PIRATE CAMP '24-25....................Desert SouthWest

maki2 · Oct 15, 2024

^^^of course having made that decision yesterday to launch out on a new to me route does not mean that I did not wake up this morning wondering if I should strict to the same old pathway to Pirate Camp at La Posa South that feels very familiar and safe.

I ended up going to freecampsites.net and verifying that my planned first campsite had a report of useable Verison signal. Then on google maps verified that the Post Office in the small community of Paulden, AZ was an easy 6 minute drive from camp. Plus of course verify a source for drinking water. It only took few minutes fix to calm a touch of minor anxiety. A little more research to back up my prior decision

Now I need to get back to cleaning, sorting, packing and move south tomorrow or else Frosty the Snowman and his cousin Jack Frost will soon be spending the nights with me.

bullfrog ! · Oct 15, 2024

maki2 said:
This route avoids all those hair pin turns on 89 that are South of Prescott. I would never take that route either up or down towing my little trailer. I hate driving along roads with huge drop offs.

Basically this three segment drive is from Hwy 40 near Ash Fork get onto hwy 89 heading South. Then I will stop at the Walmart Super Center in Prescott, the street at the end of the shopping center that Walmart is in is AZ Hwy 10 also called Iron springs Rd. Then take HWy 10 to the little town called Skull Valley. I will take a rest stop break there. Then continue South on Hwy 10 until it intersects with Hwy 89 and take Hwy 89 on to the town of Congress.

That route shift from Hwy 89 over to Hwy 10 avoids all the steep windy sections on Hwy 89 that begin South of Prescott.

After it cools down more I will head further South from Congress and check out the Wickenburg AZ area. I have heard there is some good dispersed BLM camping around there. Then from there it will be on to Quartzsite and Pirate Camp!

Maybe I will enjoy that route and change of scenery and maybe I won’t. But at least I will get out of the rut I have been wearing into Hwy 40 to Hwy 95 that I have been traveling in the last 3 fall and spring seasons.

You could always make a larger route going east from Flagstaff then south eventually ending up in southern Arizona then Benson-Sonita- Arivaca then on to Ajo and north. Lots of easy free 14 day camping in southern Arizona.

maki2 · Oct 15, 2024

bullfrog ! said:
You could always make a larger route going east from Flagstaff then south eventually ending up in southern Arizona then Benson-Sonita- Arivaca then on to Ajo and north. Lots of easy free 14 day camping in southern Arizona.

Maybe next time

I spent the whole month of January 2023 camping just on the Southern edge of Ajo. First BLM road turn on the right past the mine tailings piles.

maki2 · Oct 17, 2024

bullfrog ! said:
You could always make a larger route going east from Flagstaff then south eventually ending up in southern Arizona then Benson-Sonita- Arivaca then on to Ajo and north. Lots of easy free 14 day camping in southern Arizona.

taken at my January of 2023 Ajo Arizona campsite. There are a lot of cactus in that area. A mountain side was just out of site on the right. Some of the prettiest desert area I have camped in …once you are out of sight of the mine tailings which are not pretty. That area was spotty for cell reception due to the hills.

abnorm · Oct 17, 2024

....................There's a pot-o-gold out there

wayne49 · Oct 17, 2024

Much further below Lake Ontario, south of Why, bordered by Mexico, is the Organ Pipe National Monument.

Why has a BLM dispersed camping area named "Wild Woman". Don't ask me why.

maki2 · Oct 17, 2024

wayne49 said:
Much further below Lake Ontario, south of Why, bordered by Mexico, is the Organ Pipe National Monument.

Why has a BLM dispersed camping area named "Wild Woman". Don't ask me why.

I drove down to Organ Pipe monument area for a day trip. But I have a mail order business so I needed to camp closer to Ajo for easier access to a post office. My mail order business pays for my travels. We all have our priorities when choosing where to camp.

wayne49 · Oct 17, 2024

I was not intending for that post to indicate where one should go. Just that there is an entire National area that is dedicated to the organ pipe cacti.

i would never deign to give nomadic advice to someone as experienced as you. I have enough issues with my own travels.

maki2 · Oct 18, 2024

I was just talking about that I did go there for a day trip. It was just a rambling comment about how I chose my campsites.

abnorm · Oct 18, 2024

25 MPH winds with gusts to 48 mph........"All Night Long"........ Pahrump

Morgana · Oct 18, 2024

wayne49 said:
Why has a BLM dispersed camping area named "Wild Woman". Don't ask me why.

Why has a store called the Why Not Store. Love that place!

maki2 · Oct 18, 2024

Rainy day here near Ash Fork AZ. But not super windy so far. I ended up stopping here yesterday because of the strong wind. I am just going to have to wait it out. However it is chilly and not a lot of solar input. Good day to stay under the covers, watch movies, read a book, etc. I will save turning on my diesel heater until later as there is not much in the way of Solar input due to dense cloud cover.

Today Heading direct from here to Lake Havasu City sounds really great but that area is getting much stronger winds so not at all good day for travel. I am fairly close to interstate 40 and the loud traffic noise was bugging me yesterday and also this morning but no noise out on the highway right now! The truckers and passenger cars too have pretty much all stopped moving as it is snowing East of here at Williams although the highway is still bare. But web cams show a lot more snow on the ground along I-40
in Flagstaff. What my those web cams are not showing are any truckers out there on interstate 40 either to the West or the East.

My Mountain time in this past May had me in some morning snow in Williams. So as I stretch that beloved Mountain time out in the fall I barely escaped

️

️by a 15 minute drive time headed east to lower elevation past Williams.

maki2 · Oct 18, 2024

I posted a little too soon! It just started snowing! I think I will head west tomorrow

maki2 · Oct 18, 2024

More snow! It really came down for a while. I wonder what it will look like in the morning? I hope it melts off the highway by mid day. I am hoping to get out of the freezer and into the frying pan so I can complain about the heat

abnorm · Oct 18, 2024

We have a strict Zero-Tolerance "NO SNOW' policy in Pirate Camp !

tx2sturgis · Oct 19, 2024

MAKI! Watch out for snow snakes!

maki2 · Oct 19, 2024

abnorm said:
We have a strict Zero-Tolerance "NO SNOW' policy in Pirate Camp !

I should be on the road by lunch and then be enjoying 70 degree weather later this afternoon. I will wait until close to lunch time to depart. Now getting close to 7:30 am I am starting to hear traffic out on Interstate 40 which is a very encouraging noise!

maki2 · Oct 19, 2024

partway to Pirate Camp! I arrived at the Lake Havasu area this afternoon. No more snow showing in the forecast! But a few days with a high of 90 are showing.

Too tired this late afternoon to do that dog like thing of circling around and around to get my trailer oriented just right for solar input and a level bed. But I do need to get situated and setup tomorrow as I need to get some Etsy orders cut and packed to go into the mail on Monday.

Maybe I will catchup with some Quartzite bound Pirate Camp folks while I am still in the Lake Havasu area.

Time for my fall seasonal haircut I get in October and my flu and Covid vaccines and such before I head to Quartzsite. Some things are just easier to do in this city than in that sleepy little village or in my previous camp by the sleepy village of Tusayan up by the Grand Canyon National Park. I like sleepy villages and small towns.

bullfrog ! · Oct 19, 2024

Be sure to allow a few days to get over getting your shots. My friend hibernated a day or so after getting both at the same time, just saying.

wayne49 · Oct 19, 2024

For anyone coming down US-95 from Oregon, etc., who might be affected, they shut off potable water at Millers Rest Area outside of Tonopah Nevada, with the dropping temps. I have never tried to get water there this late in the year. The extended triple digit heat wave into Autumn messed up my timing on heading South. Another year and a new disruption.

PIRATE CAMP '24-25....................Desert SouthWest

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