February 5 – February 8, 2017.
For me going down is far scarier than going up. This is especially true when hiking up a steep rock face, but also when I am securely strapped into a tall rolling metal box, even though I am sure the peril is equal going either way on wheels. This is why I decided to walk. We had gotten up the hill just fine, but I didn’t feel so sure about going down.
We were boondocking in the Coronado National Forest. This was the first campsite we had found all on our own. I had wanted to camp close to Tumacácori, the next National Monument we intended to visit, but couldn’t find any sites using my usual sources, freecampsites.net or campendium.com. So, while in Tucson I used some of the tips I picked up at the boondocking seminar at The Rubber Tramp Rendevous and downloaded a few Motorized Vehicle Use Maps from a National Forest website.
These maps show the details of the roads and of the boundary of the forest. They also indicate where roadside camping is allowed. Wonderful! There was a spot near Tumacácori. Only problem was we didn’t know anything about it before we got there.
The road going to the site was steep, rocky, and rutted. We parked at the bottom of the hill and Greg walked up to survey it. Very rarely do we turn around, and I am not sure why we didn’t then, but with white knuckles and gritted teeth we made it up the hill. We didn’t go far – the road got worse – and found an adequately slightly off level place to park. It was stunning.
The plan was to hang out for a few days. The pace we had been keeping was just too much. We needed rest and we needed some time to catch up on the blog, which was only running a month and a half behind at the time.
It was warm. We opened all our doors and took in the scenery. Greg played his accordion. We went on a few long walks. We had a little internet, but no phone service. It was the vacation away from the adventure, like being on a little retreat.
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