Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip!
EDIT: I wanted to add this link here at the beginning. Ragusa's Summer 2014 Trailer Hello friends! We have been home for two months, but I am just now feeling like getting to the trip repo...
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Part 3: Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater and Wupatki
Walnut Canyon was a wonderful stop as well. There are only 2 hikes there, and we took the tougher one that brings you down into the canyon. There was something along the lines of 200 steps, and we did it mid day. It worked out. We were glad to have our new hydration packs! Between the 4 of us we had about 2.5 gallons of water on all hikes. Plenty. I feel silly now for going on our hikes around home with one liter to share amongst everyone. It was a luxury and a necessity to drink at will.
A highly recommended stop if you have 2-4 hours. No reason to be there any longer.
We passed through Flagstaff and stocked up on groceries. The logistics of grocery shopping and food storage was a bit more than we anticipated too. What to do with 5-6 days of groceries when you only have a 3cf fridge and an ice chest? We ended up having cooking days right after we shopped so that we were storing cooked meat instead of raw. Seemed to work out, and by the end of the trip we had it down to a science.
We camped at Bonita Campground just outside of Sunset Crater. It was a nice park with tons of space to roam around. The most interesting thing was that we were camping literally on a lava flow! We were able to do lots of exploring right from the campsite.
The Lava Flow Trail was a new experience for us, and a surprise on the trip. We didn't expect to hike through a lava flow. A bit dangerous though. Lots of things to trip on, and the lava is sharp as razors! The camp host was telling us about how it will cut right through tennis shoes. We were on edge with our boys, since they don't seem to make it across the living room without hitting something. But everyone survived and lived for another adventure.
The San Francisco Peaks are the tallest peaks in Arizona. This evening, we parked the truck at this field, put out lawn chairs and opened a bottle of wine. We sat here and watched the sunset and saw our first prairie dogs. They were all over the field running around to settle for the night.
About a half hour north is Wupatki National Monument. We went as a day trip from Bonita and spent about 2 hours there. Very cool ruins.
Walnut Canyon was a wonderful stop as well. There are only 2 hikes there, and we took the tougher one that brings you down into the canyon. There was something along the lines of 200 steps, and we did it mid day. It worked out. We were glad to have our new hydration packs! Between the 4 of us we had about 2.5 gallons of water on all hikes. Plenty. I feel silly now for going on our hikes around home with one liter to share amongst everyone. It was a luxury and a necessity to drink at will.
A highly recommended stop if you have 2-4 hours. No reason to be there any longer.
We passed through Flagstaff and stocked up on groceries. The logistics of grocery shopping and food storage was a bit more than we anticipated too. What to do with 5-6 days of groceries when you only have a 3cf fridge and an ice chest? We ended up having cooking days right after we shopped so that we were storing cooked meat instead of raw. Seemed to work out, and by the end of the trip we had it down to a science.
We camped at Bonita Campground just outside of Sunset Crater. It was a nice park with tons of space to roam around. The most interesting thing was that we were camping literally on a lava flow! We were able to do lots of exploring right from the campsite.
The Lava Flow Trail was a new experience for us, and a surprise on the trip. We didn't expect to hike through a lava flow. A bit dangerous though. Lots of things to trip on, and the lava is sharp as razors! The camp host was telling us about how it will cut right through tennis shoes. We were on edge with our boys, since they don't seem to make it across the living room without hitting something. But everyone survived and lived for another adventure.
The San Francisco Peaks are the tallest peaks in Arizona. This evening, we parked the truck at this field, put out lawn chairs and opened a bottle of wine. We sat here and watched the sunset and saw our first prairie dogs. They were all over the field running around to settle for the night.
About a half hour north is Wupatki National Monument. We went as a day trip from Bonita and spent about 2 hours there. Very cool ruins.