Camp Verde. I have heard wonderful things about it and the water is as clear as Havasupai Falls. Want to go there before the state messes up that place too with fees, special passes and restrictions. It will be commercialized by next summer.

Happy camping. And btw......Holy Camp Gear on the Roof Batman, you might need a little trailer or hitch rack in the future.......haha. JK, way to get the job done and get out there and camp!

 

[ddnww]

Went up there on Saturday morning. Wow, can't believe I've never been that far up the trail till now. From what I saw, it's an amazing view from up top. Saturday morning near Roosevelt saw some interesting weather. Lots of clouds, lots of thunder/lightning, and pouring down rain.

It was raining very hard as I ascended the trail towards the falls and all the way to the top of Aztec. By the time I reached the top, it had slowed to a drizzle, but the entire top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds. There were only a couple times when the clouds cleared enough to see the view below, the rest of the time it was only a couple hundred yards of visibility. I passed on trying to get up to the ruins due to the wet rocks. Will have to go back and check them out.

Saw some deer up past the falls, and on the way back down, noticed carpets of red raspberry bushes all over below the falls. Almost back to Roosevelt, in some of the same spots I had seen them before, there was a small herd of Bighorn grazing.

Going to have to make future trips back to check out a couple of side trails and areas I'd like to investigate.

I did get some pictures, but with all the rain...didn't get much on the way up top. Once I pull them from the camera and put them through my normal post-process workflow, I'll upload and share.

cant wait to see your pics.
have you ever been on the trails down near murphy ranch by aztec peak?
If you take the trail right by the ranch, then take a left when it splits, it leads to the canyon i was originally trying to take my family and show you guys pics of. Its absolutely amazing.

Great trip! Surely a hundred times better than the malls that many 4Runners find themselves relegated to.

:hug:

Wow. What an adventure ddnww !

Thanks for sharing. I love the pictures.
I am not familiar with that area of our state, but it looks awesome. The mountain lions, the bees, the remoteness, might be a little too much for me.....haha. The closest we've camped in that area is Roper Lake.

The next area I want to explore here in AZ is Fossil Creek up by Camp Verde. I have heard wonderful things about it and the water is as clear as Havasupai Falls. Want to go there before the state messes up that place too with fees, special passes and restrictions. It will be commercialized by next summer.

Happy camping. And btw......Holy Camp Gear on the Roof Batman, you might need a little trailer or hitch rack in the future.......haha. JK, way to get the job done and get out there and camp!

That was the first time I've ever encountered mountain lions or bees there, although on the last trip there we did have a bear sniffing at our tent in the middle of the night.

Camp Verde has alot of beautiful places to explore, thats on our list to do as well. All the falls at havasupai are also on the list, I hate when they commercialize beautiful areas. Sounds like we will need to put that near the top of the list before they do.

Lol on the roof, we had 5 people in the truck, the cargo area was full, and i only allowed the bare essentials. Most of which was clothing, I wanted to make sure we were prepared for any weather environment. And that pic was from the way back, I had about a half cord of wood up there too, JK lol , but almost a 1/4 for sure. I knew it would be wet up there .

 

[Offroader5]

The next area I want to explore here in AZ is Fossil Creek up by Camp Verde. I have heard wonderful things about it and the water is as clear as Havasupai Falls. Want to go there before the state messes up that place too with fees, special passes and restrictions. It will be commercialized by next summer.

Fossil Creek is pretty cool. It'll be the "bad" majority of people that visit there and the shear numbers that visit that end up sealing its fate though...not the state. I've been part of numerous clean-up efforts in that area, and every year it's the same scenario.

They've already had to regulate how close you can drive up to and camp near the creek side because people were abusing it. They've tried adding or opening up areas for parking, but every summer it's grossly overcrowded with people. There is not enough parking for the number of people that go there all at once. It gets so bad that cars will line both sides of the dirt trail (Fossil Creek Rd) down where it crosses the creek...and it limits travel to one lane for BOTH directions. It causes a bottleneck and it's unsafe if an ambulance would need to get in there (which happens more often than it should).

Ever since they dismantled the dam & power station to return the original flow, it has drawn more and more people. I stay far away from that area in the summer. Not bad in the winter, but then you miss out on swimming in the clear water.

cant wait to see your pics.
have you ever been on the trails down near murphy ranch by aztec peak?
If you take the trail right by the ranch, then take a left when it splits, it leads to the canyon i was originally trying to take my family and show you guys pics of. Its absolutely amazing.

I have not been down that right fork that leads to Murphy from the Aztec trail. Are you talking about the canyon/valley that is directly East of Aztec? There is a road down in that canyon you can drive also...Cherry Creek Rd. There is a turnoff for Cherry Creek off the Young hwy back near Roosevelt and goes all the way North to the Northeast edge of Young. Interesting trail and rough in many areas. I've seen plenty of deer, bighorn & some black bear back there. There are large ruins up in the Western cliffs evidently, but it's very steep and there is no set trail so I have never seen them personally.

 

[ddnww]

I have not been down that right fork that leads to Murphy from the Aztec trail. Are you talking about the canyon/valley that is directly East of Aztec? There is a road down in that canyon you can drive also...Cherry Creek Rd. There is a turnoff for Cherry Creek off the Young hwy back near Roosevelt and goes all the way North to the Northeast edge of Young. Interesting trail and rough in many areas. I've seen plenty of deer, bighorn & some black bear back there. There are large ruins up in the Western cliffs evidently, but it's very steep and there is no set trail so I have never seen them personally.

I'm not sure if it's the same canyon, but you can access it from cherry creek.

 

[Offroader5]

With all the rain coming down, here are the pics I was able to get last weekend. I took refuge under the watchtower to keep the camera dry

Workman Creek Aztec Peak Sept 26 2014 Photos by offroader5 | Photobucket

 

[Darrie]

Loved reading this thread and the pics. Being in Australia (and like the US) camping is all dependent on where you live and where you intend going, but I especially love how you have a different animal base to here.

I've been hauling my kids everywhere for many years (like my parents did to me) and I find its one of the best family team building experiences you can give them. Here's a link to a 5 minute youtube vid on my last trip for a laugh so you can see a bit of our countryside - ravaged by hurricanes and bushfires, my kids have had to grow up with pretty intense compass and directional navigation skills - they acquired these with a treasure hunt game of a simple hidden prize near the campground and giving them a "treasure map" that they had to follow compass directions to find.

Another tip is lighting - a simple 12v lithium 9600 MAh rechargeable battery pack out of China, leads and a widespread LED MR 16 bulb and fitting to hang or peg somewhere gives you power and light for 4-5 days and is so compact. Torches or lanterns just too bulky.

I'll post up some more tips when I get a bit more time, but really appreciated reading this thread and everyone's input, and how different things are here to there. Cheers, Darrie

 

[MyHigh]

Darrie I just had to comment about your post. I did the same thing with my sisters kids when they visited me from Colorado.
I taught them how to use a compass and did a treasure map, I gotta say I almost had more fun then they did. In today's world of tech, it's importent to pass along the basics.
Kids are great!! I just read an email from my sis and she says about once a week the kids 10y/o boy and 6y/0 girl will take their compass while running errands and continuously tell her what direction she is going! Love it!
The girl is particulary good at it she has memorized the compass and is making her own treasure maps now!:whoo:


Great video by the way!!

 

[Darrie]

Darrie I just had to comment about your post. ... it's important to pass along the basics..... Kids are great!! Great video by the way!!

Thanks MyHigh for your comments and ddnww for the original post. Compasses are great fun. Potato cannon and hairspray we took away last trip was also good fun, but impractical for hiking.

Some other kids camping things to do (not hardcore like Bear Grills):
* Rake a soft sandy spot near your camp and centre all your food scraps in the middle before going to bed. Get the kids to identify the foot prints of the animals the next day. We use a fish carcass on a sandy bank to check how big the crocs are in the area.
* Scout for Y shaped timber - teach them how to make furniture at the camp, a shelter, crutches etc. & how to cook on a water soaked stick.
* Rescue fire. Magnifying glass is a great tool for starting it. Teach them if ever lost how to make a small safe signal fire and what happens when you place green leaves on it. My kids learnt that if you place any rubber like a thong or insert from your shoe etc a black plume is visible in the sky for miles.
* use some fishing line and balanced tin with stones and make a camp alarm that lets you know if anything enters your camp at night.
* Those simple yellow timed LED sensor lights with two AA batteries you use at home say for the kids for night toilet visits - grab one & sit this just outside the tent. When you go outside it comes on, or if someone came near the tent it comes on. Kids had fun looking out to see what animals visit the camp at night, and yellow light seems to not scare anything away.
* My kids favourite is alfoil cooking things in the fire - say peeling a big green apple, adding sugar and wrapping in foil and placing in hot embers. They even bake little bread treats this way - just take some small potions of packet cake or scone mix and add water, make a ball and wrap up in foil. Take a few portion controlled jam/jelly and add these into the centre of their doughball before cooking.
* Camp shoes - Greatest thing invented is those very soft rubber shoes like crocs - after a hike your feet need rest - these shoes light and give you feet valuable recovery time.
* I've had a friend bring a bird call app on his phone - amazed me when he replayed the calls of the birds we were hearing and then some came to our camp - way cool !

I'll think of some more shortly. Cheer's guys.